[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>