Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
Issues
Education
Inslee ReIntroduces "Teachers for Tomorrow" Bill
August 3, 2001
Mr. Speaker, today I proudly introduce the Teachers for Tomorrow Act of 2001 (H.R. 2765), a bill to address the serious teacher shortage in our nation's schools. We have over 53 million students in America's elementary and secondary schools--a new enrollment record. Unfortunately, we lack the most important part of the equation--teachers!
Nationwide, we will need an additional 2 million teachers over the next ten years. There are particular shortages in specific subject areas such as math, science, bilingual education and special education. For the first time in my district in Washington State, teaching positions have remained vacant.
We cannot afford to allow the current trend to continue where our best and brightest students ignore the teaching profession or leave it altogether. A million teachers are expected to retire over the next ten years, and they are leaving the classroom faster than new teachers are graduating from college. Even more troublesome is the fact that only half of new teachers in urban public schools are still teaching after five years. These are serious warning signs of a teacher shortage and an upcoming crisis if we do not act to recruit and retain teachers.
We must do more to empower new college graduates to choose education as a career. My legislation would permit every public elementary and secondary school teacher to apply for 100% federal loan forgiveness. Current law only applies to teachers that teach specific subject areas or in low-income schools. For teachers of disabled students, specific subject areas, or in low-income schools, my bill would guarantee loan forgiveness over three years. All other teachers would be eligible for loan forgiveness over five years.
Loan forgiveness would be granted for continuing education loans, in order for teachers to pursue advanced degrees. Moreover, rather than allowing these financial incentives to unfairly push teachers into a higher tax bracket, any loan forgiveness would be granted tax neutral status.
Finally, our teachers deserve to use the benefit of their experience and be able to guide their classrooms and schools with local control. My bill maintains the ability of local schools to make hiring, firing and other decisions as they see fit.
Our teachers deserve our highest accolades for educating our nation's children. We ought to thank them for the meaningful work they do every day. I hope that by forgiving federal loans, this legislation will draw more successful students into the teaching profession, and help to retain their experience.
I submit to my colleagues a plan to recruit and retain qualified teachers. We cannot shirk our duty to provide a high quality education to every child. I urge my colleagues to meet this challenge and support this legislation.