[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3080 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3080

   To establish a national teaching fellowship program to encourage 
  individuals to enter and remain in the field of teaching at public 
               elementary schools and secondary schools.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 8, 2002

Mr. Lugar (for himself and Mr. Bingaman) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish a national teaching fellowship program to encourage 
  individuals to enter and remain in the field of teaching at public 
               elementary schools and secondary schools.

    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 ``Teaching Fellows Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States faces an increasing need for high-
        quality educators.
            (2) Up to 1,000,000 of the country's 3,000,000 teachers 
        will retire in the next 5 years. American schools will have to 
        hire 2,200,000 teachers by 2010.
            (3) Congress desires to inspire promising secondary school 
        seniors and accomplished persons currently involved in the 
        field of education to become certified teachers.
            (4) The opportunity created by a fellowship program will 
        allow persons in the field of education the financial 
        opportunity to obtain a quality education which they will use 
        to teach America's youth.
            (5) Congress desires to motivate those who go into the 
        field of teaching to become career educators.
            (6) Many teacher assistants have received their training at 
        community colleges and have the potential and desire to obtain 
        degrees in education and certification as teachers.
            (7) Rural and inner-city communities may greatly benefit 
        from encouraging those in the community who already have an 
        interest in teaching to pursue a degree in education and become 
        career educators.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

    Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new part:

           ``Part C--Federal Teaching and Partnership Fellows

``SEC. 231. STATE TEACHING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to encourage 
promising secondary school seniors and college undergraduates to enter 
the field of teaching and become career educators.
    ``(b) Establishment of Teaching Fellows Program.--
            ``(1) Use of funds for scholarships.--From the funds 
        appropriated under subsection (g), the Secretary shall award 
        grants to States for the purpose of establishing Teaching 
        Programs to provide scholarships for Teaching Fellows. Such 
        scholarships shall be used to pay for higher education tuition, 
        fees, and other costs of attendance.
            ``(2) Selection of fellows.--Teaching Fellows shall be 
        selected from individuals who--
                    ``(A) at the time of application, are secondary 
                school seniors or in their second year of a program of 
                undergraduate education;
                    ``(B) are United States citizens or legal aliens;
                    ``(C) are residents of the State sponsoring the 
                Teaching Program to which they are applying; and
                    ``(D) meet the criteria established under 
                subsection (d)(1)(B).
    ``(c) Competition for Federal Funds.--
            ``(1) State application to program.--The governor of each 
        State desiring to participate in the Teaching Program shall 
        designate a single State agency to submit an application to the 
        Secretary and to administer the Teaching Program. Such agency 
        shall have a full-time staff and may be a division of the 
        State's education department, a coordinating or governing board 
        of higher education, an independent government agency, or a 
        non-profit organization. Any such application shall be 
        submitted to the Secretary at such time, and contain such 
        information, as the Secretary shall require.
            ``(2) Competitive selection.--From the applications 
        submitted by State agencies, the Secretary shall approve those 
        applications that the Secretary determines to be the most 
        promising in carrying out the purposes of this section.
            ``(3) Funding requirements.--Each State whose application 
        is selected by the Secretary to carry out a Teaching Program 
        shall use the grant funds to offer scholarships in an amount 
        determined by the Secretary in light of the amount of the total 
        amount appropriated to carry out this section, the relative 
        size of the State's student population, and the funding 
        necessary to administer a viable Teaching Program. Such funds 
        shall go to the State agency designated under paragraph (1).
    ``(d) Requirements for State Receipt of Federal Funds.--Each State 
participating in the Teaching Program shall--
            ``(1) provide information and assurances--
                    ``(A) identifying the institutions of higher 
                education within the State, private or public, that 
                will participate in the Teaching Program;
                    ``(B) establishing specific, rigorous criteria to 
                be used in selecting Teaching Fellows;
                    ``(C) providing that the State will offer not less 
                than $6,500 per year in scholarships to each Teaching 
                Fellow, which shall be available--
                            ``(i) for each of 4 years of undergraduate 
                        education, in the case of a Teaching Fellow 
                        who, at the time of application, was a 
                        secondary school senior;
                            ``(ii) for the third and fourth year of 
                        undergraduate education, in the case of a 
                        Teaching Fellow who, at the time of 
                        application, was in his or her second year of 
                        undergraduate education; and
                            ``(iii) for a fifth year of undergraduate 
                        education if such year is required in order to 
                        obtain a bachelor's degree with a State license 
                        or certificate to teach;
                    ``(D) providing that each participating institution 
                of higher education will provide a full-time faculty 
                member or administrator to serve as the Teaching 
                Program director and to work closely with the State 
                agency to administer the campus program and create and 
                execute the extra-curricular enrichment programs;
                    ``(E) describing mandatory extra-curricular 
                enrichment programs and activities as part of the 
                Teaching Program that--
                            ``(i) are designed to motivate students to 
                        become career educators;
                            ``(ii) provide Teaching Fellows with a 
                        multidisciplinary education;
                            ``(iii) are offered regularly during each 
                        year of schooling (including during intervals 
                        between periods of enrollment); and
                            ``(iv) expose Teaching Fellows to the 
                        State's business, political, demographic, 
                        cultural, and economic climate, and help 
                        Teaching Fellows develop leadership qualities; 
                        and
                    ``(F) establishing procedures for the distribution 
                of scholarships and administration of teaching 
                obligation oversight;
            ``(2) provide an assurance that the State agency and 
        participating institutions of higher education shall, 
        collectively, match the Federal funds provided under this 
        section by providing at least 25 percent of the total cost of 
        the Teaching Program;
            ``(3) use funds received under this section only to 
        supplement the amount of funds that would, in the absence of 
        such Federal funds, be made available from non-Federal sources 
        for the purposes of this section, and not to supplant such 
        funds; and
            ``(4) provide an assurance that Teaching Fellows fulfill 
        their teaching obligations at public elementary schools and 
        secondary schools within that State only.
    ``(e) Conversion to Loan.--
            ``(1) Obligation to repay.--Each State receiving a grant 
        under this section shall require that a Teaching Fellow agree 
        to repay a pro rata amount, as determined by the State agency, 
        of the scholarship received from the Teaching Program, and to 
        pay interest on such pro rata amount at an annual rate of 10 
        percent until such pro rata amount is repaid, if the Teaching 
        Fellow fails to comply with paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Teaching obligation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each State receiving a grant 
                under this section shall require that within 8 years 
                after graduation a Teaching Fellow shall teach for 5 
                years at a public elementary school or secondary school 
                within the State that--
                            ``(i) is in the school district of a local 
                        educational agency which is eligible for 
                        assistance under title I of the Elementary and 
                        Secondary Education Act of 1965; and
                            ``(ii) which for the purpose of this 
                        paragraph has been determined by the Secretary 
                        (pursuant to regulations promulgated by the 
                        Secretary and after consultation with the State 
                        educational agency of the State in which the 
                        school is located) to be a school in which the 
                        enrollment of children counted under section 
                        1124(c) of the Elementary and Secondary 
                        Education Act of 1965 exceeds 30 percent of the 
                        total enrollment of that school.
                    ``(B) Continuation of school eligibility.--If a 
                Teaching Fellow teaches in a school that meets the 
                requirements of subparagraph (A) for a school year and 
                in a succeeding school year the school fails to meet 
                such requirements, then for each succeeding school year 
                of the Teaching Fellow's teaching obligation under this 
                paragraph, the school shall be deemed to meet such 
                requirements with respect to that Teaching Fellow.
            ``(3) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply if the 
        State agency finds that it is impossible for a Teaching Fellow 
        to teach for 5 years, within 8 years after the Teaching Fellow 
        graduates, at a public elementary school or secondary school 
        within the State, because of the death or permanent disability 
        of the Teaching Fellow.
    ``(f) Revolving Funding.--Any funds repaid by a Teaching Fellow 
pursuant to subsection (e), together with any interest thereon, may be 
retained by the State agency for making available additional 
scholarships under this section, and for paying costs related to the 
disbursement of scholarships and the collection of payments under 
subsection (e).
    ``(g) Funds.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this section $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and such sums as may be 
necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.
    ``(h) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Teaching fellow.--The term `Teaching Fellow' means an 
        individual selected for an award of a scholarship under this 
        section.
            ``(2) Teaching program.--The term `Teaching Program' means 
        a scholarship program established by a State under this 
        section.
            ``(3) State.--The term `State' includes the several States 
        of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
            ``(4) State agency.--The term `State agency' means the 
        agency designated pursuant to subsection (c)(1).

``SEC. 232. TEACHING FELLOWS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to encourage members 
of the education community, such as teaching assistants and other 
school employees who are not yet certified teachers, to obtain a degree 
in education.
    ``(b) Establishment of Partnership Fellows Program.--
            ``(1) Use of funds for scholarships.--From the funds 
        appropriated under subsection (h), the Secretary shall award 
        grants to States for the purpose of establishing Partnership 
        Programs, between institutions of higher education that award 
        associate's degrees and institutions of higher education that 
        award bachelor's degrees, to provide scholarships for 
        Partnership Fellows.
            ``(2) Selection of fellows.--Partnership Fellows shall be 
        selected from individuals who--
                    ``(A) are United States citizens or legal aliens;
                    ``(B) are residents of the State sponsoring the 
                Partnership Program to which they are applying; and
                    ``(C) meet the criteria established under 
                subsection (e)(1).
    ``(c) Competition for Federal Funds.--
            ``(1) State review and submission.--The governor of each 
        State desiring to participate in the Partnership Program shall 
        designate a single State education department, a coordinating 
        or governing board of higher education, or other agency--
                    ``(A) to receive and review partnership proposals 
                from institutions of higher education that award 
                associate's degrees and institutions of higher 
                education that award bachelor's degrees within the 
                State;
                    ``(B) to determine which proposals delineate 
                Partnership Programs to be created between institutions 
                of higher education that award associate's degrees and 
                institutions of higher education that award bachelor's 
                degrees, that are the most promising in carrying out 
                the purposes of this section;
                    ``(C) to submit the partnership proposals that are 
                approved by the State agency to the Secretary for 
                competitive selection in the form of one single 
                partnership proposal application; and
                    ``(D) to administer the funds made available under 
                this section.
            ``(2) Competitive selection.--From the partnership proposal 
        applications submitted by State agencies under paragraph (1), 
        the Secretary shall select for funding under this section those 
        applications that the Secretary determines to be the most 
        promising in carrying out the purpose of the Partnership 
        Program. The Secretary shall distribute the awards for each 
        selected application to the State agency that submitted the 
        application.
    ``(d) Requirements for State Receipt of Federal Funds.--A State 
agency that submits a partnership proposal application to the Secretary 
under subsection (c) shall provide to the Secretary such information 
and assurances as the Secretary may require to demonstrate that the 
State will comply with the following requirements:
            ``(1) Any State whose partnership proposal application is 
        selected to receive Federal funds under this section shall 
        match the Federal funding by providing at least 25 percent of 
        the total cost of the Partnership Program.
            ``(2) The State agency may reserve not more than 20 percent 
        of the Federal funding to be used for administrative costs 
        associated with the creation of articulation agreements between 
        one or more institutions of higher education that award 
        associate's degrees and one or more institutions of higher 
education that award bachelors' degrees that detail the partnership 
arrangement between the institutions. Such reserved administrative 
funds shall be made available to the Partnership Program institutions 
of higher education in order to support curricula alignment between the 
requirements of the institutions of higher education that award 
associate's degrees and the institutions of higher education that award 
bachelor's degrees, and to allow the Partnership Program institutions 
of higher education to sponsor extra-curricular activities for its 
Partnership Fellows as specified in subsection (e)(3).
            ``(3) The State agency shall be responsible for determining 
        how the funds provided under this section are allocated among 
        specific partnership proposals or to administer the allocation 
        of funds for an approved state-wide Partnership Program.
            ``(4) The State agency shall be responsible for assuring 
        such funds are used to provide full-time Partnership Fellows 
        with scholarships of not less than $6,500 per year, which shall 
        be available for each of the 4 years of undergraduate 
education remaining after the year of the Partnership Fellow's 
selection, and for a fifth year of undergraduate education if such year 
is required in order to obtain a bachelor's degree with a State license 
or certificate to teach at an elementary school or secondary school 
within the State. Partnership Fellows pursuing a part-time course load, 
as defined by the institution of higher education attended, shall 
receive a pro rata scholarship over a period not to exceed 6 years. The 
annual scholarship amount shall be a fraction of the full-time 
scholarship amount and shall be reduced according to the number of 
credits being pursued. Partnership Programs also may make scholarship 
funds available during the period of student teaching as prescribed by 
subsection (e)(6).
            ``(5) The State agency will use funds received under this 
        section only to supplement the amount of funds that would, in 
        the absence of such Federal funds, be made available from non-
        Federal sources for the purposes of this section, and not to 
        supplant such funds.
    ``(e) Requirements for Partnership Proposals.--Each partnership 
proposal under this section shall be submitted by one or more 
institutions of higher education that awards associate's degrees and 
one or more institutions of higher education that awards bachelor's 
degrees and shall propose the establishment of a program allowing 
individuals, such as those currently in the education field, to 
complete a bachelor's degree with a State license or certification to 
teach in elementary schools or secondary schools within the State. Such 
proposals shall include--
            ``(1) identification of specific, rigorous criteria to be 
        used in selecting Partnership Fellows, including outstanding 
        service to school-age children, a firm commitment to the field 
        of education, and aptitude to succeed as a teacher;
            ``(2) designation of a full-time faculty member or 
        administrator to serve as the local or regional Partnership 
        Program director or coordinator and to work closely with the 
        State agency director to administer the program and create and 
        execute the extra-curricular enrichment programs;
            ``(3) mandatory extra-curricular enrichment programs and 
        activities as part of the Partnership Program that--
                    ``(A) are designed to motivate students to become 
                career educators;
                    ``(B) provide Partnership Fellows with a 
                multidisciplinary education;
                    ``(C) are offered regularly during each year of 
                schooling (including during intervals between periods 
                of enrollment); and
                    ``(D) expose Partnership Fellows to the State's 
                business, political, demographic, cultural, and 
                economic climate, and help Partnership Fellows develop 
                leadership qualities;
            ``(4) a specific description of how the proposed 
        Partnership Program will provide individuals in rural or 
        underserved communities access to the curriculum and 
        extracurricular opportunities created by the Partnership 
        Program;
            ``(5) a description of how the Partnership Program will 
        accommodate Partnership Fellows who must maintain employment 
        while pursuing a degree, whether via distance learning methods, 
        evening and weekend programs, minimum credit requirements, or 
        other programs;
            ``(6) a description of how the Partnership Program will 
        assist Partnership Fellows in accordance with subsection (d)(4) 
        during the period of student teaching if the Partnership 
        Fellows are otherwise financially unable to complete such a 
        requirement; and
            ``(7) an itemized account of how the funds will be 
        allocated to best achieve the purposes of the Partnership 
        Program.
    ``(f) Conversion to Loan.--
            ``(1) Obligation to repay.--Each State receiving a grant 
        under this section shall require that a Partnership Fellow 
        agree to repay a pro rata amount, as determined by the State 
        agency, of the scholarship received from the Partnership 
        Program, and to pay interest on such pro rata amount at an 
        annual rate of 10 percent until such pro rata amount is repaid, 
        if the Partnership Fellow fails to comply with paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Teaching obligation.--Each State receiving a grant 
        under this section shall require that within 8 years after 
        graduation a Partnership Fellow teach for 5 years at a low 
        performing (as defined by the State educational agency or 
        Secretary) public elementary school or secondary school within 
        the State.
            ``(3) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply if the 
        State agency finds that it is impossible for a Partnership 
        Fellow to teach for 5 years, within 8 years after the 
        Partnership Fellow graduates, at a low performing public 
        elementary school or secondary school within the State, because 
        of the death or permanent disability of the Partnership Fellow.
    ``(g) Revolving Funding.--Any funds repaid by a Partnership Fellow 
pursuant to subsection (f), together with any interest thereon, may be 
retained by the State agency for making available additional 
scholarships under this section, and for paying costs related to the 
disbursement of scholarships and the collection of payments under 
subsection (f).
    ``(h) Funds.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this section $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and such sums as 
necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.
    ``(i) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Partnership fellow.--The term `Partnership Fellow' 
        means an individual selected for an award of a scholarship 
        under this section.
            ``(2) Partnership program.--The term `Partnership Program' 
        means a scholarship program established by a State under this 
        section.
            ``(3) State.--The term `State' includes the several States 
        of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
            ``(4) State agency.--The term `State agency' means the 
        agency designated pursuant to subsection (c)(1).''.
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