[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2659 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2659

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 1999

  Mr. Crowley (for himself, Mr. Frost, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. 
   Ackerman, and Mr. Payne) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide grants to eligible urban 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 ``21st Century Urban Teachers 
Recruitment and Retention Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Urban and inner city school districts have greater 
        difficulty attracting and retaining qualified teachers than 
        their suburban counterparts.
            (2) The cost of living is higher in urban and inner cities 
        than in suburban areas.

SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

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

SEC. 4. GRANT AWARDS.

    (a) Eligible Urban Local Educational Agencies.--To be eligible to 
receive a grant under this Act, an eligible urban 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. 5. USES OF FUNDS.

    An eligible urban 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. 6. 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 ``eligible urban local educational agency'' 
        means a local educational agency--
                    (A) that is located in a metropolitan statistical 
                area; and
                    (B) in which 30 percent or more of the children, 
                ages 5 through 17, served by such agency are from 
                families below the poverty level, determined in 
                accordance with section 1124 of the Elementary and 
                Secondary Education Act of 1965; and
            (4) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.

SEC. 7. 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.
                                 <all>