[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1629 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1629

   To provide grants to rural eligible local educational agencies to 
     enable the agencies to recruit and retain qualified teachers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 29, 1999

Mrs. Clayton (for herself, Mr. Clay, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Price of North 
 Carolina, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mrs. Roukema, Mr. LaHood, Mr. Sanders, 
  Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Boucher, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Costello, Mr. Towns, Mr. 
  Bishop, Mr. Scott, Mr. Owens, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. 
 Ford, Mr. Frost, Mr. Wu, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Taylor of Mississippi, Mr. 
 Jackson of Illinois, Mr. John, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Turner, Mrs. Thurman, 
Mr. Holden, and Mrs. Christensen) introduced the following bill; which 
      was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide grants to rural eligible local educational agencies to 
     enable the agencies to recruit and retain qualified teachers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Teachers Recruitment Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    The Secretary is authorized to provide grants to rural eligible 
local educational agencies to enable the agencies to recruit and retain 
qualified teachers for elementary and secondary schools.

SEC. 3. GRANT AWARDS.

    (a) Rural Eligible Local Educational Agencies.--To be eligible to 
receive a grant under this Act, a rural eligible local educational 
agency shall--
            (1) submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 
        such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 
        may reasonably require; and
            (2) demonstrate a need to recruit and retain additional 
        qualified elementary and secondary teachers.
    (b) Grant Amount.--Each grant award made under this Act shall be of 
sufficient size to enable a grantee to develop incentive programs to 
recruit and retain qualified teachers.

SEC. 4. USES OF FUNDS.

    A rural eligible local educational agency that receives a grant 
award under this Act may use such funds received to develop incentive 
programs to recruit and retain qualified teachers which may include--
            (1) salary increases;
            (2) reimbursement for teacher certification expenses;
            (3) assistance to pay college tuition expenses;
            (4) assistance to pay graduate school tuition and training 
        expenses; and
            (5) reimbursement for relocation expenses.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) the term ``local educational agency'' has the same 
        meaning given such term in section 14101(18) of the Elementary 
        and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(18));
            (2) the term ``metropolitan statistical area'' has the same 
        meaning given such term by the Bureau of the Census;
            (3) the term ``rural eligible educational agency'' means a 
        local educational agency--
                    (A) that is not located in a metropolitan 
                statistical area; and
                    (B) in which 20 percent or more of the children, 
                ages 5 through 17, served by such agency are from 
                families below the poverty level, as determined by the 
                Secretary; and
            (4) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000 and 2001, $400,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2002 and 2003, and $500,000,000 for fiscal year 
2004.
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