[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1706 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1706

     To prohibit the Federal Government from planning, developing, 
 implementing, or administering any national teacher test or method of 
     certification and from withholding funds from States or local 
 educational agencies that fail to adopt a specific method of teacher 
                             certification.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 1999

   Mr. Paul (for himself, Mr. Souder, Mr. Norwood, Mr. McIntosh, Mr. 
 Fletcher, and Mr. Tancredo) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To prohibit the Federal Government from planning, developing, 
 implementing, or administering any national teacher test or method of 
     certification and from withholding funds from States or local 
 educational agencies that fail to adopt a specific method of teacher 
                             certification.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Secretary of Education unveiled a national teacher 
        certification proposal on February 16, 1999.
            (2) The Texas State Legislature has introduced legislation 
        to prohibit the use of any standardized, national certification 
        examination of any teacher.
            (3) The State of Texas is already implementing a rigorous 
        framework for preparing, certifying, and recognizing the 
        professional growth of educators.
            (4) The State and local governments have the responsibility 
        for the training and certification of teachers not the Federal 
        Government.
            (5) The Coalition of Independent Education Associations 
        (CIEA), which represents the majority of the over 300,000 
        teachers who belong to independent educators associations, has 
        passed a resolution opposing the monopolization of teacher 
        education and certification by the National Council on 
        Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) or any other 
        federally supported organization.
            (6) Having the Federal Government require States, local 
        governments, or local educational agencies to engage in any 
        type of teacher testing or certification will require Federal 
        oversight of what knowledge is necessary to be a teacher.
            (7) Giving the Federal Government power to determine what 
        knowledge is necessary to be a teacher will lead to a national 
        curriculum.
            (8) National teacher testing or certification will make 
        teachers de facto employees of the Federal Government.
            (9) Establishment of a national curriculum will destroy any 
        control remaining in the American education system and is not 
        in the interest of either teachers or students.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON TESTING OR CERTIFICATION.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law, the Department 
or Education is prohibited from using Federal funds to plan, develop, 
implement, or administer any national teacher test or certification.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON WITHHOLDING FUNDS.

    The Department is prohibited from withholding funds from any State 
or local educational agency if such State or local educational agency 
fails to adopt a specific method of teacher certification.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) The terms ``teacher testing'' and ``teacher test'' mean 
        any test or examination required by any unit of government that 
        requires passage of such test or examination as a condition of 
        obtaining a license to teach.
            (2) The term ``teacher certification'' means any process of 
        education or training required by any unit of government as a 
        condition of obtaining a license to teach.
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