Help Build Support for the EDUCATORS for America Act
AACTE worked with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) to craft the EDUCATORS for America Act, a bill to update Title II of the Higher Education Act. The bill will help state and local communities address educator pipeline challenges by channeling national resources to states and localities so local leaders can build a diverse, profession-ready army of teachers, principals, librarians, counselors, and specialized instructors. Nearly 50 national organizations have endorsed the EDUCATORS for America Act.
Having played a leadership role in drafting the bill, AACTE looks forward to its passage. AACTE encourage you to join in advocating for the bill. The investments called for in the measure are long overdue and AACTE needs your help to ensure that students are taught by well-prepared, diverse educators. Please follow this link, to fill out an advocacy form to send emails to your members of Congress urging the passage of the EDUCATORS for America Act.
The legislation authorizes two robust grant programs at $500 million each. One would help states develop and implement a statewide strategy for meeting their educator workforce needs. The other would support educator preparation programs and partnerships.
The legislation would also
- Update and expand the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program to focus on residency programs, strengthen the principal and school leader preparation programs, and enable partnerships to address the need for early childhood educators, school librarians, counselors, and other specialized support personnel;
- Reauthorize the Honorable Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving institutions in expanding and strengthening their educator preparation programs;
- Provide recruitment and completion grants to educator preparation programs to ensure that students have the wrap around supports they need to graduate;
- Establish an education careers opportunity program to expose middle and high school students to the education profession;
- Increase the capacity of educator preparation programs to meet the needs of the field, including supporting school leader development, faculty professional development and training, offering doctoral fellowships, and promoting innovation and resiliency; and,
- Double the TEACH Grant to $8,000 per year and provide additional protections and options to prevent the conversion of grants to loans, which will make becoming a teacher more affordable.
Tags: advocacy, federal issues, policy
