On October 1, the House approved, by voice vote, a bill (H.R. 5091) designed to attract highly qualified elementary and high school teachers to classrooms in low-income and rural areas.
Sponsored by Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the legislation would increase the amount of federal student loan forgiveness from the current maximum of $5,000 to $17,500 for qualified teachers in high poverty areas, with priority given to special education, math, and science teachers. Priority also would be given to teachers in school districts that are having difficulty recruiting highly qualified teachers.
The bill would require teachers to work full-time for five consecutive years in schools where more than 30 percent of the students are from low-income families in order to qualify for the loan forgiveness program.
Additionally, the legislation would cancel the student loans of spouses of firefighters, police officers, rescue personnel, and members of the armed services who were victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would cost $205 million over five years, from FY2003 through FY2007.
Rep. George Miller (D-CA) spoke in favor of the bill but expressed concern that funding was discretionary and “subject to a year-to-year appropriation.” He explained, “My concern is that teachers will not know that this incentive is really going to be in place on a year-to-year basis, and it will make our job more difficult in getting highly qualified individuals into high-poverty schools.”
“I wish it had been mandatory too, but we are living in a world where there is a downturn in the economy and there is a war,” responded Rep. Graham. “What I like most about this bill is it does provide an incentive for people who graduate from college to go into teaching in the hardest-to-recruit areas,” he added.
