United States S 3406: PATHS to Tutor Act of 2025

Bill Text

II
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 3406
To establish a grant program for innovative partnerships among teacher
preparation programs, local educational agencies, and community-based
organizations to expand access to high-quality tutoring in hard-to-staff
schools and high-need schools, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
DECEMBER 9, 2025
Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, and Mr. MURPHY) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To establish a grant program for innovative partnerships
among teacher preparation programs, local educational
agencies, and community-based organizations to expand
access to high-quality tutoring in hard-to-staff schools
and high-need schools, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Partnering Aspiring 4
Teachers with High-need Schools to Tutor Act of 2025’’ 5
or the ‘‘PATHS to Tutor Act of 2025’’. 6
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•S 3406 IS
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR HIGH-QUALITY TUTORING. 1
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 2
(1) EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGENCY.—The 3
term ‘‘educational service agency’’ has the meaning 4
given the term in section 8101 of the Elementary 5
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6
7801). 7
(2) EDUCATOR PREPARATION PROGRAM.—The 8
term ‘‘educator preparation program’’ means a 9
State-accredited program at a public or nonprofit in-10
stitution of higher education or other nonprofit pro-11
vider that prepares individuals to serve as educators. 12
(3) HARD-TO-STAFF SCHOOL.—The term 13
‘‘hard-to-staff school’’ means a high-need school that 14
has a high rate of teacher turnover or a large con-15
centration of teachers in their first or second year 16
of teaching. 17
(4) HIGH-NEED SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘high-need 18
school’’ has the meaning given the term in section 19
2211 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 20
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6631). 21
(5) HIGH-QUALITY TUTORING.—The term 22
‘‘high-quality tutoring’’ means tutoring— 23
(A) that is provided by a tutor; 24
(B) that is one-on-one or in a small group 25
not to exceed a ratio of 1 tutor to 4 students, 26
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•S 3406 IS
or a small group ratio based on evidence deter-1
mined sufficient by the State educational agen-2
cy in the State in which the tutoring takes 3
place; 4
(C) that includes plans and time for tutors 5
to collaborate; 6
(D) that— 7
(i) includes multiple sessions each 8
week that are of sufficient length, such as 9
the length of a regularly scheduled class or 10
period; and 11
(ii) is— 12
(I) embedded in the school sched-13
ule, preferably during the regular 14
school day or tightly integrated to the 15
regular school day and provided be-16
fore or after school; or 17
(II) during school vacations; 18
(E) in which content and grade-specific tu-19
tors are matched with students; 20
(F) that is aligned to local standards and 21
curriculum; 22
(G) that includes high-quality pre-service 23
training and ongoing professional support; 24
(H) that a local consortium facilitates by— 25
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•S 3406 IS
(i) the local educational agency and 1
schools in the local consortium supporting 2
tutors through direct supervision and feed-3
back; and 4
(ii) the faculty or staff of the educator 5
preparation program in the local consor-6
tium providing additional capacity; and 7
(I) where tutors are adequately com-8
pensated for their work. 9
(6) LOCAL CONSORTIUM.—The term ‘‘local con-10
sortium’’ means a consortium consisting of commu-11
nity partners as follows: 12
(A) The consortium shall include the fol-13
lowing entities, one or both of which shall serve 14
as the lead entity of the consortium: 15
(i) A local educational agency, an in-16
dividual school, or an educational service 17
agency. 18
(ii) An educator preparation program. 19
(B) The consortium may include a commu-20
nity partner, such as— 21
(i) a community-based organization; 22
(ii) a child- and youth-serving organi-23
zation or agency; 24
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•S 3406 IS
(iii) an institution of higher education, 1
as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher 2
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3
1001(a)); 4
(iv) a foundation; 5
(v) an educator organization; 6
(vi) an organization representing edu-7
cation professionals; 8
(vii) a local governme