Senator Booker, Representatives García and Hayes reintroduce DIVERSIFICATION law

This bill will help diversify the education system by increasing the maximum TEACH grant amount from $ 4,000 to $ 8,000 per year to align with the total cost of college today.

Washington, DC – Today, US Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL) and Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-CT) reintroduced diversification into investing in educators and students to improve outcomes for Youth (DIVERSIFY) Act, a law that would complement the important administrative corrections to the TEACH grant proposed in the College Affordability Act by ensuring that the grant amount closely matches the costs colleges. In addition, the legislation would increase the price of the TEACH grant to support students interested in becoming teachers, ensuring that education staff are as diverse as the students they serve. Lawmakers have been successful in including provisions of the DIVERSIFY Act in the U.S. plan for families.

Our Nation’s Service Fellowship for Teachers – the TEACH Grants Program – was created by the 2007 bipartisan Cost Reduction and Access to Colleges Act. This program offers scholarships of $ 4,000 per year to undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching a high-demand subject in a high-poverty elementary or secondary school for four years.

However, due to the growing cost of college debt and student loans, many people of color are deterred from teaching and leaving many students in underserved communities without diverse teachers. While the majority of public school students are children of color, only 20% of all teachers are people of color, which can negatively impact a student’s educational experience.

“Teachers have had to adjust to a new reality over the past year, revealing the many challenges associated with virtual learning,” said Senator Booker. “As we continue to ask them to do more and often as they please, we need to focus on their cash back and ensure they have access to the TEACH grant program and are able to reduce their student loans. By doubling the TEACH grant and stopping the damaging annual cuts to the curriculum, this legislation will show our teachers that we care and support them as they give their all to prepare for our next generation. In addition, it will diversify our education system and ensure that students of color have teachers who are like them.

“Students deserve to see their own diversity reflected in those who teach them. In Chicagohttps://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__chicago.suntimes.com_education_2020_10_13_21513414_cps-2D teachers-2Dminority-2Dteaching-2Ddiversité-2Deducation & d =DwMGaQ & c = L93KkjKsAC98uTvC4KvQDdTDRzAeWDDRmG6S3YXllH0 & r =WXzrp_KCcNeGIr5Uy_r9uaf5begm3I-jdQUMmuZ5fgpnwDQmojld9zHtqdjdK6RY & m =iFSvhzDY9Zk_aVuGUjAgRmUTb0_XK0SrkMXgHy1TL6o & s = 6-tbcM-svAyDxxqpyXnJSEwflgUwygJ3Ijrq7vv3iZA &e => however, less than 50% of teachers come from diverse backgrounds while students of color make up almost 90% of the student body. The DIVERSIFY law will tackle the diversity shortage of educators by strengthening scholarship programs aimed at recruiting a diverse educational workforce, ”said Congressman García. “All students, not just students of color, benefit from a diverse teaching staff, but Latino and Black students, in particular, are more likely to be successful in school when they have teachers who are like them. The DIVERSIFY Act is a key step in removing historic barriers to a diverse education workforce, and it is high time to invest in teacher diversity.

“The DIVERSIFY law will allow students from all walks of life to see themselves reflected in their teachers and in the management of their schools. So many students in Connecticut and across the country go their entire careers teaching K-12 without ever being taught by a teacher who shares their ethnicity. Having a diverse teaching workforce has been shown to impact student outcomes with higher attendance rates, better performance on standardized tests, lower rates of discipline problems and better chances of pursuing higher education, ”said Congresswoman Hayes. “I believe the DIVERSIFICATION Act will encourage more people to consider becoming educators. Sometimes kids need to see it. Increasing the TEACH grant through this legislation is an important solution to improving equity in our classroom today and in the future. “

The DIVERSIFY law will help create a well-prepared and diverse educational workforce by:

* Increased the maximum TEACH grant to $ 8,000 per year to align with the total cost of college today – which exceeds $ 20,000 per yearhttps: //urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nces.ed.gov_programs_digest_d18_tables_dt18-5F330.10.asp-3Fcurrent-3Yes & d = DwMGaQ & c = L93KkjKsAC98uTvC4KvQDdTDRzAeWDDRmG6S3YXllH0 & r = WXzrp_KCcNeGIr5Uy_r9uaf5begm3I-jdQUMmuZ5fgpnwDQmojld9zHtqdjdK6RY & m =iFSvhzDY9Zk_aVuGUjAgRmUTb0_XK0SrkMXgHy1TL6o & s = enODkimmYRtvnT-ZoNuzKS4f4ZX0VVQ8vbCoZtYT5mw ande =>.
* Protect the price of the TEACH grant from a reduction by the Budget Control Act which, this year alone, resulted in a decrease in the maximum grant of nearly $ 250.
* Elimination of the loan conversion penalty
* Allow the TEACH grant program to cover the full cost of tuition, rather than tuition, fees and on-campus accommodation
* Require the Secretary of Education to send TEACH grant recipients who have completed their service an electronic certification

“Preparing, developing and empowering a new generation of talented and diverse teachers in our schools is among the most pressing priorities of our time. The DIVERSIFY law makes this path to the profession more affordable and accessible, and it will help give our students the excellent and fair education they deserve, ”said CEO and President of Teach Plus, Roberto J. Rodríguez.

“AACTE strongly supports Senator Booker’s legislation aimed at diversifying and expanding the teaching workforce by making field access more affordable. AACTE has long advocated doubling the TEACH grant to reduce the teacher shortage and urges Congress to pass this legislation as soon as possible, ”said Dr. Lynn M. Gangone, president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

“Even though our public schools are in desperate need of high quality educators, we are seeing long-standing shortages exacerbated in the midst of the pandemic, especially in areas that need them like special education. At the same time, the diversity of the teaching staff is far from reflecting the diversity of our student body. Now is the time for a targeted reform of the way we recruit and retain educators. Senator Booker’s DIVERSIFY Act sets out the first steps necessary to ensure that more students have access to diverse and high-quality educators, ”said Meghan Whittaker, Director of Policy and Advocacy, National Center for Learning Disabilities.

“No one should have to go into deep debt in order to pursue a service career in public education. By helping to reduce the financial burden on future educators, the DIVERSIFY law will allow more students from a wider range of backgrounds to pursue their vocation. Building a deeper and larger pool of potential, highly qualified educators will help accelerate the important work of creating an educator workforce that reflects the diversity of our nation and especially our classrooms in public schools. NJEA thanks Senator Booker for her work to resolve this issue and establish the collaboration necessary to achieve this goal, ”said Marie Blistan, President of the NJEA.

“Attracting a high-quality, well-prepared workforce of educators that fully reflects racial, cultural and linguistic diversity is essential to supporting infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities and / or with gifts. and talent, ”said Council for Exceptional Children Chairman Dennis Cavitt, Ed.D. I welcome the introduction of the DIVERSIFY Act, which will bring us even closer to this urgent goal. “

“We are experiencing a worrying shortage of teachers in many of our schools. The DIVERSIFY Act can help ensure that American children have access to diverse teachers, who are engaged and prepared to teach in high need fields and schools, ”said NASSP CEO Ronn Nozoe. “By increasing the maximum TEACH grant amount through this law, we can also alleviate some of the financial constraints placed on prospective teachers as they pursue higher education.”

Besides Booker, the bill is co-sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ed Markey (D-MA).

Besides García and Hayes, the legislation is co-sponsored by representatives Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Jimmy Panetta, Ruben Gallego, Steve Cohen, Mary Gay Scanlon, Adam Smith, Darren Soto, Alan Lowenthal, Nydia Velázquez, Ayanna Pressley, Earl Blumenauer , Lucy McBath, Salud Carbajal, Anthony G. Brown, Seth Moulton, Albio Sires, Grace Meng, David Trone, Cori Bush, Dina Titus, Ritchie Torres, Raúl M. Grijalva, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Pocan, Grace F. Napolitano, Judy Chu, Peter Welch, Jerrold Nadler, Rashida Tlaib, Jamie Raskin, Jake Auchincloss, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Ro Khanna, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The DIVERSIFY Act is approved by the following organizations: Council of Special Education Administrators, Council for Exceptional Children, Early Years Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, Knowledge Works, Aurora Institute, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE ), The Rural School and Community Trust, Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), Public Advocacy for Kids, Public Advocates, Southern Education Foundation, Teach Plus, Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children ( TED), The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages ​​(ACTFL), National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), National Center for Learning Handicap (NCLD), National Joint Committee for Languages ​​(JNCL), National Education Association (NEA), AASA , Th e School Superintendents Association, AFT-New Jersey (AFTNJ), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), Higher Education Consortium for Special Education (HECSE), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU ), Illinois Federation of Teachers, Chicago Teachers Union, Latino Policy Forum, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council Chicago, Illinois Association for Multilingual Multicultural Education

The full text of the legislation can be viewed herehttps: //www.booker.senate.gov / imo / media / doc / senator_booker_reps.garcaandhayesreintroducethediversifyact.pdf>.

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