I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7219 
To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible partnerships 
to increase access to specialized instructional support personnel, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 24, 2022 
Ms. NEWMAN (for herself, Ms. WILD, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to 
eligible partnerships to increase access to specialized in-
structional support personnel, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Growing, Recruiting, 
and Obtaining Workers in Specialized Instructional Sup-
port Personnel Services Act’’ or the ‘‘GROW SISPS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. GROW YOUR OWN PROGRAM GRANT. 
(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From the amounts ap-
propriated to carry out this Act, the Secretary of Edu-
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cation shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligi-
ble partnerships to expand, or establish and implement, 
A Grow Your Own Program to increase access to special-
ized instructional support personnel. 
(b) GRANT PERIOD; PRIORITY.— 
(1) GRANT PERIOD.—A grant under this sec-
tion shall be awarded for a 6-year period. 
(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 
Act, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible part-
nerships in which a high-need local educational 
agency is in the partnership or that seeks to use the 
grant to serve a community with a high-need local 
educational agency. 
(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an eligible partnership shall submit to 
the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 
and containing such information as the Secretary may re-
quire, which shall include the following with respect to the 
local educational agency, the consortium of local edu-
cational agencies, or the State educational agency in such 
eligible partnership, and disaggregated by the specific oc-
cupation: 
(1) The number of specialized instructional sup-
port personnel employed as of the date of applica-
tion. 
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(2) The number of specialized instructional sup-
port personnel who are so employed and who have 
an emergency or temporary credential. 
(3) The ratio of specialized instructional sup-
port personnel to students. 
(d) USES OF FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible partnership that 
receives a grant under this section shall use such 
grant to expand, or establish and implement, a Grow 
Your Own Program that meets the requirements of 
paragraph (2) to increase, through respecialization 
or re-training— 
(A) access to specialized instructional sup-
port personnel in the schools served by the local 
educational agency or the consortium of local 
educational agencies in such eligible partner-
ship, or the local educational agencies under the 
jurisdiction of the State educational agency in 
such eligible partnership; or 
(B) the diversity of specialized instruc-
tional support personnel in such schools. 
(2) GROW
YOUR
OWN
PROGRAM
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—An eligible partnership shall ensure that a 
Grow Your Own Program expanded, or established 
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and implemented, under paragraph (1) provides the 
following to each participant of the program: 
(A) The skills needed to complete a rel-
evant degree or training— 
(i) to be credentialed by the State 
educational agency, or relevant regulatory 
body; or 
(ii) in the case of a profession for 
which there is no State credential, to meet 
the professional standards as articulated 
by the relevant national organization for 
such profession. 
(B) Relevant clinical experience, during the 
period in which the participant completes and 
earns the credential provided under the pro-
gram, that is— 
(i) connected to the coursework pro-
vided under the program; and 
(ii) located in elementary schools or 
secondary schools in such community, with 
priority given to elementary schools or sec-
ondary schools in the eligible partnership. 
(C) A high-quality mentoring program 
that— 
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(i) provides mentoring by a fully 
credentialed professional of the occupation 
for which the participant is pursuing a cre-
dential; and 
(ii) continues through the period that 
is 2 years after the participant receives a 
credential under the program. 
(D) Supportive services (which may include 
housing subsidies, stipends, and tuition assist-
ance and other financial assistance). 
(E) 
Academic, 
counseling, 
and 
pro-
grammatic supports. 
(3) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In expand-
ing, or establishing and implementing A Grow Your 
Own Program under paragraph (1), an eligible part-
nership shall carry out each of the following: 
(A) Identify the needs for specialized in-
structional support personnel in the local edu-
cational agency, the consortium of local edu-
cational agencies, or the State educational 
agency in the eligible partnership. 
(B) Recruit and incentivize individuals to 
enter, and to pursue training to enter, a spe-
cialized instructional support personnel profes-
sion that meets the needs identified in subpara-
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graph (A), especially for the purpose of serving 
in high-need local educational agencies. 
(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) REPORTS BY ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIPS.— 
Each eligible partnership that receives a grant under 
this section shall submit, for each of the third 
through sixth years of the grant period, a report to 
the Secretary that includes— 
(A) the number of participants of the pro-
gram funded by such grant who are working in 
a high-need local educational agency during 
such year and the preceding year, disaggregated 
by specific occupation; and 
(B) in a year in which the number of such 
participants who are working in a high-need 
local educational agency decreases from the pre-
ceding year by more than 50 percent, an im-
provement plan for increasing such number as 
soon as practicable. 
(2) REPORTS BY THE SECRETARY.—Not later 
than 1 year after the first grant is awarded under 
this section, and on an annual basis thereafter, the 
Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on— 
(A) the impact of grants awarded under 
this section in increasing specialized instruc-
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tional support personnel, and lowering the ratio 
of specialized instructional support personnel to 
students, in the local educational agencies, the 
consortium of local educational agencies, and 
the State educational agencies in the eligible 
partnerships that were awarded such grants; 
(B) best practices for expanding, or estab-
lishing and implementing eligible partnerships 
and Grow Your Own Programs that meet the 
requirements of subsection (d)(2); and 
(C) recommendations for strengthening the 
eligible partnerships and Grow Your Own Pro-
grams served the grants awarding under this 
Act, such as improving recruitment and reten-
tion of participants and increasing the number 
of specialized instructional support personnel in 
the community, especially in high-need schools. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble partnership’’ means a partnership among each of 
the following: 
(A) A school, department, or program of 
education (including a graduate level program) 
within an institution of higher education that is 
State-accredited and is eligible to receive Fed-
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eral funds under title IV of the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.), 
which may include a program that provides the 
training or credentials required for specialized 
instructional support personnel. 
(B) A local educational agency, a consor-
tium of local educational agencies, or a State 
educational agency. 
(C) A State-accredited nonprofit edu-
cational organization or professional licensure 
organization that provides alternative routes to 
State certification or licensure, or credentialing 
for specialized instructional support personnel. 
(2) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘local edu-
cational agency’’, ‘‘State educational agency’’, and 
‘‘specialized instructional support personnel’’ have 
the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(3) HIGH-NEED
LOCAL
EDUCATIONAL
AGEN-
CY.—The term ‘‘high-need local educational agency’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 200 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021). 
(4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 
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meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Education. 
Æ 
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