Susan Davis

How could we move some of those reforms into being something that is helpful in schools?

But we also know that professional training for teachers and school leaders can only go so far without support to help educators overcome the significant cost barriers to entering and staying in the profession.

For decades, Congress has recognized its responsibility to eliminate cost barriers to serving as a teacher, particularly regarding student loans.

Today, we are not only discussing the need to invest in teacher preparation, but also the need to invest in school leader preparation.

We also know that professional training for teachers and school leaders can only go so far without support to help educators overcome the significant cost barriers through entering and staying in the profession.

You know, in this committee we talk a lot about student debt and certainly that is something that is weighing in this country with about $1.5 trillion in student debt having incredible consequences not only in terms of student's ability to…

As a nation, we must do better.

This gap is particularly devastating for teachers of color, who already shoulder disproportionately more student debt than their white peers.

It is critically important that we figure out a way to deal with these issues.

I am pleased that we are having today's hearing on how to best support our educators and provide our children with high-quality classroom and school instruction.

We just have to do more.

We want to be sure that we are educating our students, of course, for success, preparing and retaining the highest quality teacher workforce.

Despite the clear benefits of strong school leadership for both teachers and students, school leader preparation receives little attention compared to teacher preparation.

The gap between teacher wages and the wages of other college graduates is wider than it's ever been.

Today, we look forward to learning more about the apprenticeship systems of Australia, Germany, and Switzerland.

I am particularly eager to learn more about the Australian apprenticeship system, which incentivizes new apprenticeship opportunities in high-demand occupations while also prioritizing the recruitment of underserved groups.

It is my hope that we can work together on a bipartisan basis to help scale up this model.

Today’s hearing is truly a unique opportunity for this committee to discuss best practices for strengthening government oversight, industry innovation, and educational alignment.

I want to first thank my colleague from California for her work to undo the damage the President has done to transgender servicemembers and our Armed Forces. This ban endangers transgender soldiers and tells all transgender Americans that…

Voter-verified paper ballots are the solution that really address the risks and threats that our Nation faces.

I don't believe even the colleagues that lost those elections came back to ask for an appeal.

I oppose this amendment striking the mandate for paper ballots, because striking the mandate would completely undermine the bill and the security that we are trying to achieve.

Risk-limiting audits are really the gold standard of post-election audits.

But the reality is that it is highly, highly monitored.

We simply cannot be sure that our elections are free from outside interference unless we have an auditable paper trail that we can use to confirm reported election results.