[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 11 (Monday, January 29, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S643-S644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FRIST:
  S. 195. A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 to 
establish programs to recruit, retain, and retrain teachers, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today I am introducing the A Million 
Quality Teachers Act.
  Thomas Jefferson once observed that of all the bills in the federal 
code, ``by far the most important is that for the diffusion of 
knowledge among the people. ``No surer foundation,'' he said, ``can be 
devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness.'' President Bush 
has reminded us of the importance of education as well. In his 
Inauguration Speech, he urged all of us to work together to rebuild our 
nation's education system: ``Together we will reclaim America's 
schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives.''
  As President Bush himself noted in that same speech, ``While many of 
our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of 
our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing 
schools, and hidden prejudice, and the circumstances of their birth.'' 
Our current foundation of elementary and secondary education is grossly 
inadequate to enable American children of all income levels and 
backgrounds to best realize the ``American dream'' and the economic 
freedoms that the ``American dream'' encapsulates.
  Most companies dismiss the value of a high school diploma. Twelfth 
grade students in the United States rank near the very bottom on 
international comparisons in math and science. The Third International 
Math and Science Study, the most comprehensive and rigorous comparison 
of quantitative skills across nations, reveals that the longer our 
students stay in the elementary and public school system, the worse 
they perform on standardized tests.
  High school graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed as college 
graduates (3.9% vs. 1.9%). Moreover, the value of a college degree over 
a high school degree is rising. In 1970, a college graduate made 136% 
more than a high school graduate. Today it is 176%. Even more ominous 
are labor participation rates for high school graduates in an 
information economy. While labor force participation for adults is at 
an all time high in the American economy, this boom has masked a 10% 
decline in participation rates for high school graduates since 1970 
from 96.3% to 86.4%.
  Our children cannot afford to be illiterate in mathematics and 
science. The rapidly changing technology revolution demands skills and 
proficiency in mathematics, science, and technology. IT, perhaps the 
fastest growing sector of our economy, relies on more than basic high 
school literacy in mathematics and science.
  We have all heard about the impending teacher shortage. The 
Department of Education estimates that we will need over 2.2 million 
new teachers in the next decade to meet enrollment increases and to 
offset the large number of baby boomer teachers who will soon be 
retiring. Additionally, although America has many high-quality teachers 
already, we do not have enough, and with the impending retirement of 
the baby boomer generation of teachers, we will need even more.
  Many want to continue to devote significant resources to reducing 
class size, and the concept to hire more teachers isn't a bad idea. 
Studies have shown that smaller class size may improve learning under 
certain circumstances. But class size is only a small piece in the 
bigger puzzle to improve America's education system, not the catapult 
that will launch us into education prosperity.
  Unfortunately, there are too many teachers in America today who lack 
proper preparation in the subjects that they teach. My own state of 
Tennessee actually does a good job of ensuring that teachers have at 
least a major or minor in the subject that they teach--well enough to 
receive a grade of A in that category on the recent Thomas Fordham 
Foundation report on teacher quality in the states. Even in Tennessee, 
however, 64.5% of teachers teaching physical science do not even have a 
minor in the subject. Among history teachers, nearly 50% did not major 
or minor in history. Many other states do worse.
  Additionally, there is consensus that we are not attracting enough of 
the best and the brightest to teaching, and not retaining enough of the 
best of those that we attract. According to Harvard economist Richard 
Murnane, ``College graduates with high test scores are less likely to 
become teachers, licensed teachers with high test scores are less 
likely to take jobs, employed teachers with high test scores are less 
likely to stay, and former teachers with high test scores are less 
likely to return.''
  A Million Quality Teachers seeks to change that by recruiting, and 
helping states recruit into the teaching profession top-quality 
students who have majored in academic subjects. We want teachers 
teaching math who have majored in and who love math. We want teachers 
teaching science who have majored in and who love science. This bill 
helps draw those students into teaching for a few years at the very 
least, and studies have shown that new teachers are most effective in 
the first couple of years of teaching. This bill would attract new 
students, and different kinds of students, into teaching by offering 
significant loan repayment.
  While teachers are one of our nation's most critical professions, it 
is often very difficult to attract highly skilled and marketable 
college students and graduates because of a profound lack of 
competitive salaries and the burden of student loans. In addition to 
the loan forgiveness and alternative certification stipends, the 
legislation will allow states to use up to $1.3 billion originally 
designated in a lump sum to hire more teachers to instead allow the 
states to use that money more creatively in programs to attract the 
kind of quality teachers they need but cannot afford. Using innovative 
tools already tested by many states, such as signing bonuses, loan 
forgiveness, payment of certification costs, and income tax credits, 
states will be able to once again make teaching an attractive and 
competitive career for our brightest college graduates. Additionally, 
the legislation does not limit states to these tools, but allows them 
to receive grants to continue testing other innovative and new programs 
for the same purposes.
  There are two parts to the bill. Part I is a competitive grant 
program for States to enable them to run their own innovative quality 
teacher recruitment, retention and retraining programs. Part II is a 
loan forgiveness and alternative certification scholarship program to 
entice individuals with strong academic backgrounds into teaching.

  The State grant program will help States focus on recruitment, 
retention and retraining in the way that best serves the individual 
State. Some states may decide to offer a teacher

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signing bonus program like the widely publicized and very successful 
program in Massachusetts. Other states may choose to institute teacher 
testing and merit pay, or to award performance bonuses to outstanding 
teachers. The program is very flexible, yet the State must be 
accountable for improving the quality of teachers in that State.
  States who participate must submit a plan for how they intend to use 
funds under the program and how they expect teacher quality to increase 
as a result, including the expected increase in the number of teachers 
who majored in the academic subject in which they teach, and the number 
of teachers who received alternative certification, if the funds are 
used for recruitment activities. If the funds are used for retention or 
retraining, the State must focus on how the program will decrease 
teacher attrition and increase the effectiveness of existing teachers.
  States must also report at the end of the three-year grant on how the 
program increased teacher quality and increased the number of teachers 
with academic majors in the subjects in which they teach and the number 
of teachers that received alternative certification and/or how the 
program decreased teacher attrition and increased the effectiveness of 
existing teachers.
  The loan forgiveness provision is different than loan forgiveness 
already in current law in that it targets a different population: 
students in college or graduate school today who are excelling in an 
academic subject. The purpose is to attract students into teaching who 
might not otherwise choose to pursue a teaching career and who are 
majoring in an academic subject.
  Any eligible student may take advantage of the loan forgiveness and 
deferral. An eligible student has majored in a core academic subject 
with at least a 3.0 GPA and has not been a full-time teacher 
previously. Loan payments are deferred for as long as the student is 
obtaining alternative certification or teaching in a public school.
  The premise of the bill is that teaching is, or will soon be, like 
other professions where there is at least some degree of transience. In 
fact, recent studies show that most new teachers leave within four 
years. But these studies also show that new teachers are most effective 
in the first few years of teaching. This bill would attract new 
students, and different kinds of students, into teaching by offering 
significant loan repayment.
  Alternative certification stipends will provide a seamless transition 
for a student from school into teaching. The bill provides stipends to 
students who have received their academic degrees from a college or 
university in order to obtain certification through alternative means. 
Students who have received assistance under the loan forgiveness 
section get first priority, but any student who has received a 
bachelors or advanced degree in a core academic subject with a GPA of 
at least 3.0 and who has never taught full-time in a public school is 
eligible. Students would receive the lesser of $5,000 or the costs of 
the alternative certification program, in exchange for agreeing to 
teach in a public school for 2 years.
  The job of every new generation is to meet civilization's new 
problems, improve its new opportunities, and explore its ever-expanding 
horizons, creating dreams not just for themselves, but for all who come 
after. Our job--the job of the current generation--is to help them do 
just that. Learning is the future. Education is the key. We must embark 
upon a national effort to bring it up to a standard demanded by the 
challenge, and improving teacher quality is the first step. I hope that 
my colleagues will concur.
                                 ______