Revitalizing New Orleans by Attracting America's Leaders Act of 2007

Bill: 110-s-808
Sponsor: Sen. Landrieu, Mary L. [D-LA]
Introduced: 2007-03-08 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Alabama
Building construction
Charter schools
Class size
Colleges
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Construction costs
Continuing education
Disaster relief
Economics and Public Finance
Educational accountability
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Emergency Management
Federal aid to education
Floods
Florida
Fringe benefits
Health
Higher education
Hospitals
Housing and Community Development
Housing subsidies
Hurricanes
Labor and Employment
Leave of absence
Louisiana
Maintenance and repair
Medical education
Mississippi
Nonprofit organizations
Paraprofessional school personnel
Private schools
Rating of teachers
Recruiting of employees
Relocation
Scholarships
School administration
School buildings
School districts
School personnel
Secondary education
Social Welfare
Student loan funds
Teacher education
Teacher salaries
Teacher supply and demand
Texas

Summary:
action_date: 2007-03-08
text: 
Revitalizing New Orleans by Attracting America's Leaders Act of 2007 or the RENEWAAL Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Education to award grants to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for their use in providing competitive subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) that serve areas in which a major disaster was declared due to Hurricane Katrina or Rita. Gives priority to LEAs having the highest percentage of schools with teacher-student ratios of at least 25 to 1 or closed due to the hurricanes. 
 
Requires each LEA subgrantee to use the funds to: (1) provide annual bonuses to teachers and school leaders for three consecutive school years, with larger bonuses for personnel who teach a subject for which there is a teacher shortage, return after being displaced by the hurricanes, or have a history of boosting student achievement; (2) provide educators with specified relocation and housing payments; (3) partner with nonprofit organizations that recruit and retain outstanding teachers and school leaders who commit to serve in underserved schools; and (4) enhance the abilities of principals and teachers, providing the latter with paid leave to hone their skills. Requires each state grantee to develop a multiple measures of success teacher rating system. 
 
Directs the Secretary, subject to the availability of appropriations, to cover the losses and fund the recovery initiatives of postsecondary educational institutions whose campuses were closed or relocated, enrollments have sagged, and revenues continue to decline due to such hurricanes.
 
Requires the Secretary to forgive the loans made to students under parts B (Federal Family Education Loan Program) and D (William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 who begin employment or return as full-time teachers at public or private elementary or secondary schools in areas affected by such hurricanes.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2007-03-08
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2901-2903)
action_date: 2007-03-08
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2900-2901)
action_date: 2007-03-08
text: Introduced in Senate