[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3296 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3296

 To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to States and 
  local educational agencies for hiring and training prekindergarten 
                               teachers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 14, 2005

   Mr. Ford introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to States and 
  local educational agencies for hiring and training prekindergarten 
                               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 ``Prekindergarten-Oriented 
Professional Support Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR HIRING AND TRAINING ELIGIBLE PREKINDERGARTEN 
              TEACHERS.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of Education, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, may make grants to States and 
local educational agencies to pay all or a portion of the salaries, 
benefits, and training costs of new eligible prekindergarten teachers 
for the purposes of--
            (1) increasing the number of such teachers; and
            (2) expanding children's access to free or affordable, 
        high-quality, early education.
    (b) Use of Funds.--The Secretary shall require each applicant for a 
grant under this section to agree to use the grant to pay all or a 
portion of the salaries, benefits, and training costs of new eligible 
prekindergarten teachers to serve at eligible prekindergarten providers 
described in subsection (c).
    (c) Eligible Prekindergarten Providers.--An eligible 
prekindergarten provider described in this paragraph is a State, local, 
or private non-profit or for-profit prekindergarten provider that--
            (1) is a high-quality, prekindergarten provider meeting the 
        standards issued by the Secretary under subsection (d);
            (2) is serving a significant percentage of low-income 
        children; and
            (3) if the provider is a private, tuition-based provider, 
        agrees to adjust tuition standards or take other appropriate 
        measures to ensure that not less than 50 percent of the 
        children to be served through the provider by new eligible 
        prekindergarten teachers under this section will be low-income 
        children.
    (d) Standards for High-Quality, Prekindergarten Providers.--
            (1) Standards.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue standards 
        to determine whether a prekindergarten provider is a high-
        quality, prekindergarten provider.
            (2) Criteria.--In issuing standards under this subsection, 
        the Secretary shall take into consideration the following 
        criteria:
                    (A) Administration.
                    (B) Support services.
                    (C) Health, safety, and nutrition.
                    (D) Parental involvement.
                    (E) Teacher training.
                    (F) Teacher-to-student ratio.
                    (G) Curriculum, including pre-literacy, pre-
                numeracy, emotion regulation, and behavioral skills 
                training.
            (3) Relation to standards under head start act.--Any 
        standards issued by the Secretary under this subsection shall 
        be consistent with or in addition to any standards applicable 
        to prekindergarten providers under the Head Start Act (42 
        U.S.C. 9831 et seq.).
    (e) Additional Requirements.--The Secretary shall require each 
applicant for a grant under this section to comply with the following:
            (1) Lead agency.--The chief executive officer of the State 
        or local educational agency applying for the grant must 
        designate an agency (which may be an appropriate collaborative 
        agency) or establish a joint interagency office to serve as the 
        lead agency for administering the grant.
            (2) Coordination.--The applicant must have a mechanism in 
        place to coordinate the applicant's activities under the grant 
        with other programs in order to ensure the effective and 
        efficient use of all available resources to meet early 
        childhood and family needs.
            (3) Matching funds.--
                    (A) In general.--With respect to the costs of the 
                program to be carried out through a grant under this 
                section, a condition for the receipt of the grant is 
                that the applicant agree to make available (directly or 
                through donations from public or private entities) non-
                Federal contributions toward such costs in an amount 
                that is not less than 25 percent of such costs.
                    (B) Determination of amount contributed.--Non-
                Federal contributions required in subparagraph (A) may 
                be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including 
                plant, equipment, or services. Amounts provided by the 
                Federal Government, or services assisted or subsidized 
                to any significant extent by the Federal Government, 
                may not be included in determining the amount of such 
                non-Federal contributions.
                    (C) Waiver.--The Secretary may waive the 
                requirements of this paragraph in whole or in part with 
                respect to any grantee for any fiscal year if the 
                Secretary determines that such a waiver would be 
                equitable due to lack of available financial resources.
            (4) Supplement, not supplant.--Funds made available under 
        this section shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, 
        other Federal, State, and local funds expended to support early 
        childhood programs.
    (f) Application.--
            (1) In general.--To seek a grant under this section, a 
        State or local educational agency shall submit an application 
        to the Secretary at such time, in such form and manner, and 
        containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably 
        require.
            (2) Contents.--At a minimum, an application under this 
        subsection shall include a description of--
                    (A) the applicant's need for expanded access to 
                high-quality, early childhood education; and
                    (B) the applicant's ability to use resources 
                efficiently and effectively to address such need.
    (g) Priority.--In making grants under this section, the Secretary 
shall give priority to States and local educational agencies that 
demonstrate the greatest need for increased access to high-quality, 
early childhood education.
    (h) Monitoring; Reports.--The Secretary shall--
            (1) require each recipient of a grant under this section to 
        monitor and report to the Secretary on the progress achieved 
        through the grant; and
            (2) submit an annual report to the Congress on the progress 
        of grantees under this section.

SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INCREASING RETENTION OF PREKINDERGARTEN TEACHERS.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of Education, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, may make grants to States and 
local educational agencies to increase retention of prekindergarten 
teachers by establishing a career ladder described in subsection (b) 
for such teachers.
    (b) Career Ladder.--A career ladder described in this subsection--
            (1) shall provide incentives for prekindergarten teachers 
        to obtain additional training and education, such as by 
        obtaining certification, an associate's degree, a bachelor's 
        degree, or other recognition of higher education; and
            (2) shall not undermine the valuable contributions of 
        prekindergarten teachers lacking formal education, but having a 
        wealth of early childhood experience.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``eligible prekindergarten teacher'' means an 
        individual who has, or is currently enrolled in classes to 
        obtain, a Bachelor of Arts degree in early childhood 
        development.
            (2) The terms ``local educational agency'' and ``State'' 
        have the meanings given to those terms in section 9101 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        7801).
            (3) The term ``low-income child'' means a child from a 
        family with an income below 200 percent of the poverty line.
            (4) The term ``poverty line'' means the poverty line (as 
        defined by the Office of Management and Budget and revised 
        annually in accordance with section 673(2) of the Community 
        Services Block Grant Act) applicable to a family of the size 
        involved.
            (5) The term ``prekindergarten'' means a program serving 
        children 3, 4, and 5 years of age that requires teachers to 
        equip such children with the pre-literacy, pre-numeracy emotion 
        regulation, and behavioral skills required for school success.
            (6) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    To carry out this Act, there is authorized to be appropriated 
$50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010.
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