Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I have another bill to introduce. This is cosponsored by Senators Frist and Crapo. It is the Careers to Classrooms Act…”

“I have another bill to introduce. This is cosponsored by Senators Frist and Crapo. It is the Careers to Classrooms Act of 2001. Once again, this is a bill that has already been passed by Congress, but it has never made it into law. I am very hopeful that this President will sign a comprehensive reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and included in that I hope will be Careers to Classrooms. There is no question that many, if not most, of our States are facing huge teacher shortages. This is one of the most critical needs in our public schools today. It is most pressing in our inner-city and rural communities. Ironically, the biggest enemy to hiring a sufficient number of teachers is our booming economy. A recent college graduate with a degree in math might expect to make $25,000 to $35,000 in a starting position as a high school math teacher. That same graduate could easily make twice that much in the private sector, especially in the red hot computer field. We have some issues we have to deal with--increasing teacher salaries, increasing teacher benefits--and we know that, but there is more we can do. What we need in our public school systems in America is more creativity. What we want to do with our reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is to put more incentives for creativity in our public schools. I am a total product of public education.”