SENATE APPROVES SCHUMER AMENDMENTS TO ESEA TO IMPROVE MATH AND SCIENCE TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

Amendments would strengthen bill's math and science provisions, boost funding for math and science programs by $400 million

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that Senate has approved a pair of bipartisan amendments he offered to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that target the critical math and science teacher shortage threatening New York schools. The amendments, which passed the Senate last night and this afternoon, would target the bill's recruitment and retention programs towards math and science and increase funding for these programs by $400 million.

"New York and the nation is on the verge of experiencing a cataclysmic teacher shortage -- a shortage that will hit math and science instruction the hardest," Schumer said. "With studies directly linking a student's performance in math and science to the quality of his or her teacher, the need for math and science teachers has never been greater. These amendments will give states the resources they need to create programs and partnerships to lure both recent graduates and mid-career professionals into the classroom."

The first amendment, which Schumer cosponsored with with US Senators Bill Frist (R-TN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Warner (R-VA), Mike Crapo (R-NY), Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), would ensure that the provision in ESEA that provides federal funding to create new partnerships between states, local districts and higher education institutions targets funding specifically towards math and science initiatives.

These initiatives would include the use of scholarships, signing incentives and stipends to attract qualified professionals into teaching math and science; the development of professional development and mentoring programs to retain teachers; and the creation of a mastery incentive system where experienced, certified math and science teachers demonstrating their expertise through an exam and classroom performance are rewarded.

Schumer's second amendment, which he cosponsored with Durbin and Senator John Corzine (D- NJ), would increase the funding allocated to the math and science partnerships from $500 million to $900 million. The increase would bring the partnerships' funding level in line with ESEA's reading programs.

Schumer said that the amendments were especially important for New York, where 37% of teachers or prospective teachers failed New York State's Teacher Certification Examination in math, up from 32% three years ago. 38% failed the biology test, compared to 24% just three years earlier. According to the most recent estimates, about 28 and 26% of the nation's math and science teachers, respectively, did not even major in the field in which they teach.

The growing number of lower quality math and science teachers is compounded by projections that New York public schools will have to hire more than 100,000 teachers - nearly half of the 210,600 teachers currently in the state's public school system - by 2005. In addition, 39% of all New York State teachers are at least 50 years of age, with 10,671 public school teachers 53 years of age - the largest single age group of teachers in New York.

Schumer's math and science amendments are key elements of his Marshall Plan for Teachers, comprehensive legislation which seeks to attract new teachers. In addition to specifically courting new math and science teachers, the Marshall Plan provides college tuition assistance to those who go into teaching and forgives student loans for those who teach for at least five years.

The ESEA bill is expected to be voted on by the Senate in the next few weeks.

# # #