I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3296 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to States and 
local educational agencies for hiring and training prekindergarten teachers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 14, 2005 
Mr. FORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants 
to States and local educational agencies for hiring and 
training prekindergarten teachers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prekindergarten-Ori-
ented Professional Support Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR HIRING AND TRAINING ELIGIBLE PRE-
KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS. 
(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Education, in con-
sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices, may make grants to States and local educational
agencies to pay all or a portion of the salaries, benefits, 
and training costs of new eligible prekindergarten teachers 
for the purposes of— 
(1) increasing the number of such teachers; and 
(2) expanding children’s access to free or af-
fordable, high-quality, early education. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall require 
each applicant for a grant under this section to agree to 
use the grant to pay all or a portion of the salaries, bene-
fits, and training costs of new eligible prekindergarten 
teachers to serve at eligible prekindergarten providers de-
scribed in subsection (c). 
(c) ELIGIBLE PREKINDERGARTEN PROVIDERS.—An 
eligible prekindergarten provider described in this para-
graph is a State, local, or private non-profit or for-profit 
prekindergarten provider that— 
(1) is a high-quality, prekindergarten provider 
meeting the standards issued by the Secretary under 
subsection (d); 
(2) is serving a significant percentage of low-in-
come children; and 
(3) if the provider is a private, tuition-based 
provider, agrees to adjust tuition standards or take 
other appropriate measures to ensure that not less 
than 50 percent of the children to be served through
the provider by new eligible prekindergarten teachers 
under this section will be low-income children. 
(d) STANDARDS FOR HIGH-QUALITY, PREKINDER-
GARTEN PROVIDERS.— 
(1) STANDARDS.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall issue standards to determine whether a 
prekindergarten provider is a high-quality, pre-
kindergarten provider. 
(2) CRITERIA.—In issuing standards under this 
subsection, the Secretary shall take into consider-
ation the following criteria: 
(A) Administration. 
(B) Support services. 
(C) Health, safety, and nutrition. 
(D) Parental involvement. 
(E) Teacher training. 
(F) Teacher-to-student ratio. 
(G) Curriculum, including pre-literacy, pre- 
numeracy, emotion regulation, and behavioral 
skills training. 
(3) RELATION
TO
STANDARDS
UNDER
HEAD 
START ACT.—Any standards issued by the Secretary 
under this subsection shall be consistent with or in 
addition to any standards applicable to prekinder-
garten providers under the Head Start Act (42 
U.S.C. 9831 et seq.). 
(e) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 
shall require each applicant for a grant under this section 
to comply with the following: 
(1) LEAD AGENCY.—The chief executive officer 
of the State or local educational agency applying for 
the grant must designate an agency (which may be 
an appropriate collaborative agency) or establish a 
joint interagency office to serve as the lead agency 
for administering the grant. 
(2) COORDINATION.—The applicant must have 
a mechanism in place to coordinate the applicant’s 
activities under the grant with other programs in 
order to ensure the effective and efficient use of all 
available resources to meet early childhood and fam-
ily needs. 
(3) MATCHING FUNDS.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—With respect to the 
costs of the program to be carried out through 
a grant under this section, a condition for the 
receipt of the grant is that the applicant agree 
to make available (directly or through donations 
from public or private entities) non-Federal
contributions toward such costs in an amount 
that is not less than 25 percent of such costs. 
(B) DETERMINATION
OF
AMOUNT
CON-
TRIBUTED.—Non-Federal 
contributions 
re-
quired in subparagraph (A) may be in cash or 
in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equip-
ment, or services. Amounts provided by the 
Federal Government, or services assisted or 
subsidized to any significant extent by the Fed-
eral Government, may not be included in deter-
mining the amount of such non-Federal con-
tributions. 
(C) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive 
the requirements of this paragraph in whole or 
in part with respect to any grantee for any fis-
cal year if the Secretary determines that such 
a waiver would be equitable due to lack of avail-
able financial resources. 
(4) SUPPLEMENT, 
NOT
SUPPLANT.—Funds 
made available under this section shall be used to 
supplement, and not supplant, other Federal, State, 
and local funds expended to support early childhood 
programs. 
(f) APPLICATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—To seek a grant under this 
section, a State or local educational agency shall 
submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 
in such form and manner, and containing such in-
formation as the Secretary may reasonably require. 
(2) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, an application 
under this subsection shall include a description of— 
(A) the applicant’s need for expanded ac-
cess to high-quality, early childhood education; 
and 
(B) the applicant’s ability to use resources 
efficiently and effectively to address such need. 
(g) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this section, 
the Secretary shall give priority to States and local edu-
cational agencies that demonstrate the greatest need for 
increased access to high-quality, early childhood edu-
cation. 
(h) MONITORING; REPORTS.—The Secretary shall— 
(1) require each recipient of a grant under this 
section to monitor and report to the Secretary on 
the progress achieved through the grant; and 
(2) submit an annual report to the Congress on 
the progress of grantees under this section.
SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INCREASING RETENTION OF PRE-
KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS. 
(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Education, in con-
sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices, may make grants to States and local educational 
agencies to increase retention of prekindergarten teachers 
by establishing a career ladder described in subsection (b) 
for such teachers. 
(b) CAREER LADDER.—A career ladder described in 
this subsection— 
(1) shall provide incentives for prekindergarten 
teachers to obtain additional training and education, 
such as by obtaining certification, an associate’s de-
gree, a bachelor’s degree, or other recognition of 
higher education; and 
(2) shall not undermine the valuable contribu-
tions of prekindergarten teachers lacking formal 
education, but having a wealth of early childhood ex-
perience. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘eligible prekindergarten teacher’’ 
means an individual who has, or is currently enrolled 
in classes to obtain, a Bachelor of Arts degree in 
early childhood development.
(2) The terms ‘‘local educational agency’’ and 
‘‘State’’ have the meanings given to those terms in 
section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(3) The term ‘‘low-income child’’ means a child 
from a family with an income below 200 percent of 
the poverty line. 
(4) The term ‘‘poverty line’’ means the poverty 
line (as defined by the Office of Management and 
Budget and revised annually in accordance with sec-
tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant 
Act) applicable to a family of the size involved. 
(5) The term ‘‘prekindergarten’’ means a pro-
gram serving children 3, 4, and 5 years of age that 
requires teachers to equip such children with the 
pre-literacy, pre-numeracy emotion regulation, and 
behavioral skills required for school success. 
(6) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of Education. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
To carry out this Act, there is authorized to be appro-
priated $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
2010. 
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