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S. 3736Senate118th Congress (2023-2025)In Committee

Strengthening Educator Workforce Data Act

Sponsored by Richard J. DurbinSen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
Introduced February 6, 2024

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 2:34 PM UTC

The Strengthening Educator Workforce Data Act requires the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to collect and publish detailed information about teachers and principals in public schools. It aims to improve federal data on the educator workforce by tracking experience, licensing, subject certifications, and demographic characteristics. The data will be reported annually and made publicly available, helping policymakers and the public understand workforce composition across states.

Key Provisions

  • Mandates the Department of Education to gather specific metrics on principals, including full‑time counts and years of experience broken into defined categories.
  • Mandates the Department to gather specific metrics on teachers, including full‑time counts, years of experience categories, licensing status, and certifications in math, science, ESL, and special education.
  • Requires all collected data to be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and sex and allows cross‑tabulation of these categories with experience levels.
  • Directs the Secretary to produce a special report after each civil‑rights data collection, summarizing state‑level totals for teachers and principals and presenting disaggregated results in accessible visual formats.
  • Makes the underlying data and the special report publicly available on the Office for Civil Rights website.
  • Ensures privacy protections by coordinating with the Department’s Chief Privacy Officer to keep individual teacher and principal information confidential.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action
SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S423-424)

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

February 6, 2024

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

February 6, 2024

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S423-424)

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

February 6, 2024

Floor Debate

1 member

What members said about S. 3736 on the floor

1 Democrat
Richard J. Durbin
Sen. Richard J. DurbinD-IL · Feb 6, 2024

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Record
Richard J. Durbin
Sen. Richard J. DurbinD-IL · Feb 6, 2024

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Record

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued February 6, 2024

II

118th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 3736

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 6, 2024

Mr. Durbin (for himself and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To strengthen Federal data collection regarding the teacher and principal workforce.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Strengthening Educator Workforce Data Act.

2.

Civil rights data collection on the educator workforce

(a)

Mandatory educator workforce data collection

In carrying out the civil rights data collection required under section 203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)), the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department shall, as part of the data collection, collect and publish the data described in subsection (b) on the educator workforce with respect to teachers and principals.

(b)

Metrics

(1)

In general

A civil rights data collection described in subsection (a) shall include the following metrics from each local educational agency and public elementary school or secondary school that is required to respond to such data collection:

(A)

Principal data

For each local educational agency, the following data regarding principals employed at public elementary schools and secondary schools served by the local educational agency:

(i)

The number of full-time principals employed.

(ii)

Including the year of the data collection—

(I)

the median number of years of principal experience of full-time principals employed; and

(II)

the years of experience of the full-time principals employed, based on the following categories:

(aa)

Less than 1 year of principal experience.

(bb)

At least 1 year but less than 3 years of principal experience.

(cc)

At least 3 years but less than 7 years of principal experience.

(dd)

At least 7 years but less than 15 years of principal experience.

(ee)

15 or more years of principal experience.

(B)

Teacher data

For each local educational agency and public elementary school or secondary school, the following data regarding teachers employed at all public elementary schools and secondary schools served by a local educational agency, and each such school, respectively:

(i)

The number of full-time teachers employed.

(ii)

Including the year of the data collection, but excluding student teaching and similar teaching preparation experiences—

(I)

the median number of years of teaching experience of full-time teachers employed; and

(II)

the years of experience of the full-time teachers employed, based on the following categories:

(aa)

Less than 1 year of teaching experience.

(bb)

At least 1 year but less than 2 years of teaching experience.

(cc)

At least 2 years but less than 5 years of teaching experience.

(dd)

At least 5 years but less than 10 years of teaching experience.

(ee)

At least 10 years but less than 20 years of teaching experience.

(ff)

20 or more years of teaching experience.

(iii)

The number of full-time teachers employed who meet all State licensing and certification requirements.

(iv)

The number of full-time teachers employed who do not meet all State licensing and certification requirements.

(v)

The numbers of full-time teachers employed who meet all State license, certificate, and endorsement requirements in each of the following:

(I)

Mathematics.

(II)

Science.

(III)

English as a second language.

(IV)

Special education.

(2)

Disaggregation and cross-tabulation

The Secretary shall collect the data described in paragraph (1) in a manner that allows the disaggregation and cross-tabulation of each data category (including each subcategory) described in such paragraph by race, ethnicity, and sex, subject to subsection (d).

(c)

Reporting requirements

(1)

Special report

Upon the conclusion of each civil rights data collection that includes the data required under subsection (b), the Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department, shall prepare a special report regarding the educator workforce.

(2)

Contents

The report required under paragraph (1) shall—

(A)

be accessible through the website of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department;

(B)

include information on—

(i)

for each State, the total number of principals in the educator workforce, as calculated in the most recent civil rights data collection that includes the data required under subsection (b), based on a summary of the data collected in accordance with this section; and

(ii)

for each State, the total number of teachers in the educator workforce, as calculated in such data collection, based on a summary of the data collected in accordance with this section; and

(C)

for each category described in subparagraph (B), present in an easily accessible manner, such as through percentages or a graph or other visual representation, the—

(i)

disaggregated results based on race, ethnicity, and sex; and

(ii)

the disaggregated results based on the years of experience categories under subparagraph (A)(ii)(II) or (B)(ii)(II) of subsection (b)(1), as applicable.

(3)

Access to data

The Secretary shall make the underlying data used for the report under paragraph (1) accessible to the public through the website of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department.

(d)

Data privacy

In carrying out data collection, disaggregation, cross-tabulation, and reporting in accordance with this section and under section 203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)), the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department shall coordinate with the Chief Privacy Officer of the Department to ensure that teacher and principal privacy is protected and that individually identifiable information about teachers and principals remains confidential.

(e)

Definitions

In this section:

(1)

ESEA definitions

The terms Department, elementary school, local educational agency, secondary school, and State have the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).

(2)

Teacher

The term teacher means an individual employed as a teacher, including a preschool teacher, at a public elementary school or secondary school.

(f)

Applicability

This section shall apply with respect to each civil rights data collection required under section 203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act that begins on or after the date of enactment of this Act.