This year, amid growing concern over teacher shortages across the country, Congress increased its focus on the educator pipeline through hearings and legislation. However, with personnel changes in the House and Senate and new education committee leaders, the 118th Congress will offer a different political dynamic that will impact how the federal government may respond to national teacher shortages.
During the 117th Congress, ACTE endorsed two bills that would alleviate shortages by providing K-12 teachers with improved financial benefits. The RAISE Act (H.R. 7660 / S. 4125) would provide all K-12 teachers with a federal income tax reimbursement between $1,000 and $15,000 annually, scaled by the level of school poverty. This bill was able to accrue 29 co-sponsors in the House and 7 in the Senate, all of which are members of the Democratic Party. The Loan Forgiveness for Educators Act (H.R. / S. 4867), which gained 17 co-sponsors in the House and 15 in the Senate, would reform the Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) program to include all teachers in low-income schools, shorten forgiveness to five years of teaching, and expand the forgiveness to graduate and parent-held student loans. Both bills will need to find some bipartisan support once they are re-introduced in the next Congress.
In 15 states, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) have created a financial penalty for CTE teachers who have accrued Social Security benefits during their time in industry. The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82 / S.1302), which would repeal both WEP and GPO, accrued an impressive 305 House co-sponsors and 42 Senate co-sponsors during this Congress. While the bill has not had an opportunity to receive a floor vote, its broad bipartisan support puts it in a strong position to be re-considered in the next Congress - regardless of committee control.
Further, both the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related appropriations bill reports for fiscal year 2023 included language that would direct the federal government to improve its data collection on CTE teacher shortages. Should Congress not pass an appropriations omnibus before the end of the calendar year, it will be up to the new Congress to include this language in any final appropriations package that is passed, and this will remain an important issue to address.
With HEA due for reauthorization, the new House and Senate education committees may also undergo debate on how and whether to address teacher shortages through that process. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who will take over as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, will likely have a much different approach to HEA reauthorization than the Republican candidates to chair the House Education and Labor Committee, making some sort of compromise very uncertain.
If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for how the new Congress could address teacher shortages, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Zach Curtis ([email protected]).
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