109th Congress
2nd Session
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 11, 2005
Introduced by Ms. Vera
Democratic Party
A BILL
To create incentives to recruit qualified teachers to rural schools that will increase the quality of
education children in rural areas receive.
Be it enacted by the Senate of the United States of America in the Congressional Simulation
assembled.
SECTION 1: SHORT TITLE
This Act may be cited as “Recruiting Qualified Teachers to Rural Schools Act of 2005”
Section 2:
SECTION 2: LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR RURAL TEACHERS
(a) IN GENERAL- Teachers may be awarded loan forgiveness up to 20,000 dollars to
work in rural eligible educational agencies in order to retain and recruit eligible and
highly qualified teachers.
(b) APPLICATION-To qualify a rural eligible local educational agency submits an
application for each new eligible teacher.
(1)An eligible teacher must commit to at least three consecutive years at the
educational agency to be qualified for loan forgiveness up to 15,000.
(2)For each additional consecutive year the teacher qualifies for 1,000 dollars
up to 5 years.
(3)If the teacher is highly qualified he or she can make an additional 1,000
dollars a year.
(3)If 5 consecutive school years are completed by a highly qualified teacher
then qualify for loan cancellation for Perkins loan recipients.
(c) DEFINITIONS- In this section:
(1)Rural Eligible Local Educational Agency- The term rural eligible local
educational agency means a local educational agency that is not located in a
metropolitan statistical area.
(2)Eligible Teacher - The term eligible teacher means, for any eligible
academic year, an individual who is a kindergarten through grade 12
classroom teacher or instructor in a public kindergarten or a public elementary or
secondary school on a full-time basis for such eligible academic year.
(3) Highly qualified Teacher- A highly qualified eligible teacher is
someone who is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards for the eligible academic year.
SECTION 3: FINDINGS AND PURPOSES
(a) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:
(1) An estimated 2,000,000 new teachers will be needed over the next decade.
(2) Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, States must recruit qualified
teachers by 2006, yet schools in rural areas and public schools with high poverty
have trouble attracting and retaining teachers.
(3) Fourteen percent of America's school children attend rural schools, and
according to the Rural School and Community Trust 2000 report, `Why Rural
Matters', rural education is crucial or very important to overall education
performance in 25 States, so recruitment and retention of teachers is essential.
(4) In 2005 it was found that nationwide the teacher turnover rate is
approximately 15 percent. In rural districts, where 400,000 teachers work with
eight million students each day, the teacher turnover rate is sometimes as high as
30 and 40 percent.
(5) The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was founded in 1987
as a follow up to the landmark 1983 report, `A Nation at Risk', by the Carnegie
Task Force on Teaching. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization the mission of which is
to establish high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should
know and be able to do.
(6) Over 16,000 teachers from all 50 States and the District of Columbia have
completed certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards, which certification is a rigorous assessment process for teachers.
(7) Recent data from the Accomplished Teaching Validation Study have
demonstrated that teachers who are certified by the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards significantly outperform their peers who are not
National Board certified on 11 of 13 key measures of teaching expertise.
(8) Rural teachers on average earn yearly incomes 14 percent less than their
counterparts in urban or suburban districts and often teach as many as three
subjects due to teacher shortages.
Amended from Incentives to Educate American Children Act of 2005 and Rural Teacher
Retention Act of 2005.
(b) PURPOSES- The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To encourage teachers to work in public elementary and secondary schools
located in rural areas by allowing loan forgiveness depending on consecutive
years worked to retain teachers in rural areas.
(2) To provide an additional amount of money towards loan forgiveness to
teachers who achieve certification from the National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards in order to recruit highly qualified teachers in public
elementary and secondary schools.
SECTION 5: EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act, and the amendments made by the Act, shall take effect on January 1,
2006.
Madeline Vera
Democratic Party
Senator Colorado
October 11, 2005
Justification of Bill
My bill is the Recruiting Qualified Teachers to Rural Schools Act of 2005. The
purpose of the bill is to loan forgiveness to teachers that teach in rural school districts for
a consecutive number of years and nationally certified teachers a larger amount. The
goal of the bill is to recruit qualified teachers and decrease the turnover rate of teachers in
rural school districts. I am introducing this legislation because it not only appeases my
constituents, but it is something I feel strongly about. My constituents prompted this bill
because Colorado is made up of a large amount of rural population it has nearly 90 rural
districts. Colorado’s rural teacher turnover rate of 23 percent is more than double the
statewide average of 10 percent. Although Colorado is a moderately-conservative state I
felt that the issue of education is important to Colorado considering thirty-four percent of
the population acquired at least a bachelor degree. Since this particular education issue is
specifically for rural districts it will appeal to a larger amount of the constituents of
Colorado. I personally grew up in a more rural district and am aware of the inequalities
between the educational qualities of teachers in rural areas. This bill is more centered to
the left. The bill focuses on teachers that affect rural areas to a more business conscious
Republican this is might have no value to them other than it increases federal spending.
Although it is not too far off to the left, education is important to many people, and a
large number of mid-western states that might be Republican will have larger rural
populations. Considering there is a slight democratic majority in my committee of
Health, Education, Labor, and Pension and in the Senate I think it has a fair chance of
getting passed. In this bill I used three different pieces of legislation that was similar to
what I intended to propose. From these bills I used statistical findings and guidelines to
create the bill. The bills I used for my legislation were Rural Teachers Recruitment Act
of 2001, Incentives to Educate American Children (I Teach) Act of 2005, and Senator
Salazar’s Rural Teacher Retention Act of 2005.
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to take a moment of your time to inform you of a very important piece of legislation.
Recently, I have introduced the Recruiting Qualified Teachers to Rural Schools Act of 2005. In
rural areas, there is a high degree of inequality in the education received. There is a turnover rate
of teachers, at times, as high as thirty to forty percent nationwide in rural districts. My bill
proposes to create an incentive for teachers to work for consecutive years at rural schools. The
incentive is an amount of loan forgiveness if a teacher commits to at least three consecutive years
to a rural school. The bill also provides nationally certified teachers with a higher amount of
loan forgiveness. Please consider this bill to help better this nation’s educational system. Thank
you for your time.
Sincerely,
Sen. Madeline Vera
U.S. Senator Madeline Vera
Member of the Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee
For Immediate Release
May 16, 2005
SEN. VERA WORKING TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN
QUALIFIED TEACHERS FOR RURAL SCHOOLS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Madeline Vera today introduced legislation to
retain more teachers in Colorado’s rural school districts.
Senator Vera said, “Education is one of the most important aspects in the upbringing of a child.
In rural school districts it is difficult to find and keep qualified school teachers. I am going to
provide the schoolchildren in Colorado the equal education they deserve.”
Recruiting Qualified Teachers for Rural Schools Act of 2005 would create an incentive of
loan forgiveness for teachers to work in rural school districts. To decrease turnover rates
teachers must commit to at least 3 consecutive years and can receive loan forgiveness for up to 5
consecutive years. The Act also tries to bring nationally certified teachers to rural areas.
Senator Vera worked diligently with Education experts to find a bill that would bring the most
benefit to the educational system of rural areas. In rural districts, where 400,000 teachers work
with eight million students each day, the teacher turnover rate is sometimes as high as 30 and 40
percent. These teachers earn on average 14 percent less than their counterparts in urban or
suburban districts and often teach as many as three subjects due to teacher shortages.
“The quality of education a child receives should not be stunted by the area in which they live.
Education is too important for the health of our nation, as a whole, to ignore this serious degree
of inequality.” Senator Vera added.