[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 78 (Thursday, May 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6324-S6325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. TORRICELLI:
  S. 1173. A bill to provide for a teacher quality enhancement and 
incentive program; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.


               teacher quality enhancement incentive act

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, today I am introducing the 
Teacher Quality Enhancement and Incentive Act. I rise to focus the 
nation's attention on the potentially critical shortage of school 
teachers we will be facing in upcoming years. While K-12 enrollments 
are steadily increasing the teacher population is aging. There is a 
need, now more than ever, to attract competent, capable, and bright 
college graduates or mid-career professionals to the teaching 
profession.
  The Department of Education projects that 2 million new teachers will 
have to be hired in the next decade. Shortage, if they occur, will most 
likely be felt in urban or rural regions of the country where working 
conditions may be difficult or compensation low. We cannot create a 
high quality learning environment for our students if they are forced 
into over-crowded classrooms with under-qualified instructors. If our 
students are to receive a high quality education and remain competitive 
in the global market we must attract talented and motivated people to 
the teaching profession in large numbers.
  Law firms, technology firms, and many other industries typically 
offer signing bonuses in order to attract the best possible candidates 
to their organizations. Part of making the teaching profession 
competitive with the private sector is to match these institutional 
perks.
  This bill would authorize $15 million per year over the next five 
years for the Department of Education to award grants to local 
educational agencies (LEAs) for the purpose of attracting highly 
qualified individuals to teaching. These grants will enable LEAs in 
high poverty and rural areas to award new teachers a $15,000 tax free 
salary bonus, spread over their first two years of employment, over and 
above their regular starting salary. These bonuses will attract 
teachers to districts where they are most needed.
  On an annual basis, LEAs will use competitive criteria to select the 
best and brightest teaching candidates based on objective measures, 
including test scores, grade point average or class rank and such other 
criteria as each LEA may determine. The number of bonuses awarded 
depends upon the number of students enrolled in the LEA.
  Teachers who receive the bonus will be required to teach in low 
income or rural areas for a minimum of four years. If they fail to work 
the four year minimum they will be required to repay the bonus they 
received.
  By making this funding available. America's schools will better be 
able to compete with businesses for the best and brightest college 
graduates. These new teachers will, in turn, produce better students 
and lower the risk of a possible teacher shortage. With arguably the 
most successful economy of

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any nation in history, we should be doing more to make teaching an 
attractive career alternative for qualified and motivated individuals. 
The Teacher Quality Enhancement and Incentive Act will be an excellent 
first step.
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