[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 117 (Wednesday, September 27, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1606-E1607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCTION OF THE ``TEACHERS FOR TOMORROW'' ACT

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                            HON. JAY INSLEE

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 2000

  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce Teachers for Tomorrow, a 
bill to address the serious teacher shortage in our nation's

[[Page E1607]]

schools. We have 54.4 million students in America's schools--the 
greatest it has ever been. But we lack the most important part of the 
equation--teachers! Nationwide, we will need an additional 2.2 million 
teachers in 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. Where the median age of teachers is 42 years old, it is 
glaring evidence that new graduates are not entering the teaching 
field. There are a million teachers ready to retire in the next decade, 
leaving the classroom faster than new teachers are graduating from 
college. Even more troublesome is that only half of new teachers in 
urban public schools are still teaching after five years. Moreover, the 
new teachers who are twice as likely to leave are those with the 
highest scores on standardized tests. These are serious warning signs 
of the current teacher shortage and upcoming crisis if we do not act to 
recruit and retain teachers.
  There are everyday heroes in classrooms throughout America. We must 
face the fact that our teachers are getting older and we are failing to 
make teaching a viable option for today's students and young 
professionals. We have to continue to make sure that our top graduates 
continue to enter the teaching profession. This legislation would do 
Just that.
  We need to empower individuals to make the decision to be a teacher. 
We need to make it possible for more specialty teachers and more 
teachers overall to enter our nation's public school system. This 
legislation would permit every public elementary and secondary school 
teacher to apply for loan forgiveness. Current law only applies to 
teachers that teach in certain specific areas or low-income schools. 
This bill would also increase the incentives to meet specific 
instruction needs by establishing a three-year program of direct 
reimbursement for those teachers. All other teachers would be eligible 
for a five-year program of indirect loan forgiveness. Both programs 
would forgive 100 percent of the incurred loan debt.
  Additionally, this bill grants other incentives for new teachers. 
Under income tax laws, loan forgiveness would be granted tax-neutral 
status. This prevents the current problem where loans are treated as 
additional income that effectively place teachers into an 
inappropriately high tax bracket.
  This is the only loan forgiveness legislation that provides for 
continuing education. Teachers need to be given the opportunity to 
continue their professional development. With increased expertise and 
training, they will be able to impart that much more knowledge into 
their lessons and students' learning processes.
  Furthermore, our teachers deserve to use the benefit of their 
experience and be able to guide their classrooms and schools with local 
control. As leaders in the community, teachers and school 
administrators know how make the best decisions for their students. 
This legislation only provides federal loan forgiveness where graduates 
have incurred federal loans. It maintains the ability of local schools 
to make hiring, firing and other decisions as they see fit. Local 
school administration is not a business the federal government should 
be in.
  We need to support our teachers. 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. Our students, the future of 
our country, learn under the hard work and patience of our teachers and 
they merit our appreciation.
  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.

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