Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2021 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2021
55 To provide grants to State educational agencies to support State efforts
66 to increase teacher salaries, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 MARCH10, 2025
99 Ms. W
1010 ILSONof Florida (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWN,
1111 Mr. C
1212 ARBAJAL, Mr. CARSON, Ms. CASTORof Florida, Mr. CASTEN, Mrs.
1313 C
1414 HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr.
1515 C
1616 LEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr.
1717 C
1818 UELLAR, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, Ms.
1919 D
2020 ELAURO, Mr. DELUZIO, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANSof
2121 Pennsylvania, Mrs. F
2222 OUSHEE, Mr. FROST, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr.
2323 G
2424 REENof Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. NORTON, Ms. HOYLE
2525 of Oregon, Mr. J
2626 ACKSONof Illinois, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSONof Geor-
2727 gia, Ms. K
2828 AMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr.
2929 L
3030 ANDSMAN, Mr. LIEU, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr.
3131 M
3232 CGOVERN, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOOREof
3333 Wisconsin, Mr. M
3434 OSKOWITZ, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr.
3535 N
3636 ORCROSS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PEREZ, Ms. PINGREE,
3737 Mr. P
3838 OCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROSS, Ms.
3939 S
4040 ALINAS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Ms. SE-
4141 WELL, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. SORENSEN, Ms. STEVENS, Mrs. SYKES, Mr.
4242 T
4343 AKANO, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Ms.
4444 T
4545 OKUDA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, and Mr.
4646 F
4747 ITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
4848 Committee on Education and Workforce
4949 A BILL
5050 To provide grants to State educational agencies to support
5151 State efforts to increase teacher salaries, and for other
5252 purposes.
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5656 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
5757 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
5858 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
5959 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Teacher 4
6060 Act’’. 5
6161 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
6262 Congress finds the following: 7
6363 (1) Teachers are the backbone of our nation, 8
6464 from the first bell to the last bell, they act as care-9
6565 givers, counselors, role models, advocates, and cheer-10
6666 leaders, helping children achieve their greatest po-11
6767 tential. 12
6868 (2) What is more, teacher shortages are among 13
6969 the most pressing threats to education access today, 14
7070 with districts across the country forced to radically 15
7171 adjust school offerings to respond to turnover and 16
7272 prolonged vacancies. Every day, stories surface of 17
7373 schools shortening their weeks, canceling courses, in-18
7474 creasing student-teacher ratios, and placing under-19
7575 prepared or temporary substitute staff in core in-20
7676 structional roles. Such adjustments disrupt learning, 21
7777 take a sustained toll on teacher morale, and harm 22
7878 student achievement. 23
7979 (3) The teacher wage penalty, characterizing 24
8080 lower weekly wages and overall compensation for 25
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8484 teachers compared to college-educated peers in other 1
8585 professions, hit an all-time high of 23.5 percent in 2
8686 2021 and continues to demonstrate significant, ad-3
8787 verse impacts on teacher recruitment and retention. 4
8888 According to a recent report by the Teacher Salary 5
8989 Project, over 90 percent of teachers believe low sal-6
9090 ary contributes to shortages in their communities 7
9191 and over 45 percent believe their salary is insuffi-8
9292 cient for medium and long-term career sustain-9
9393 ability. 10
9494 (4) Significant numbers of teachers report 11
9595 maintaining multiple jobs to make ends meet or 12
9696 being able to work in their profession only through 13
9797 the support of a partner’s higher-paying job. This 14
9898 instability is worse for teachers of color who are 15
9999 more likely to work in under-resourced schools. As 16
100100 a result, high-poverty communities face a com-17
101101 pounded burden. 18
102102 (5) In August of 2022, the White House issued 19
103103 a fact sheet renewing attention to the weak teacher 20
104104 pipeline and calling upon legislators to use federal, 21
105105 state, and local resources to strengthen teaching ca-22
106106 reer pathways and ensure competitive, livable wages. 23
107107 This statement accompanies efforts by twenty-five 24
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111111 states to propose and enact legislation addressing 1
112112 teacher compensation since January 2021. 2
113113 (6) To restore stability in our schools and se-3
114114 cure equitable access to high-quality education, we 4
115115 must raise awareness surrounding the value of 5
116116 teaching as a profession and provide compensation 6
117117 that reflects this value. 7
118118 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO SUPPORT STATE EFFORTS TO IN-8
119119 CREASE TEACHER SALARIES. 9
120120 (a) T
121121 EACHERSALARYINCENTIVEGRANTS.— 10
122122 (1) P
123123 URPOSE.—The purpose of this section is 11
124124 to ensure that each teacher who is employed full- 12
125125 time at a qualifying school in a State earns an an-13
126126 nual salary for any year of employment of not less 14
127127 than $60,000 (adjusted for inflation). 15
128128 (2) G
129129 RANTS FOR MINIMUM SALARY THRESH -16
130130 OLD.— 17
131131 (A) I
132132 N GENERAL.—From amounts made 18
133133 available to carry out this section, the Secretary 19
134134 of Education shall award 4-year grants to State 20
135135 educational agencies. 21
136136 (B) A
137137 PPLICATION.—To be eligible to re-22
138138 ceive such a grant, the State educational agency 23
139139 shall submit an application to the Secretary at 24
140140 such time, in such manner, and containing such 25
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144144 information as the Secretary may require, in-1
145145 cluding— 2
146146 (i) the plan required under subpara-3
147147 graph (C); and 4
148148 (ii) the assurances required under 5
149149 subparagraph (D). 6
150150 (C) S
151151 USTAINABILITY PLAN .—The Sec-7
152152 retary shall require a State educational agency 8
153153 submitting an application under subparagraph 9
154154 (B) to provide a plan that demonstrates how, 10
155155 following the conclusion of the 4-year grant pe-11
156156 riod, such agency will continue to maintain and 12
157157 adjust the annual base minimum salary in ac-13
158158 cordance with subsection (b). 14
159159 (D) R
160160 EQUIRED ASSURANCES .—The Sec-15
161161 retary shall require a State educational agency 16
162162 submitting an application under subparagraph 17
163163 (B) to provide an assurance in such application 18
164164 that— 19
165165 (i) if necessary to achieve the purpose 20
166166 of this section, the State will enact and en-21
167167 force legislation to establish a statewide 22
168168 teacher salary schedule or otherwise to es-23
169169 tablish minimum teacher salary require-24
170170 ments; 25
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173173 •HR 2021 IH
174174 (ii) each teacher described in para-1
175175 graph (1) will be compensated on a salary 2
176176 basis at an annual rate per school year 3
177177 that is not less than the salary threshold 4
178178 described in subsection (b); 5
179179 (iii) each teacher who is employed 6
180180 part-time at a qualifying school in a State 7
181181 will be compensated on a salary basis at an 8
182182 annual rate per school year that is not less 9
183183 than the salary threshold described in sub-10
184184 section (b), proportionately reduced in ac-11
185185 cordance with the number of hours worked 12
186186 by such teacher; 13
187187 (iv) priority will be given to local edu-14
188188 cational agencies in accordance with sub-15
189189 paragraph (E)(ii); and 16
190190 (v) the State educational agency will, 17
191191 upon request by the Secretary, carry out 18
192192 the compliance demonstration in accord-19
193193 ance with subsection (c)(3). 20
194194 (E) S
195195 UBGRANTS.— 21
196196 (i) I
197197 N GENERAL.—A State educational 22
198198 agency awarded a grant under this section 23
199199 shall use not less than 85 percent of the 24
200200 grant funds to award subgrants to local 25
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203203 •HR 2021 IH
204204 educational agencies to carry out the pur-1
205205 pose of this section. 2
206206 (ii) P
207207 RIORITY.—The State educational 3
208208 agency, in allocating funds to local edu-4
209209 cational agencies under this section, shall 5
210210 give priority to local educational agen-6
211211 cies— 7
212212 (I) serving greater numbers or 8
213213 percentages of elementary or sec-9
214214 ondary schools receiving funds under 10
215215 title I of the Elementary and Sec-11
216216 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 12
217217 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); or 13
218218 (II) with respect to which all of 14
219219 the schools served by the local edu-15
220220 cational agency are designated with a 16
221221 locale code of 41, 42, or 43, as deter-17
222222 mined by the Secretary. 18
223223 (b) S
224224 ALARYTHRESHOLD.— 19
225225 (1) I
226226 N GENERAL.—For school year 2026–2027, 20
227227 the base minimum salary dollar amount shall be 21
228228 $60,000. 22
229229 (2) I
230230 NFLATION ADJUSTMENT .—For school year 23
231231 2026–2027 and each succeeding school year, the dol-24
232232 lar amount referred to in paragraph (1) shall be 25
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236236 deemed to refer to the dollar amount calculated 1
237237 under this subsection for the preceding school year, 2
238238 increased by a percentage equal to the annual per-3
239239 centage increase in the Consumer Price Index for All 4
240240 Urban Consumers published by the Department of 5
241241 Labor for the most recent calendar year. 6
242242 (3) N
243243 O SALARY LIMIT.—The base minimum sal-7
244244 ary dollar amount may be greater than the dollar 8
245245 amount described in paragraphs (1) or (2). 9
246246 (c) S
247247 UPPLEMENT, NOTSUPPLANT.— 10
248248 (1) I
249249 N GENERAL.—Grant funds received under 11
250250 this section shall be used to supplement and not 12
251251 supplant other Federal, State, and local public funds 13
252252 that would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be 14
253253 made available for teacher base salaries. 15
254254 (2) M
255255 AINTENANCE OF EFFORT .—A State edu-16
256256 cational agency or local educational agency shall not 17
257257 reduce or adjust any teacher pay or State teacher 18
258258 loan forgiveness program due to the eligibility of 19
259259 teachers within the jurisdiction of such agency for 20
260260 pay supplementation under this section. 21
261261 (3) C
262262 OMPLIANCE DEMONSTRATION TO SEC -22
263263 RETARY.—Each State educational agency and local 23
264264 educational agency, upon request by the Secretary, 24
265265 shall demonstrate that the methodology used to allo-25
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269269 cate teacher pay and State teacher loan forgiveness 1
270270 (if applicable) to teachers and qualifying schools en-2
271271 sures that each such teacher and school receives the 3
272272 same State and local funds for teacher compensation 4
273273 it would receive if this Act had not been enacted. 5
274274 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR ADJUSTMENT OF TEACHER SALARIES. 6
275275 (a) I
276276 NGENERAL.—From amounts made available to 7
277277 carry out this section, the Secretary of Education shall 8
278278 award grants to eligible State educational agencies to pro-9
279279 vide, in accordance with subsection (c), cost-of-living ad-10
280280 justments to the annual base salary of such State and the 11
281281 annual salary of each teacher who is employed full-time 12
282282 at a qualifying school in such State. 13
283283 (b) A
284284 PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive such a 14
285285 grant, the State educational agency shall submit an appli-15
286286 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 16
287287 containing such information as the Secretary may require, 17
288288 including the demonstration required under subsection 18
289289 (d)(2). 19
290290 (c) A
291291 DJUSTMENT.—The annual base salary of the 20
292292 State and the annual salary of each teacher described in 21
293293 subsection (a) shall be increased by a percentage equal to 22
294294 the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price 23
295295 Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Depart-24
296296 ment of Labor for the most recent calendar year. 25
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300300 (d) ELIGIBLESTATEDEFINED.—In this section, the 1
301301 term ‘‘eligible State’’ means a State— 2
302302 (1) with an annual base salary of not less than 3
303303 $60,000 for teachers who are employed full-time at 4
304304 a qualifying school; and 5
305305 (2) that demonstrates in the application sub-6
306306 mitted under subsection (b) that, due to inflation, 7
307307 such State is unable to adjust such base salary or 8
308308 the annual salaries of such teachers for cost-of-liv-9
309309 ing. 10
310310 SEC. 5. ENHANCED AWARENESS OF THE VALUE OF TEACH-11
311311 ING PROFESSION. 12
312312 The Secretary may reserve not more than 4 percent 13
313313 of the funds appropriated under section 8 to carry out a 14
314314 national campaign— 15
315315 (1) to increase awareness about the importance 16
316316 of teachers and the value of the teaching profession; 17
317317 (2) to encourage secondary school and college 18
318318 students to consider teaching as a professional ca-19
319319 reer; and 20
320320 (3) to diversify the pool of individuals who enter 21
321321 the teaching profession. 22
322322 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 23
323323 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter or oth-24
324324 erwise affect the rights, remedies, and procedures afforded 25
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328328 to school or local educational agency employees under Fed-1
329329 eral, State, or local laws (including applicable regulations, 2
330330 court orders, or requirements that local educational agen-3
331331 cies negotiate or meet and confer in good faith) or under 4
332332 the terms of collective bargaining agreements, memoranda 5
333333 of understanding, or other agreements between such em-6
334334 ployers and their employees. 7
335335 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 8
336336 In this Act: 9
337337 (1) ESEA
338338 DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘elemen-10
339339 tary school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 11
340340 school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State edu-12
341341 cational agency’’ have the meanings given such 13
342342 terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec-14
343343 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 15
344344 (2) Q
345345 UALIFYING SCHOOL .—The term ‘‘quali-16
346346 fying school’’ means, with respect to any school year, 17
347347 a public elementary school or a public secondary 18
348348 school. 19
349349 (3) T
350350 EACHER.—The term ‘‘teacher’’ means an 20
351351 individual who— 21
352352 (A) is a teacher of record who provides di-22
353353 rect classroom teaching (or classroom-type 23
354354 teaching in a nonclassroom setting) in a quali-24
355355 fying school for not less than the normal or 25
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359359 statutory number of hours of work for a full- 1
360360 time or part-time teacher over a complete 2
361361 school year (as determined by the State in 3
362362 which the school is located); 4
363363 (B) meets the applicable requirements for 5
364364 State certification or licensure, as applicable, in 6
365365 the State in which such school is located and in 7
366366 the subject area in which the individual is the 8
367367 teacher of record; and 9
368368 (C) possesses skills and knowledge needed 10
369369 for effective classroom practice, including with 11
370370 respect to demonstrating the ability to improve 12
371371 student learning. 13
372372 (4) T
373373 EACHER OF RECORD .—The term ‘‘teacher 14
374374 of record’’ means a teacher who has— 15
375375 (A) been assigned the responsibility for 16
376376 specified pupils’ learning in a grade, subject, or 17
377377 course as reflected on the school’s official 18
378378 record of attendance; 19
379379 (B) learned and developed extensive teach-20
380380 ing and basic classroom management skills; and 21
381381 (C) demonstrated the ability to plan and 22
382382 deliver instruction to students from different 23
383383 cultural backgrounds and with different learn-24
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387387 ing styles and to assess and support student 1
388388 learning. 2
389389 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 3
390390 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 4
391391 this Act such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 5
392392 2026 through 2030. 6
393393 Æ
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