[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3688 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3688

    To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a competitive 
  demonstration grant program to provide funds for local educational 
 agencies to experiment with ways to alleviate the substitute teacher 
                   shortage, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2002

  Mr. Langevin (for himself, Ms. Carson of Indiana, Ms. McKinney, Mr. 
Skelton, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Clay, Mr. Phelps, Mr. 
Boucher, Mr. Clement, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Frost, 
Mr. English, and Mr. Sandlin) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a competitive 
  demonstration grant program to provide funds for local educational 
 agencies to experiment with ways to alleviate the substitute teacher 
                   shortage, and for other purposes.

    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 ``No Substitute for Quality Teaching 
Demonstration Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Each day about 5 million children walk into 274,000 
        classrooms nationwide and find a substitute teacher. Students 
        will spend the equivalent of one full year with a substitute 
        teacher before they graduate from high school.
            (2) Virtually every State in the country is facing a 
        substitute teacher shortage, a problem that has been 
        exacerbated by increased demand for professional development 
        opportunities for teachers.
            (3) In 73 percent of school districts, there is an 
        immediate, urgent need for substitute teachers.
            (4) Nationwide, substitute teacher salaries average only 
        $65 per day. In rural areas, rates are often as low as $40. 
        Rarely do substitutes receive benefits.
            (5) This shortage is likely to grow to a crisis level 
        within the next 10 years, as an acute shortage of substitute 
        teachers develops because an unprecedented number of children 
        will enter our schools.
            (6) The substitute teacher shortage has lead schools to 
        relax their requirements and hire substitute teachers that are 
        often underqualified. In all but one State, substitute teachers 
        need no teaching certification.
            (7) In 28 States, principals may hire anyone with a high 
        school diploma or a general equivalency diploma (GED) who is 
        age 18 years or older.
            (8) Nearly 12 percent of districts do not require 
        substitute teachers to fill out a job application.
            (9) Over half (56 percent) of school districts never have a 
        face-to-face interview with potential substitutes.
            (10) In 30 percent of all school districts, no background 
        checks are conducted on applicants for substitute teaching 
        positions, and only half the districts check applicants' 
        references.
            (11) Poorly trained substitute teachers have a negative 
        impact on student academic performance.
            (12) States with lower academic achievement are twice as 
        likely to allow less qualified substitutes in the classroom. 
        Nine out of the ten lowest-ranked States in National Assessment 
        of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing allowed substitute 
        teachers with only a high school diploma to teach in their 
        schools. In each of those States, education spending is 
        thousands of dollars below the national average.
            (13) Of the top 25 States in education spending, 9 require 
        at least a college degree for substitute teachers.
            (14) In 77 percent of school districts across the country, 
        substitute teachers are given no training at all.
            (15) Alleviating the substitute teacher crisis would free 
        up precious time for other teachers to spend in professional 
        development programs.

SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of 
Education shall establish a competitive demonstration grant program to 
provide grants for a single academic year directly to not fewer than 50 
nor more than 100 local educational agencies (as that term is defined 
in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965), 
or to regional consortia of such agencies acting together, that vary 
geographically and socioeconomically, to enable such agencies or 
consortia to experiment with ways to alleviate the substitute teacher 
shortage described in section 2.

SEC. 4. SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.

    In selecting grant recipients under section 3, the Secretary of 
Education shall select applicants that, collectively, will explore a 
range of options for addressing the substitute teacher shortage, such 
as--
            (1) developing a public relations campaign targeted at 
        likely substitute teacher candidates (such as retired 
        teachers);
            (2) establishing permanent substitute teacher pools;
            (3) addressing issues that hinder the ability of 
        administrators to find qualified substitute teachers; or
            (4) increasing the availability of content and skills 
        training for substitute teachers.

SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date the last grant made under 
section 3 expires, the Secretary of Education shall submit a report to 
the Congress describing the findings and results of the demonstration 
program under this Act, including--
            (1) the programs or methods that best alleviated the 
        substitute teacher shortage, and where those programs or 
        methods worked best; and
            (2) the impact of economic conditions on the quality and 
        availability of substitute teachers.

SEC. 6. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.

    The Secretary of Education may prescribe rules to carry out this 
Act.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
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