NSBA Issue Brief: Higher Education
BACKGROUND After languishing for several years, higher education legislation moved to the forefront during the first session of the 110th Congress. First, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law, H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which cuts federal student loan rates in half over four years, and authorizes an increase in Pell Grants from $4,310 in 2007 to $5,400 by 2011. That legislation also included TEACH Grants, which will provide tuition scholarships to encourage high-achieving students to become public school teachers in hard-to-staff schools or high-need subjects.
Meanwhile, Congress also made progress on the Higher Education Act (HEA), which was last reauthorized in 1998. The Senate approved S. 1642 by a 95-0 vote in July 2007. Of particular interest to K-12 is Title II’s Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants. The bill streamlines all funds to Partnership Grants that directly involve local school districts. The grants will help strengthen teacher preparation programs and can also be used by selected districts to establish and operate a teacher residency program. Modeled after medical residences, the program targets recent college graduates or mid-career professionals who will receive financial support while pursuing a master’s degree and teacher certification and while learning alongside a mentor teacher for one year in a high-need school. The residents must commit to teaching in such a school, designated by the local district, for at least three years upon completing the residency program.
S. 1642 also requires traditional teacher prep and alternative certification programs to establish annual goals and publicly report their results for increasing the number of teacher candidates in hard-to-staff subjects and providing training for effective teaching in rural and urban schools and of select groups of students, including those with disabilities, English Language Learners and low-income children.
In November 2007, the House Education and Labor Committee unanimously approved its higher education reauthorization bill, H.R. 4137, which includes many of the same Title II provisions as the Senate bill, and also mandates a National Academy of Sciences study on best practices in teacher preparation and instruction. Though not directly related to K-12, the HEA legislation also would streamline the federal student aid application process and allow students to receive Pell Grants aid year-round.
NSBA POSITION
NSBA supported the improvements to Title II in S. 1642 and H.R. 4137, and believes the legislation moves in the right direction in tightening accountability for teacher preparation programs and providing local districts with the opportunity to create teacher residency programs. We will encourage the full House to adopt the Education and Labor Committee’s improvements to Title II, and for the full Congress to include the committee’s best practices study, which is not found in the Senate bill.
For additional information, please contact Marcus Egan, director of federal affairs at the National School Boards Association at 703-838-6707, or by e-mail,
megan@nsba.org.
February 2008