[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5833 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5833

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve 
 retention of public elementary and secondary school teachers, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 19, 2006

 Mr. George Miller of California introduced the following bill; which 
      was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve 
 retention of public elementary and secondary school teachers, 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 ``Teacher Centers Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) There are not enough qualified teachers in the Nation's 
        classrooms, and an unprecedented number of teachers will retire 
        over the next 5 years. Over the next decade, the Nation will 
        need to bring 2,000,000 new teachers into public schools.
            (2) Too many teachers do not receive adequate preparation 
        for their jobs.
            (3) Teacher turnover is a serious problem, particularly in 
        urban and rural areas. Over one-third of new teachers leave the 
        profession within their first 3 years of teaching, and 14 
        percent of new teachers leave the field within the first year. 
        After 5 years--the average time it takes for teachers to 
        maximize students' learning--half of all new teachers will have 
        exited the profession. Rates of teacher attrition are highest 
        in high-poverty schools. Between 2000 and 2001, 1 out of 5 
        teachers in the Nation's high-poverty schools either left to 
        teach in another school or dropped out of teaching altogether.
            (4) Research shows that individual teachers have a great 
        impact on how well their students learn. The most effective 
        teachers have been shown to be able to boost their pupils' 
        learning by a full grade level relative to students taught by 
        less effective teachers.
            (5) Only 16 States finance new teacher induction programs, 
        and fewer still require inductees to be matched with mentors 
        who teach the same subject.

SEC. 3. IMPROVING RETENTION OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL 
              TEACHERS.

    (a) In General.--Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

                      ``PART E--TEACHER RETENTION

``SEC. 2501. TEACHER CENTERS.

    ``(a) Grants.--The Secretary may make grants to eligible entities 
for the establishment and operation of new teacher centers or the 
support of existing teacher centers.
    ``(b) Special Consideration.--In making grants under this section, 
the Secretary shall give special consideration to any application 
submitted by an eligible entity that is--
            ``(1) a high-need local educational agency; or
            ``(2) a consortium that includes at least one high-need 
        local educational agency.
    ``(c) Duration.--Each grant under this section shall be for a 
period of 3 years.
    ``(d) Required Activities.--A teacher center receiving assistance 
under this section shall carry out each of the following activities:
            ``(1) Providing high-quality professional development to 
        teachers to assist them in improving their knowledge, skills, 
        and teaching practices in order to help students to improve 
        their achievement and meet State academic standards.
            ``(2) Providing teachers with information on developments 
        in curricula, assessments, and educational research, including 
        the manner in which the research and data can be used to 
        improve teaching skills and practice.
            ``(3) Providing training and support for new teachers.
    ``(e) Permissible Activities.--A teacher center may use assistance 
under this section for any of the following:
            ``(1) Assessing the professional development needs of the 
        teachers and other instructional school employees, such as 
        librarians, counselors, and paraprofessionals, to be served by 
        the center.
            ``(2) Providing intensive support to staff to improve 
        instruction in literacy, math, science, and other curricular 
        areas necessary to provide a well-rounded education to 
        students.
            ``(3) Providing support to mentors working with new 
        teachers.
            ``(4) Providing training in effective instructional 
        services and classroom management strategies for mainstream 
        teachers serving students with disabilities and students with 
        limited English proficiency.
            ``(5) Enabling teachers to engage in study groups and other 
        collaborative activities and collegial interactions regarding 
        instruction.
            ``(6) Paying for release time and substitute teachers in 
        order to enable teachers to participate in the activities of 
        the teacher center.
            ``(7) Creating libraries of professional materials and 
        educational technology.
            ``(8) Providing high-quality professional development for 
        other instructional staff, such as paraprofessionals, 
        librarians, and counselors.
            ``(9) Assisting teachers to become highly qualified and 
        paraprofessionals to become teachers.
            ``(10) Assisting paraprofessionals to meet the requirements 
        of section 1119.
            ``(11) Developing curricula.
            ``(12) Incorporating additional on-line professional 
        development resources for participants.
            ``(13) Providing funding for individual- or group-initiated 
        classroom projects.
            ``(14) Developing partnerships with businesses and 
        community-based organizations.
            ``(15) Establishing a teacher center site.
    ``(f) Teacher Center Policy Board.--
            ``(1) In general.--A teacher center receiving assistance 
        under this section shall be operated under the supervision of a 
        teacher center policy board.
            ``(2) Membership.--
                    ``(A) Teacher representatives.--The majority of the 
                members of a teacher center policy board shall be 
                representatives of, and selected by, the elementary and 
                secondary school teachers to be served by the teacher 
                center. Such representatives shall be selected through 
                the teacher organization, or if there is no teacher 
                organization, by the teachers directly.
                    ``(B) Other representatives.--The members of a 
                teacher center policy board--
                            ``(i) shall include at least two members 
                        who are representatives of, or designated by, 
                        the school board of the local educational 
                        agency to be served by the teacher center;
                            ``(ii) shall include at least one member 
                        who is a representative of, and is designated 
                        by, the institutions of higher education (with 
                        departments or schools of education) located in 
                        the area; and
                            ``(iii) may include paraprofessionals.
    ``(g) Application.--
            ``(1) In general.--To seek a grant under this section, an 
        eligible entity shall submit an application at such time, in 
        such manner, and accompanied by such information as the 
        Secretary may reasonably require.
            ``(2) Assurance of compliance.--An application under 
        paragraph (1) shall include an assurance that the applicant 
        will require any teacher center receiving assistance through 
        the grant to comply with the requirements of this section.
            ``(3) Teacher center policy board.--An application under 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following:
                    ``(A) An assurance that--
                            ``(i) the applicant has established a 
                        teacher center policy board;
                            ``(ii) the board participated fully in the 
                        preparation of the application; and
                            ``(iii) the board approved the application 
                        as submitted.
                    ``(B) A description of the membership of the board 
                and the method of its selection.
    ``(h) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `eligible entity' means a local educational 
        agency or a consortium of 2 or more local educational agencies.
            ``(2) The term `high-need' means, with respect to an 
        elementary school or a secondary school, a school that serves 
        an eligible school attendance area in which not less than 65 
        percent of the children are from low-income families, based on 
        the number of children eligible for free and reduced priced 
        lunches under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 
        or in which not less than 65 percent of the children enrolled 
        are from such families.
            ``(3) The term `high-need local educational agency' means a 
        local educational agency--
                    ``(A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 children 
                from families with incomes below the poverty line, or 
                for which not less than 20 percent of the children 
                served by the agency are from families with incomes 
                below the poverty line; and
                    ``(B) that is having or expected to have difficulty 
                filling teacher vacancies or hiring new teachers who 
                are highly qualified.
            ``(4) The term `teacher center policy board' means a 
        teacher center policy board described in subsection (f).
    ``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for fiscal year 
2007 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding 
fiscal years.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents at section 2 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et 
seq.) is amended by inserting after the items relating to part D of 
title II of such Act the following new items:

                      ``Part E--Teacher Retention

``Sec. 2501. Teacher Centers.''.
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