[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4833 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4833

    To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to local 
          educational agencies to carry out teacher exchanges.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 2010

 Mr. Pierluisi (for himself, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Baca, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. 
     Farr, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
   Gutierrez, Mr. Honda, Ms. Kosmas, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Reyes, Mr. 
  Rodriguez, and Mr. Sires) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to local 
          educational agencies to carry out teacher exchanges.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. TEACHER EXCHANGE PROGRAM.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Teacher Exchange 
Act of 2010''.
    (b) Establishment.--The Secretary of Education may make grants to 
local educational agencies to carry out teacher exchanges in which one 
local educational agency sends teachers to another local educational 
agency located in a different geographic region for a school year.
    (c) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, a local educational agency shall submit an application to the 
Secretary certifying that such agency--
            (1) has entered into a partnership with a receiving local 
        educational agency that is located in a different geographic 
        region, as determined by the Secretary, or has actively sought 
        such a partnership; and
            (2)(A) is a high-need local educational agency; or
            (B) has entered into a partnership described in paragraph 
        (1) with a high-need local educational agency, or has actively 
        sought such a partnership.
    (d) Use of Funds.--The recipient of a grant under this section 
shall use the grant for each of the following purposes:
            (1) Carrying out a teacher exchange under which the 
        recipient sends teachers employed by the recipient to a 
        receiving local educational agency to teach or perform a 
        similar function at such agency as such teachers had previously 
        performed.
            (2) Developing and implementing a plan, through the 
        partnership described in subsection (b), to provide 
        participating teachers with activities designed to promote 
        professional development, including--
                    (A) an orientation session or courses to prepare 
                such teachers for--
                            (i) the exchange experience;
                            (ii) the community in which the receiving 
                        local educational agency is located and the 
                        schools in such agency; and
                            (iii) the particular grade level and 
                        curriculum assigned to the participating 
                        teacher by the receiving local educational 
                        agency;
                    (B) a mentoring program through which a 
                participating teacher is paired with a mentor (who is 
                not also a participating teacher) employed by the 
                receiving local educational agency who teaches in the 
                same grade level or subject area that the participating 
                teacher has been assigned to teach under the exchange;
                    (C) a forum for participating teachers, led by an 
                administrator or teacher at the receiving local 
                educational agency, to engage in ongoing professional 
                development focused on improving classroom instruction 
                to result in improved student outcomes, including 
                reading educational research, reviewing student work, 
                creating and reviewing formative and summative 
                assessments, analyzing data from student assessments, 
                and tracking student progress; and
                    (D) content-specific programs designed to support 
                participating teachers in teaching the specific 
                curriculum in place at the receiving local education 
                agency and at the grade level to which the 
                participating teacher is assigned.
            (3) Reimbursing each participating teacher for travel 
        expenses incurred by the participating teacher while traveling 
        to and from the receiving local educational agency, not more 
        than twice per calendar year, for the purpose of participating 
        in a teacher exchange funded by a grant under this section.
            (4) Providing housing for participating teachers while 
        participating in such an exchange, including cost of living 
        increases as necessary to provide such housing.
            (5) Providing a living stipend to participating teachers 
        that--
                    (A) is added to the regular salary of such teachers 
                each pay period, for the duration of the exchange; and
                    (B) includes an annual cost-of-living adjustment.
            (6) Reimbursing the receiving local educational agency for 
        supplies or other incidental items purchased for use by 
        participating teachers during such an exchange.
    (e) Restriction.--The recipient of a grant under this section may 
not use the grant to pay the regular salary of participating teachers 
during the period of an exchange funded by a grant under this section.
    (f) Conditions.--As a condition of receiving a grant under this 
section, a grant recipient shall--
            (1) ensure that each participating teacher in an exchange 
        funded under this section has at least three years of teaching 
        experience prior to participating in such exchange;
            (2) certify that such participation shall not serve as 
        grounds for the grant recipient terminating the employment of a 
        participating teacher;
            (3) ensure by contract or agreement with each participating 
        teacher that each teacher agrees to serve--
                    (A) in the receiving local educational agency for a 
                school year; and
                    (B) in the local educational agency that selected 
                such teacher for participation in the exchange for the 
                duration of the two-year period following such 
                participation unless the Secretary after determining 
                that the performance of such service poses a 
                significant hardship to the teacher, waives such 
                condition;
            (4) certify that upon the failure of a participating 
        teacher to satisfy a condition in paragraph (2), the grant 
        recipient shall--
                    (A) recover from such teacher the amount of the 
                grant funds that have been remitted to or on behalf of 
                such teacher on a pro-rata basis (as determined by the 
                Secretary); and
                    (B) return the funds recovered under subparagraph 
                (A) to the Secretary not later than 60 days after the 
                recovery of such funds; and
            (5) if the recipient has not entered into an agreement with 
        a receiving local educational agency by the date that is 6 
        months after the date of the the receipt of the grant, return 
        the grant to the Secretary.
    (g) Selection Criteria.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Secretary of Education shall give priority to local educational 
agencies that--
            (1) have entered into partnerships with receiving local 
        educational agencies before applying for a grant under this 
        section;
            (2) the Secretary determines would be able to provide 
        participating teachers with training or experience such 
        teachers would not receive from teaching in the local 
        educational agency where such teachers are employed, including 
        immersion in a linguistically different culture; and
            (3) focus on instruction in science, math, English as a 
        second language, special education, or other subject areas that 
        have a high need for qualified teachers, as determined by the 
        Secretary.
    (h) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 9101(26) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(26)).
            (2) The term ``high-need local educational agency'' means 
        an agency as defined in section 2102(2) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6602(3)).
            (3) The term ``receiving local educational agency'' means a 
        local educational agency to which a participating teacher will 
        be sent for the duration of the exchange funded by a grant 
        under this section.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2011 through 2016 to carry out this Act.
                                 <all>