Teacher Recruitment Act of 2003

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 309, I call up the bill (H.R. 438) to increase the amount of student loans that may be forgiven for teachers in mathematics, science, and special education, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 438.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 438, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act of 2003. I congratulate my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Columbia, South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), for introducing this bipartisan legislation and shepherding it through the committee process.

H.R. 438 is simple in its purpose and structure, but monumental in its potential to improve the lives of our Nation's students. The bill before us provides for increased loan forgiveness for highly qualified math, science, and special education teachers teaching in high-need schools. These teachers must agree to teach for 5 consecutive years in schools that many of our disadvantaged students attend.

In January of 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, the bipartisan kindergarten through 12th grade education reform package that, for the first time, demands accountability and results in exchange for the billions of Federal dollars invested in the education of our

Nation's students. In No Child Left Behind, we call for a highly qualified teacher in every public school by the 2005-2006 school year. We have been providing resources to meet that goal and, in fact, a 35 percent increase in funding for teacher quality grants in the first year of No Child Left Behind, and the funding increases continue to come.

Now, with the bill before us today, we are building on that unequivocal financial commitment by increasing the loan forgiveness for teachers we need the most: in our high-needs schools. It is just one more way that this Congress is showing unwavering support for the Nation's schoolteachers.

Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that there are few more important issues in this country than education of our Nation's children. More importantly, we want our children to be taught by caring, committed, and educated professionals. This bill will enable high-need elementary and secondary schools to attract highly qualified teachers and get the best and brightest into our classrooms.

H.R. 438 will provide up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness for math, science, and special education teachers. These particular subject areas are facing extreme shortages, and our children are the ones who are suffering because of it. We must address this crisis in our classrooms. We recognize that teachers often face the greatest financial hardships in their early years of their career, and, for that reason, these teachers will begin to receive this assistance after the second year of teaching service is completed, which will continue annually through the completion of the required 5 years. This is yet one more way we are trying to assist teachers by reducing the financial burdens and in providing a more effective incentive for these much-needed teachers to remain in our poorer schools.

Mr. Speaker, a lack of highly qualified math, science, and special education teachers leaves our schools with large vacancies and shortchanges our children, and the success of our Nation depends on being able to compete in a global economy, and by providing a quality education to all of our children is where this must begin.

The National Science Foundation Director, Rita Colwell, said, ``The lack of competitiveness of U.S. K-12 students has much larger ramifications than simply providing enough mathematicians and scientists for laboratories.'' And I will continue, ``In these technological times, general scientific and mathematical literacy is crucial to the entire workforce and has implications for our economy into the future.''

We must continue our efforts to recruit and retain the best and brightest into the field, and, more importantly, in high-need subject areas. H.R. 438 provides the right incentive for students to enter teaching and for those who are currently teaching to stay.

I am particularly pleased that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have worked closely with us to craft an amendment that recognizes a fundamental role that reading plays in a child's education. As the President has said, reading is the new civil right, and for that reason I am happy to support the amendment offered by our ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) that will include highly qualified State-certified reading specialists among those eligible for the increase in loan forgiveness. By recognizing that reading is the foundation of all other learning, this amendment will strengthen our efforts to improve results for students.

In addition, I strongly support this amendment because, despite the increased costs, it remains within our budget parameters without reducing the number of schools eligible that are eligible to receive this incentive. This is the key. It expands this vital resource without reducing opportunities for schools, which I think is the biggest downfall to other amendments that could have been offered to this bill today.

I want to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 438. A vote for this bill is a vote to support our Nation's students and our teachers, and H.R. 438 tells each and every one of them that their education, their future and the future of our country are vitally important, and that this Congress stands behind them.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support of the ranking member of the subcommittee on the bill we have before us today, but once again we get into this other issue, and that is education funding.

Now, we all know about 90 percent of the funds for primary and secondary education, K-12, come from State and local sources. Federal Government's role has been to go in and help high-poverty schools and students who come from high-poverty neighborhoods. And if you look at the funding levels from fiscal year 2001, we spent $28 billion in K-12 funding. If you are look at fiscal year 2003, some 2 years later, you will see that we are spending $35.7 billion. Now, that is a great example of letting the perfect become the enemy of the good.

I think most Members on both sides of the aisle believe that we have done more than anyone could ever have expected the Federal Government to do in terms of increasing our funding for K-12 education programs so that we can meet our commitment to leave no child behind. We are doing our share. Unfortunately, the States are having great difficulty with their budgets, and some are having to cut education programs that they would rather not. But we cannot make up for the shortfalls and the problems that the States are having. We are doing our share. I am sure they will find a way to do theirs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon), the subcommittee chairman, the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Another wonderful example of let us let the perfect become the enemy of the good. The President in his proposal, and Senator Graham when he was a former House Member, made it clear that the focus here was to look at high-poverty schools and look at the basics, math, science and special education.

In committee, and I am sure on the floor today, we are going to hear calls

for, well, this is a good bill but: but we need loan forgiveness for Head Start teachers; we need loan forgiveness for librarians; we need loan forgiveness for reading teachers, and the list went on and on and on. If we were to have done all of those, one, we would have not the budget to do it or, secondly, so few schools would qualify that maybe one out of 10 schools under this bill would actually get some help.

Our job is to make decisions, and what we are trying to do here is to focus in on the highest needs in our poorest schools.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), our good friend and a member of the committee and the author of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I just want to take a moment to thank the gentleman from Michigan and his colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), before all of our colleagues, because these two scientists, who happen to both sit on our committee, have been relentless in their efforts to get Congress to fund math and science education; and whether it be in the bill that we have before us for title I schools or in broader programs that affect teachers in other schools, these two gentlemen have really, relentless does not even begin to describe their tenacity in ensuring that Congress steps up to what is needed to help math and science education in all of our schools. I just want to say thanks.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the ranking member of our committee, on our ability to put this amendment together and bring it to the floor. As we were looking at the loan forgiveness bill and the budget we were given to work with it, we realized in committee that we had a little more room, and so the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and I had a discussion about these reading specialists.

They do provide a very important service in many of our poorer schools in terms of helping students to read, helping to train those others who teach reading, and I do think it is an important addition to the bill.

As the President said the other day and has said on a number of occasions, reading is the new civil right, a quote given to him by a lady on the campaign trail at one time. We all know if you cannot read, trying to learn any subject, trying to function in our society is not going to happen.

When we look at the test scores that the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) referred to several minutes ago, they are basically flat. We have a real serious problem in many of our schools because kids are not being taught to read. Now this is somewhat incomprehensible to many of us; but we are engaged with our kids, or in the case of the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), his grandchildren. We are working with our kids, exposing them to books and exposing them to reading. Unfortunately, many kids in America are not being exposed. Their parents have two jobs, or a single parent having to work. The extra focus that we put into No Child Left Behind on increasing the amount of funds available to target kindergarten through third graders is critical if we are serious about leaving no child behind. I congratulate the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) on his amendment, and urge my colleagues to adopt it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), a former chairman of the school board of the State of Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 438. This legislation does provide much needed loan forgiveness for math, science and special education teachers in high need schools. It is critical that we provide school districts with the resources they need to recruit and retain the best teachers for our children, especially in these vital subject areas. In addition, legislation that we are debating today was improved over the introduced version through the adoption of an amendment by our colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt). This amendment provides for incremental loan forgiveness over the 5-year period of service as a teacher, rather than at the end of such service. This critical improvement will make loan forgiveness an attractive means to recruit and retain high-quality teachers in our most disadvantaged schools.

While H.R. 438 is a good start, we should be doing more. The scope of this bill is limited to math, science and special education teachers. These are critical areas in which we do have shortages of highly qualified teachers. However, we should also be extending loan forgiveness to other vital teaching areas such as Head Start teachers and all teachers who teach in our schools with extreme poverty. The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) filed an amendment with the Committee on Rules to expand loan forgiveness to Head Start teachers. During the latest year I have data for, nearly 8,000 teachers left Head Start programs. Over half the teachers who left Head Start programs did so due to low salaries. Clearly, the need for loan forgiveness in Head Start is evident. However, the Committee on Rules blocked consideration of this amendment.

The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) also filed an amendment with the Committee on Rules to expand loan forgiveness to all teachers in extremely poor schools. Title I schools, especially the most disadvantaged of these schools, have enormous problems recruiting and retaining teachers of all subjects. These schools are the least likely to have certified teachers or teachers who know the subject matter that they are teaching. These schools are also the most likely to have high teacher turnover rates. Unfortunately, the Committee on Rules blocked consideration of this amendment as well.

The unwillingness to even debate these amendments here on the floor comes at the same time we are tragically underfunding our Federal education programs. Whether it is the No Child Left Behind Act, IDEA or Pell grant, the administration has failed to meet their education funding commitments.

President Bush and the House and the Senate Committee on Appropriations proposed funding Title I at $12.35 billion. That is $6 billion short of the $18.5 billion promised in No Child Left Behind.

Repetition is the mother of study, so let me state again what I stated in the earlier bill, let me use this analogy again: An authorization bill, and this is a good authorization bill, is like that get well card which I will send to my friend who may be ill, and it does express my sentiments, and it expresses the value I have for my friend. But what my friend really needs is the Blue Cross card, and that is the appropriations bill. There is a real lag between authorization and appropriations. Just in Title I alone we are 30 percent below the bill that the President signed in Ohio, No Child Left Behind, and I think that we have to address that. We cannot address that here in the authorization bill. We did a good job in the authorization bill, a job that I think we enjoyed doing. But I think we as a Congress have to make sure that our appropriations come closer, if not match entirely, the authorization level.

The Republican budget resolution promised $2.2 billion for new IDEA funding. The House and Senate Committee on Appropriations have proposed less than half that amount. In addition, Pell grants have been frozen by the House and Senate Committee on Appropriations despite increasing college costs.

While I again want to reiterate that I will support this legislation, the administration and the Republican Congress are missing an opportunity to

meet our education funding commitments.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

Mr. Speaker, I, first of all, would like to commend the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), from Columbia, the principal author of this bill for his fine work on the bill; and I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), and let me just say that it is interesting, as a Latin teacher, to stand here with a physicist on each side of me, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have spent 27 years in the Congress and 27 years on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, formerly called the Committee on Education and Labor. And in those 27 years, I always felt and discovered that we do our best work especially in the area of education, sometimes we have some differences in areas of labor, but in areas of education we do our best work when we work together in a bipartisan way.

I think the last few months have demonstrated that we are able to bring to the floor a bipartisan bill. It was an exercise of civility and, as I mentioned earlier, actually enjoyable writing this bill. I think, again, we can demonstrate that bipartisanship does work, and it has worked here again today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I offer this amendment, along with the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner). This is to provide loan forgiveness for those teachers who specialize in teaching reading.

Just last week we saw the scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress that were released by the Department of Education, and the scores obviously show that we have a long way to go. While the scores of fourth-graders were up slightly, the scores of eighth-graders were stagnant, and the scores for high school students were actually down. This is not acceptable, but I think it does demonstrate that in some areas we are making progress.

I think we also understand that one of the basic tenets of the Leave No Child Behind was that good, qualified teachers in areas of specialties were an absolute cornerstone to the success of this legislation. All of the data suggests to us that where a child is exposed in succeeding years to well-qualified teachers, those children do much better than the children who receive teachers who may or may not be qualified to teach the subject matters.

This legislation to provide loan forgiveness goes a long way in helping us to provide the incentives not only to attract individuals to teaching, but also to make sure that we have a chance to retain those teachers for a period of 5 years. As many Members have said, after 5 years, if the school districts are doing the other things they should be doing in terms of supporting these teachers and providing other efforts at retention, and providing professional development, making sure that teachers are not isolated throughout the school year, that they have a chance to talk with their peers and learn the skills of teaching and learn what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong, then those individuals will tend to stay.

It is not just about money, but, clearly, these teachers also have to make a rational decision about their futures and their careers. This effort to give loan forgiveness to teachers who specialize in math and science and reading, to provide over $17,000 of loan forgiveness over 5 years, I believe, can be very helpful to the retention of those teachers and to the attraction of those individuals to the teaching profession.

I believe this amendment is consistent with the idea that we are trying to do these in the areas of high need, where extra specialization is necessary, and to make sure that we start to develop a corps of individuals who are properly qualified to teaching.

Obviously, reading, whether you are going to be studying math or science or social studies, or whatever else you are going to be doing throughout your educational career, the ability to read is going to determine how successful you navigate your education as an elementary school student, as a high school student, and later, perhaps, as a college student. The ability to read is also identified by employers as a concern as to whether or not employees are flexible enough to learn additional skills as they move through a career and as jobs change so that they are able to adapt.

So this investment in these reading specialists, I think, goes a long way toward improving this legislation, and I believe will be very helpful to school districts who are trying to focus on the requirements and the incentives in the Leave No Child Behind on trying to improve reading at the earliest grade levels. One of the objectives of everybody on the committee is to improve the ability of young people to read so that they can learn to read, and then, as Secretary Reilly used to say, read to learn. We want to accomplish that.

It is also clearly the goal of the President in this bill with the sections that he pushed very hard for on reading and reading readiness in this legislation. And so I would urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) for managing both of these bills on the floor today and for his contributions to this legislation. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Isakson) for all their cooperation on this legislation. I think these bills are consistent with what we have been saying about the importance of teachers in the classroom. I think they finally put some resources in place to help those individuals who want to become teachers and who want to remain teachers, and I would urge passage of this amendment.

Finally, I would say when we see a young child who can read and master these strokes, it is a wonderful feeling. I was very happy when I saw that my granddaughter was actually excited because Harry Potter was almost 800 pages. She was worried that it might be only 300 to 400 pages, but she was excited that the latest book was almost 800 pages so she could rip through it and read it. To see that kind of excitement on a child's face who is comfortable with reading is something that we hope for all of our Nation's children. Hopefully, this amendment will provide a little bit of help to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), a valuable member of subcommittee, for his work and leadership on bringing this important piece of legislation to the floor.

I rise in strong support of H.R. 438, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act of 2003, which provides increased student loan forgiveness to those elementary and secondary public and private school teachers who teach math, science and special education in high-needs schools.

The bill is simple and straightforward. Under H.R. 438, teachers may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if they agree to teach for 5 consecutive years in Title I schools with a poverty rate that exceeds 40 percent. This legislation simply expands upon what is in current law for all teachers in an effort to meet the dramatic shortage of teachers in these critical areas.

There is no question that we face a critical shortage of qualified math, science and special education teachers across the country. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in the 1999/2000 school year, 67 percent of public elementary and middle schools had vacancies in special education; 70 percent had vacancies in mathematics; 61 percent had vacancies in biology, and 51 percent had vacancies in the physical sciences.

Further, in a report called The Urban Teacher Challenge, virtually all of the Nation's largest urban school districts responding to a national survey reported to an immediate need for teachers in these high-need subjects; 95 percent reported an immediate need for math teachers; 98 percent report the need for science teachers; and 98 percent reported an immediate need for special education teachers.

With this kind of shortage, we must act quickly to do what we can to help fill this void. The Committee on Economic Development said in its recent report entitled Learning for the Future, Changing the Culture of Math and Science Education to Ensure a Competitive Workforce, ``Improving the math and science skills of our young people is an important step toward innovative-led economic growth in the coming decades. While producing a more scientifically proficient citizenry, widespread math and science achievement will also widen the pipeline of scientists and engineers who drive innovation.''

Mr. Speaker, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act takes a big step in moving toward filling the gap in these vital areas. It is clear that we believe that all teachers are vital to our children and to the future of this country. That is why we have maintained the current law which allows for all teachers who teach in high-need schools to receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness after 5 years of service. With limited Federal resources, we need to make difficult choices and set priorities. There is no question there is a critical need for math, science and special education teachers. There is no question that our children deserve the best education we can provide, and there is no question that this legislation will assist in meeting this goal.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 438 and stand firm in a commitment to our Nation's children and teachers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers), my good friend, one of the few scientists we have serving in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), my good friend, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Education Reform.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) also. I have enjoyed working together with him. I want to thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson) for the great work he has done as a new member of the committee for bringing this bill to the floor. And I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner).

This is just the start of what we are doing on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. These are the two teacher bills that we are doing today. We will also be doing three more bills, hopefully get them wrapped up this fall, and then, when the other body does their work, we will be able to early next spring, hopefully, complete the higher education reauthorization.

With that, I would like to thank all those who have participated and ask that our colleagues all join us in support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 438, which aims to bring highly qualified teachers to low-income areas. I rise in support of the bill but I am disappointed that this may become yet another unfunded mandate by the other party. It is my hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will not simply vote in favor of this bill now only to deprive the underlying programs of the financial support they need.

I support this bill, because the classrooms in our country are in great jeopardy and we must act to rescue them. All of our children deserve a good education that prepares them for the future as productive members of their society and of the global economic community. A proper education is needed in order to mold our children into future leaders. There is a lack of highly qualified teachers in math, science, and special education, which is leaving our children unprepared in going onto higher education and the workforce. This shortage of qualified teachers is mainly in rural and urban areas where many of the families are low-income. Many of these teachers are unqualified to teach these subjects and the new teachers that come to these schools, do lack expertise in science, math, and special education.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics in 1999- 2000, 67 percent of public middle school and high schools had vacancies in special education, 70 percent had vacancies in mathematics, and 61 percent had vacancies in biology. This means that the vast majority of our public schools need teachers to teach these vital courses. The Committee for Economic Development also reported that almost a third of high school math classes are taught by teachers who did not major or minor in mathematics, and 45 percent of biology classes are taught by instructors who did not major or minor in biology. These statistics show that these courses are not taught by the teachers with the most experience and can help our children reach their full potential.

Given these overwhelming statistics, I would like to extend my support to the ``Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act''. This program will give qualified teachers loan forgiveness when thy commit to teaching in a low-income school for five years. A qualified teacher can receive loan forgiveness of up to $5,000 of the outstanding loan obligation after the fifth complete school year of teaching. Teachers must also meet the ``highly qualified'' criteria before receiving any loan forgiveness.

If we do not bring highly qualified teachers to these schools, we do a great disservice to our nation and children. We hurt our Nation by not adequately preparing our future leaders and our children by not giving them the best public education possible, which they truly deserve. Our economy is becoming very competitive and higher education is necessary to become successful in our society. It is our responsibility to fully educate our children in math, science, and special educations so they can help reach their full potential academically.

In addition, I offered an amendment in the Rules Committee yesterday, which unfortunately, was thwarted by the import of the Rule as debated this morning that also kept other very viable and important amendment proposals from consideration. The amendment proposed to add to the list of qualification criteria of FFEL loan forgiveness teachers who have attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities and those serving large portions of Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, or other underrepresented populations to pursue continuous teaching careers. I offered this amendment for the purpose of creating an incentive for former students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and those serving large portions of Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, or other underrepresented populations to pursue continuous teaching careers. The increase in teachers from these backgrounds increase the diversity and cultural background of the pool of recruited and/or retained high quality teachers of applied subjects.

Therefore I stand in strong support of H.R. 438 and hope that my Congressional colleagues will also offer support for this legislation.