Consider Teachers Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Consider Teachers Act. When created, the TEACH grant program was to support students interested in becoming teachers. Unfortunately, the grant program has run into administrative challenges brought on by clerical and paperwork issues. Because of these issues, approximately two-thirds of all TEACH grants are converting into Federal student loans.

To address these inadvertent errors, the Consider Teachers Act reforms the program to ensure that teachers are not indebted due to simple mistakes. First, the legislation gives grant recipients the ability to reverse a conversion and eases the timeline for when the grant recipients must certify their employment with the Department of Education.

Second, the bill also extends the time grant recipients have to fulfill their service obligation in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic. The pandemic upended all of our lives, and teachers who lost their job shouldn't be unfairly punished for circumstances outside of their control.

Mr. Speaker, with the TEACH grant program, the Federal Government made a commitment to future teachers, and the Consider Teachers Act fulfills the original promise of the program. I urge all Members to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mrs. SPARTZ. In closing, Mr. Speaker, the TEACH grant program fails too many of our teachers, and it needs to be fixed. It is important that our Federal Government honors its promises. The Consider Teachers Act creates flexibility and streamlines processes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote in favor of this bill. Strong teachers are essential for high-quality learning.

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