[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 150 (Friday, October 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 3156, THE TECH FLEX BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 28, 1999

  Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise regarding an issue important to the 
students, teachers, and educators in the 13th District of Pennsylvania.
  When I was first elected to Congress, I decided to embark on a 
deliberate strategy to get to know the schools in my community. I 
wanted to hear directly from educators how their schools were doing and 
what their needs were.
  To get the best feedback, I sent out an education survey to every 
school in the district and set up a series of roundtable discussions 
open to parents, teachers, principals, and superintendents.
  One of the most important things I learned was that the schools in my 
district all placed a high priority on educating children using the 
best technology available. For this, I applaud them.
  I also learned that on average, my schools are doing well in terms of 
computer hardware, with a good number of computers available to both 
teachers and students.
  But the schools need help providing additional opportunities for 
training teachers to use that hardware and integrate the tools of the 
information age into everyday classroom learning. Teachers want more 
training in technology.
  And the educators explained to me that they face a key obstacle: 
while technology training courses have been available, too many 
teachers find it impossible to get away from the classroom to attend 
the trainings because of a lack of substitute teachers.
  Is that not ironic? The training teachers need is in sight, but they 
simply cannot get to it.
  To overcome this disconnect, yesterday I introduced H.R. 3156, the 
Teacher Training in Technology Flexibility Act (Tech Flex).
  Tech Flex would add new flexibility to the use of funds under 
technology training programs for teachers, allowing local school 
districts to hire substitutes, provide teachers with paid release time, 
and provide other incentives to overcome barriers to accessing 
technology training.
  The bill would do so by amending the Technology for Education Act of 
1994 to clarify that release time and incentives are permissible and 
encouraged expenditures under existing teacher technology training 
programs.
  ``Release time and other incentives'' includes leave from work, 
providing for a substitute, payment for travel expenses, and stipends 
to encourage teachers and other school personnel to participate in 
training on the use of technology in education.
  Under the bill, school districts could apply for a competitive grant 
under the state-administered Technology Literacy Challenge Fund and the 
federally-administered Technology Innovation Challenge Grant and use 
the resulting funds for release time and incentives, among other 
authorized activities.
  This would allow teachers to break away from class and attend these 
important technology training courses.
  To close, Mr. Speaker, this bill would help overcome a real 
impediment to the professional development of teachers in technology 
and allow students to get the most out of the hardware investments made 
by our schools, and I ask my colleagues' support.

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