James Davis: “as we all know, we are approaching an education crisis in our country. Over the next decade, school districts throughout…”

“as we all know, we are approaching an education crisis in our country. Over the next decade, school districts throughout the country will need to hire over 2 million new teachers. Four months after the school year started, my school district, Hillsborough County, Florida, still needs to hire over 150 new teachers. Over the next decade, our school district will need more than 7,000 new teachers. To meet this need and address this critical shortage of teachers that our school districts are facing, talented Americans of all ages should be recruited to become successful, qualified teachers. That's why I, along with Representative Tim Roemer, introduced the Transition to Teaching Act. I am pleased to stand here today in support of the provisions in this Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which will provide $34 million over the next fiscal year to help us recruit quality teachers through the Transition to Teaching program. This money will allow us to begin to develop this program to train mid-career professionals who want to become teachers. Our bill is intended to help people get the training they need to become teachers. The funding in this bill will help us move people from the boardroom to the classroom, from the firehouse to the schoolhouse or from the police station on Main Street to the classroom on Main Street.”