[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1137 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1137

    To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to 
           establish a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2009

 Mr. Feingold (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Sanders, and 
   Mr. Dodd) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to 
           establish a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee.

    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 ``Teachers at the Table Act''.

SEC. 2. VOLUNTEER TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 
et seq.) is amended by adding after section 1004 (20 U.S.C. 6304) the 
following:

``SEC. 1005. VOLUNTEER TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish an advisory 
committee, to be known as the Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee 
(referred to in this section as the `Committee').
    ``(b) Duties and Focus.--The duty of the Committee shall be to 
monitor the effects of this Act, on the ground and in classrooms, and 
the focus of the Committee shall solely be on children and families.
    ``(c) Membership.--
            ``(1) In general.--The membership of the Committee shall 
        consist of 20 public elementary school or secondary school 
        classroom teachers who--
                    ``(A) are past or present Teachers of the Year;
                    ``(B) have received training, or demonstrated 
                experience, in methods of data collection, analysis, 
                and reporting; and
                    ``(C) have submitted an application to the 
                Secretary to serve on the Committee.
            ``(2) List; appointment.--The Secretary shall compile a 
        list of teachers submitting applications under paragraph 
        (1)(B). The members of the Committee shall be appointed as 
        follows:
                    ``(A) The Secretary shall appoint 4 teachers from 
                the list.
                    ``(B) The majority leader of the Senate shall 
                appoint 4 teachers from the list.
                    ``(C) The minority leader of the Senate shall 
                appoint 4 teachers from the list.
                    ``(D) The Speaker of the House of Representatives 
                shall appoint 4 teachers from the list.
                    ``(E) The minority leader of the House of 
                Representatives shall appoint 4 teachers from the list.
            ``(3) Representation requirement.--The members of the 
        Committee shall represent diverse and multiple geographic, 
        grade level, and specialty areas.
            ``(4) Term.--Each member of the Committee shall serve on 
        the Committee for a 2-year term.
    ``(d) Annual Report.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Committee shall submit to Congress 
        and the Secretary--
                    ``(A) on an annual basis, a report on the 
                monitoring carried out under subsection (b); and
                    ``(B) on a quarterly basis, updates on such 
                monitoring.
            ``(2) Contents of report.--The report submitted under 
        paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, the following:
                    ``(A) Both quantitative and qualitative data that 
                evaluate the effect of this section on student 
                achievement.
                    ``(B) The effect of this section on closing the 
                achievement gap between high- and low-performing 
                students, including the students identified under 
                section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II).
    ``(e) Authorization of Funds.--Of the amounts appropriated to, and 
available at the discretion of, the Secretary for programmatic and 
administrative expenditures for fiscal years 2010 through 2014, a total 
of $500,000 shall be used to establish and carry out the functions of 
the Committee established under this section.''.
                                 <all>