Congressman
John Boehner's (Rep/Ohio) Weekly E-Bulletin
July 11, 2003
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Articles:
Two Key Teacher Quality Measures Pass The U.S. House
House Continues Historic Support For Education Reforms
TWO KEY TEACHER QUALITY
MEASURES PASS THE U.S. HOUSE
On Wednesday, the House approved two major pieces of legislation
to help states and schools ensure that all students have the
opportunity to learn from highly qualified teachers. The bills -
the Ready to Teach Act (H.R. 2211) and the Teacher Recruitment
and Retention Act (H.R 438) - were both approved by overwhelming
bipartisan majorities in the House.
As you know, the No Child Left Behind Act, the landmark K-12
education reform package signed into law in January 2002, calls
for a highly qualified teacher in every public school classroom
by the 2005-2006 school year. Congress has provided historic
resources to meet that goal, increasing funding for teacher
quality grants by 35% in the first year of the law alone. The
bills approved on Wednesday build on this significant financial
commitment by instituting reforms and financial incentives that
will go even further to helping states and schools meet the call
to ensure that every child in America learns from a highly
qualified teacher.
Specifically, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act more
than triples the maximum amount of loan forgiveness - from
$5,000 in current law to $17,500 - available to highly qualified
teachers in math, science, and special education who commit to
teaching in needy schools for five years. This bill provides a
dramatic increase in the financial incentive to help teachers in
subject areas facing the greatest shortages to teach in schools
serving disadvantaged students which often face the greatest
difficulty in recruiting and retaining high quality teachers.
H.R. 438 also tracks President Bush's latest budget request to
help states and schools place highly qualified math, science,
and special education teachers in classrooms across the nation.
Make no mistake, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act is
simple in its purpose and structure, but it is monumental in its
potential to improve the lives of the nation's students. By
giving highly qualified math, science, and special education
teachers a real financial incentive to teach in schools serving
disadvantaged students, we have an opportunity to ensure that no
child in America is left behind.
In addition to the dramatic new loan forgiveness available for
teachers, the House also approved legislation - the Ready to
Teach Act - to strengthen teacher training programs to ensure
that teachers are able to meet the highly qualified standard in
No Child Left Behind. H.R. 2211 makes improvements to the
teacher training programs funded under the Higher Education Act
to provide the teachers of tomorrow with the skills they will
need to be ready to teach when they enter the classroom.
Under current law, teacher training programs are suffering from
a serious lack of accountability. If teacher training programs
are not producing teachers able to meet the highly qualified
standard, states and schools will find it extremely difficult to
meet the call of the No Child Left Behind Act. For that reason,
H.R. 2211 includes strengthened reporting measures that will
ensure programs are held accountable for reporting accurate
measures of their effectiveness. In addition, the bill
strengthens the teacher training programs and aligns them with
No Child Left Behind to provide prospective teachers with the
skills and resources they will need to be successful in the
classroom.
H.R. 2211 contains measures to improve the quality of teacher
training programs and strengthen accountability procedures. The
legislation places a strong focus on the effectiveness of
teacher preparation, as well as a renewed emphasis on the skills
needed to meet the highly qualified standard found in No Child
Left Behind: the use of advanced technology in the classroom,
rigorous academic content knowledge, scientifically based
research, and challenging state student academic standards. In
addition, systems would be developed to measure the
effectiveness of programs, including a true measure of teacher
effectiveness - the academic achievement of students themselves.
This bill takes the important step of recognizing that
individuals seeking to enter the teaching profession often have
varied backgrounds - and by creating flexible approaches that
step outside the box, these individuals can become highly
qualified teachers through training programs as unique as their
individual experiences.
On behalf of my colleagues on the House Education Committee, I
commend the House for approving both of these important bills,
and I hope they soon will be sent to the President's desk.
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HOUSE CONTINUES
HISTORIC SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION REFORMS
Yesterday, the House reaffirmed its commitment to the bold new
standards set by the bipartisan No Child Left Behind education
reform law that was signed by President Bush right here in the
Eighth District more than a year ago. By passing a major Fiscal
Year 2004 appropriations bill, the House approved an historic
third major increase in federal education spending since
President Bush signed No Child Left Behind.
No Child Left Behind was built upon two major ideas: greatly
increasing the amount of funds injected into our nation's public
schools and, in turn, holding those schools accountable for the
use of those funds - and the education they are providing to our
children. The appropriations measure approved yesterday
demonstrates Congress' and the President's continued commitment
to those ideas - and to the ultimate goal of ensuring that every
child has an opportunity to receive a quality education.
Every penny promised under the No Child Left Behind Act is being
delivered and then some. As a result of No Child Left Behind,
the federal government is now spending far more money than at
any other time in American history for education. That promise
was made, and that promise is being kept.
What is crucial to remember is that No Child Left Behind is not
about changing funding levels; it's about changing attitudes.
The American people no longer believe money alone is the answer
to the problems in our nation's schools; after all, if money was
the answer, we'd have solved our education problems decades ago.
Instead, the answer involves demanding results - and providing
the tools to make those results achievable. We have done - and
will continue to do - just that.
Among the highlights of the education spending bill approved by
the House yesterday:
- Aid to needy and disadvantaged students is increased to $12.35
billion. The $666 million increase for the next fiscal year
would be the third significant increase in Title I funding as a
result of the No Child Left Behind Act. Last year, Title I
funding was increased by $1.3 billion, which was on top of the
$1.6 billion increase provided the year before. This increase
means Title I spending will have increased more during the first
three years of President George W. Bush's administration than it
did during the previous seven years combined under President
Clinton.
- Special Education grants are increased by $1 billion for the
coming year, as requested by President Bush. The $9.9 billion
funding level builds on two previous significant increases in
funding under President Bush, totaling $2.5 billion.
- Reading First and Early Reading First grants to states are
increased to $1.15 billion to ensure that children can read by
the time they reach the third grade. Under No Child Left Behind,
federal funding has more than tripled for reading programs based
on proven reading instruction methods rooted in
scientifically-based research.
- Federal funding to help states develop and implement state
assessments is increased to $390 million. With this increase,
states will have received over $1.16 billion to develop and
implement state assessments in math and reading, as required by
No Child Left Behind. It also means that in just three years,
states have already received 72% of the total collective funding
needed by Fiscal Year 2008 to develop and implement the basic
tests, according to the non-partisan General Accounting Office.
- Head Start funding to help prepare disadvantaged young
children to learn and succeed in school is boosted by $148
million. This increase will bring total Head Start funding to
$6.8 billion, providing significant resources to ensure that we
are closing the readiness gap between Head Start graduates and
their more affluent peers.
- Pell Grants maintain their historically high maximum award of
$4,050 to help disadvantaged students achieve the dream of a
college education. In addition, overall funding is increased by
$885 million, bringing total funding to $12.3 billion. This
means that more families will be served, and more students will
have a college education within reach.
The Senate soon will consider its own appropriations measure to
fund federal education programs, and a House-Senate conference
committee will negotiate a final package to send to the
President for his signature.
Your comments are appreciated. Contact John Boehner's
Hamilton District Office at 8200 Beckett Park Drive, Suite 202,
Hamilton, OH 45011, 513-870-0300, or 1-800-582-1001.
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