Transcripts For CSPAN AFT President Testifies On Teacher Shortage 20240707

>> this hearing is virtual and we must address a few housekeeping matters. for the purposes of eliminating background noise members are responsible for meeting and unmount -- on meeting of cells and when you are recognizing recognized and you have not admitted yourself i would ask that to unmute yourself. i remind all members that the five-minute clock and if there's a technology issue we will move to the next member until the issues involved -- are resolved and you will retain the bounds of your time. the clock on your screen will show much time mr. manning at one minute remaining to clock will turn to yellow and with 30 seconds remaining i will gently tap the gavel to remind members that their time has almost expired. when your time has expired the clock will turn red and i will begin to recognize the next member. we will begin with the chair and ranking member who is present at the time the hearing was called to order. you will be recognized in order to near it he and members not present at this time the hearing are called to order. finally the house requires me to remind you that we have set up an e-mail address to which members can send anything they wish to submit in writing for marquette. that address has been provided in advance to your staff. i want to say thank you to ranking member coal and all the members of the subcommittee for joining today's hearing. before we begin i want to take a moment to address the tragedy that occurred in texas. i'm angry. i'm in disbelief. yesterday the students and the teachers at robb elementary came ready to learn and woke up ready to teach. 19 children one teacher in a school employee went to school only to be taken from us forever. it's absolutely heartbreaking but it isn't anything new. they are taking lives of babies parents brothers everywhere in my community knows this all too well. a tragedy occurred at sandy hook elementary school nearly 10 years ago. it took the lives of 20 beautiful innocent babies and six teachers and it shook us to our very core. we are gathered today for this hearing to find ways to support our educators but how can we again to support her teachers if they are not diceglie safe at school? it's alarming and it's outrageous that so many children and american schools and parents and teachers thought that a senseless act of gun violence could take their lies. the american people and our nation's children are waiting for us to take immediate action to save them in to save their teachers. in today's hearing will examine the wreck causes driving the teacher shortage. while we were not expecting yesterday's tragedy to loom over our conversation today we must keep it at the top of our minds as we considered the challenges that our educators confront each day nationwide. so i welcome our witnesses today. desiree carver-thomas research and policy analyst at the learning institute in dr. lindsey burke director of the center for education policy at the heritage foundation ms. randi weingarten president of the american federation of teachers dr. jane west education policy consultant. it's a selfless act to choose teaching as a career. americans who choose this path to win with the admirable goal of educating future generations in helping students of all ages and backgrounds succeed. i'm sure everyone here today remembers a teacher who inspired them or teachers can change the course of their students lives sharing knowledge and start them down the path for a successful future. good teachers are essential to our nation. as a substitute teacher early in my career i bore witness to the challenges educators face and the demand they are put under every day. it's hard to grasp unless you are in the position. i know it's our job to provide them with the resources and the support that they need to thrive. the witnesses representative a diverse group focus on the wellness of our students and their education but they also know teacher shortage plaguing our nation and all the teachers provide to her students. they are the foundation of which our nation was built. every student deserves a high-quality education for the teacher shortages threaten our ability to provide that education. the pandemic exacerbated existing challenges our nation faced to make sure every student has access to the education they deserve and that 21,718 scully never -- nearly every state including connecticut-based teacher shortage. in high need subject to special education and that same year more than 100,000 teaching positions around the country were vacant are staffed by people unqualified for the job. in new haven public schools in my district today there are over 160 vacancies for certified teaching positions. teachers are unfortunately leaving the profession. there has been a significant increase in retirement and a pipeline into the profession with over 300,000 fewer students enrolled in the teacher preparation program over the past decade. potential teacher struggles with financial concerns with preparation for subsequent burden of didn't bet and a lack of compensation for k-12 teachers are 20% less likely to -- further creating recruitment issues. a rand corp. report found that pay did not mask -- matched the stress of the job. alongside of these issues are the high turnover rate a lack of administration dissatisfaction with testing and accountability lack of opportunities for dance meant in lead teachers to other professions. this was all before the pandemic impose new burdens on our schools and teaching. institutions are moment drop to 6.6% including 14.1% of community colleges. this concerns me greatly since 80% of our educators achieve a career that bachelor's degree in community colleges and four-year institutions are unique source of diversity. tragically as a result of teacher shortages and the impact of the pandemic 65% of educators in the national education foundation survey said they will leave this profession sooner than i had planned. this highlights the real impact to students across the nation. the achievement gap of students of color and low-income students and students with disabilities tragically experience in large part due to an inequitable access to qualified teachers. every student in every child benefits from having a diverse teacher and the committee people of color a workforce made up of 23% workforce tragically this year projected to shortage of educators trained to meet the needs of students with disabilities. congress has a lot of work to do to address teacher shortages. since becoming chair the subcommittee we have increased funding in a bipartisan way with an appropriation passing the 2020 to on this end $59 billion for teacher grant programs to fund educator revenue in the high retention package and $95 million for kirsanow preparation program to prepare special educators in the higher education faculty to support training $8 million in first-time funding -- according educator training pitch h. -- h. cpu and provide critical funding for the professional development of teachers. our witnesses layout solutions of the programs we face. i share the view that private investment in preparation programs will help us reduce shortages in the years to come. as we build the funding bill we must consider the policies to improve retention improve working conditions and support teacher advancement. the secretary of education and women who made his this federal support to what it is today. surely hofstetter said that quote we ask asked that they be prepared to face the rigors of participation in a democratic society. as we all know we are experiencing emergency level teacher shortages and i look forward to learning how the federal government can continue to address this crisis and ensure that every child has access to a well-prepared well-paid diverse stable and supportive teacher. in our country teaching has been one of our most highly-regarded professions and we must do everything we can to keep it that way and after all we trust those teachers with their most precious resources and ultimately the future of our democracy. now let me turn to our ranking member mr. cole. smith thank you very much madam chair. this is a significant warning for all of us and i want to associate myself with your opening remarks. i can imagine what her friends and neighbors art dealing within uvalde texas this morning in which each one of those families are going through and everybody in that school is experiencing. obviously we are sympathetic to those who've lost loved ones and to every child that was there in every teacher that was there for every parent whose child made it through that winter hours of wondering, i can imagine it so i want to express my deepest sympathy and and thoughts and sadness at this event. yesterday i had the opportunity and it always touches you when you have a hearing like the one we are having this morning. i had the great privilege of having her teacher of the year in oklahoma in my office yesterday that she teaches in the school district where i'm broadcasting from. a terrific young person landed in teaching almost by accident. had a career in accounting and decided decide it wasn't for heard she wanted to be a teacher. and moving to oklahoma and getting heard degree here and someone having to deal with what her colleagues in uvalde have had to do with to do it to my own son is public-school teacher as well. my heart goes out to everyone involved. i want to thank you madam chairwoman for calling the hearing and we want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today. i look forward to these discussions. parents teachers and children across the country are still reeling from one of the biggest policy missteps in this pandemic and that is the closure of many for nation's public schools for nearly two years. school closures hit the most volatile children the hardest. those with disabilities those without access to technology and parents who could help them in a virtual environmental and those with difficult time learning or my computer screen. all children suffer. plus the pandemic of the -- the impact of the pandemic has been profound. we have seen mental health illness, self-harm and ongoing lack of engagement not to mention the loss of academic and study skills and the impact on teachers has been profound as well. when a certain topic was first announced i asked the staff to prepare that grand materials on why teachers leave the profession we expected to get into a list of some reasons such as quote i can earn more from outside the classroom and that is certainly true or it's simply too much red tape. or even things like mask mandates and vaccine mandates and pandemic exhaustion. then we started to ask the teachers why they left and why they were considering leaving and the answers were very universal. teachers and different parts of the country who afterward thinking of leaving teaching gave some of the same reasons. lack of respect from parents unquote. quote lack of of respect from students unquote. pressure to keep passing students haven't mastered the material until next grade level. students don't come to class and there are no consequences. administrators to understand the stresses teachers are under a keep adding more to our plates. many teachers feel undervalued unappreciated and not understood or respected to the point of choosing to leave their jobs is deeply troubling. teaching should be one of the most valued and most appreciated and most respected professions in the country. as teachers are laying the foundation and to foster that common bond of civility understanding and patriotism that will sustain us as a nation and the next generation. there is no single program they can change this but but this requires a shift in our culture. i don't have the answers today. i do think we need to talk about this very real problem. i think the teachers were all but done professionally the course of their careers and for coming before us today and sharing their time and expertise. madam chair i want to thank you again for four holding the hearing and i yield back the balance of my time. >> i thank the gentleman from oklahoma and i'm delighted to introduce our witnesses for their testimony. i first witnessed today is desiree carver-thomas and your full written testimony will be included in the record and you are now recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. >> ranking member cole and members of the subcommittee thank you for allowing me to participate in this hearing and that the learning policy institute. we are deeply engaged in synthesizing diversity and a large body of evidence demonstrates teachers provide cultural knowledge and -- with strong benefits for black community stop by black teachers and black elementary students have higher reading and math scores and black students assigned to a teacher with a black teacher were less likely to drop out of high school and going to college. the benefits of having a black teacher elise for when you're in elementary school -- other study showed chronic absenteeism and high rates of pete students being academically challenged. a share of teachers of color have increased from 12% from years ago a 20 and 2017. height turnover rates offset successful improvement of teachers of color in recent years. i turnover rates offset successful -- in addition student loan debt ampex teachers and research shows they have changed their career paths because of their loans. college students of color are more likely or less likely to enroll in teacher preparation programs than are college students are more likely to enter their alternative certification pathways. these teachers tend to complete less service coursework and student teaching if any in teachers who do not get preservice preparation leave at two to three times the rate of those who do. nearly half of newly-hired black teachers enter through alternative certification pathways compared to 22% of other first-year teachers. challenging teaching conditions can lead to higher turnover in teachers of color are most likely to teach in schools serving a majority of students of color students to contend with a lack of resources and support in addition some teachers report facing discrimination and stereotyping. if the school leaders can impose these conditions. poor school leadership more than doubles the likelihood that teachers will turnover. congress can support diversity and high-quality preparation the preparations process process and other legislative vehicles including the workforce american families planning for recovery funds are and can be used to support a diverse and well-prepared workforce sustained federal investments are needed. all of the existing programs i will discuss were created or updated on a bipartisan basis. first underwriting the cost of teacher preparation can encourage more students of color to pursue teaching it to do so through a high-quality program that promotes greater teacher retention. service scholarships and loan forgiveness programs cover are reimbursed a portion of operational costs in exchange for commitment to teach in a a subject area are most effective at recording teachers when they underwrite a significant portion of cosby teacher residencies or partnerships residents and a high need school while completing related coursework residents receive financial support and can teach three years in a district with ongoing training. nationally of residents or people of color in residents with a higher retention rate than other teachers. congress can update scholarship and loan forgiveness program which has not been substantially updated by congress since george w. bush was president insisted that they student loan debt has grown by $1 trillion. congress can increase the grant to $8000 can change the loan forgiveness and loan forgiveness programs to make teachers monthly loan payments until they retire the debt. congress can expand pathways into teaching hawken center accident program supporting the obstruction. we do not have a program dedicated to making high need advance credentials more affordable. mentoring and induction including collaboration coaching and support beginning teachers of color. new teachers who did not receive inductions are twice as likely to leave teaching is those who do are those no federal funding. find a robust federal funding into leadership can develop strong school leaders who improve school conditions which can help teachers of color teach in the long-haul. research demonstrates there's an urgent need for a well-prepared diverse workforce and a strong bipartisan role for congress to play in this endeavor. thank you for your focus the nation i look forward to answering any questions members have. >> thank you very much and let me next introduce our witness dr. lindsey burke. dr. burke you are recognized for five minutes. >> my name is lindsey burke and i'm a fellow in a fellow in education director of the center for educational policy at the heritage foundation brett thank you chair delauro and ranking member cole for the opportunity to testify today. we are brokenhearted about the events that transpired in uvalde texas at robb elementary school in their are with the families. we are -- to educators by particular student and we know who those teachers are. that's what we treasure and value our teachers because that's who they are. although there has been teacher turnover as is a result of the covid-19 pandemic teacher vacancies have to be considered in the larger context of ongoing increases in school staff hires. teachers comprised only half of education jobs. this is part of a longer-term trend tracking for many years since 1950. public schools have added personnel at a rate four times that of the rate of growth in student enrollment. while the increase in new teacher hires was nearly 2.5 times the increase in student the number of non-teachers that his administrative and other staff increase more than seven times the student enrollment. if school districts want to attract more high-quality teachers to classrooms what policy should state legislatures and school boards pursue. first they should remove barriers to entry into the classroom to the teaching profession is trained by policies that mandate credentials often at substantial cost however research has demonstrated there is little if any connection between teacher certification and the teachers impact on student academic achievement. the relationship between teacher certification and teacher effectiveness is most noticeable and a negligible difference in outcomes between traditionally certified alternatively certified and uncertified teachers. as researchers found quote to put it simply teachers vary considerably and extent to which they promote student learning. whether a teachers certified or not is largely irrelevant. how can we help excellent teachers find a way to classroom and encourage them to stay by making it easier to enter the profession and rigorously evaluate teachers once they are there. second states and districts should tackle -- states should move from the benefit plans went 80 to 85% of public schoolteachers are enrolled compared to 15% of private workers for retirement plans such as 401(k) plans. switching from defined benefit to defined contribution plans could provide retirement affordability across the dates for teachers allow them to roll-over account balances if they change jobs and accumulate equal benefits even if they switch employers. third district should eliminate last in first out policies and reward excellence in the classroom. too many schools continue to use seniority-based layouts when staffing positions have to be made. these personnel policies should be remanded in favor of staffing position based on teacher effectiveness and competence not from years in the school building and finally states and school districts should and the nonteaching staff hiring spree. total inflation-adjusted spending has increased 152% from 19702018. teacher salaries increased to 7.3% over the same time period. the districts want to attract a mate pain high-quality teachers they should refrain from continuing to increase the number of nonteaching staff in public schools instead revamp teacher compensation systems to better reward those teachers who have a positive impact on student performance. public schools districts have the tools and considerable financial resources at their disposal to attract and retain quality teachers. that requires making different decisions than what school districts have made historically. they can begin by eliminating certification barriers, tackling pension reform ending last in, first at policies and curtailing the nonteaching staffing search for it i look forward to answering any questions. thank you. >> thank you vary very much and let me recognize our next witness randi weingarten. your full testimony will be included in the record and you are recognized now for five minutes. saying thank you chair delauro and ranking member cole. i'm under present the american federation of teachers and i'm still a teacher on leave. my social studies position as a high school teacher in brooklyn. we are all in mourning today. it's only in america that parents are not assured that their kids will be safe from gun violence in school and while educators had a really important job yesterday they are more important today than ever. i'm here to talk about the staffing shortages facing america's public schools. i've been working on this issue for 40 years or so about how to solve the crisis and how congress can help. staffing shortages are not just a school problem, they are a national crisis. every year -- teachers leave the profession and two-thirds before retirement. frankly we have done many, many surveys and pensions are one of the things that keep teachers in teaching the teacher turnover is almost double that of any other occupation although their peers and students deserved students of color and those students that live in power we experience the higher teacher turnover rates. i'm going to kick off for different things that i suggest that we do and it all goes to the question what would make you recommend a teaching career to your child or grandchild in public schools and what can you do to help? number one we can actually do much more in terms of recruitment in preparation of the high-quality diverse teaching force could over 80% of teachers are and female while students of color make up about 50% of the student population. our ranks should reflect this diversity. programs which educate potential support staff to become certified teachers are really good programs and historically black colleges and other minority serving institutions to prepare half of all teachers in this country we can fund them more. number two retaining teachers is as important as recruiting teachers so i would us to give educators a time the tools and the trust and that means reducing class size to have more individual attention and increasing planning times which is what the countries to compete with us to an enabling educators to create teams in terms of sharing -- the investment committee schools and mental health support will keep more teachers full service committee schools will actually help kids and help teachers teach and identify problems that we see before we see these kinds of situations that we saw last night. let's actually try to deal with paperwork. last week new mexico governor signed an executive order to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens on educators enabling them to focus on students. this as well as salary is the number one issue that teachers talk about as well and as a result if weise tried to start thinking about how did change the accountability systems we can reduce paperwork. we need to make an accountability system that accountability system that's aligned to what kids need to do as opposed to the paper and pencil system we have now. obviously compensation is important. teachers make 20% less than what they can earn in other similarly skilled professions and we are a profession. let's find ways to deal with that and there's a whole bunch of federal programs that can help us do that. we can also do something in terms of public service loan forgiveness as some of the other speakers have said. the loan forgiveness program can help us reduce teacher debt and that can be changed in that way. the teach program can do the same thing and the last thing i would say is let increase -- give teachers the right to bargain. make it part of the solution. that's what we have done in places that are moving forward enough so we should do everywhere. went teachers have a voice in the agency and their work kids thrive. thank you very much. >> thank you and let me now recognize dr. jane west and again your full testimony will be entered into the record and you are now recognize for five minutes. >> thank you chair delauro, thank you ranking member cole and members of the committee. i'm pleased to be here to talk about the critical shortage of special educators facing our nation or the 1975 the congress enacted the individuals with disabilities education act or dea enabling students with disabilities to gain full access to education after decades of exclusion bred for 47 years allies required a free appropriate education for every student with a disability no matter how -- that disability. as a special educator i can tell you what a difference it makes. the challenge we face today is one of fully implementing the law and it requires its that services are delivered by qualified personnel and that is increasingly not happening for the critical obstacles is the crisis of the special educator shortage. among special education teachers care professional school psychologist early intervention providers speech there this specialized instructional personnel and more. a shrinking capacity and higher education to prepare special educators threatens the pipeline for the future. the pervasive challenges that other witnesses have outlined a pie student at low teacher salaries declining respect for the profession of the stress of the covid pandemic affects special educators as well. for special education the combination of fully prepared new teachers and the high attrition rate has generated an urgent challenge for the future. the shortages worming. 48 states and the district of columbia are reported a shortage of special teachers outpacing shortages and other fields including math and science. 90% of school districts report special-education shortages. the proportion of uncertified teachers grew by 50% from 2013 to 2016 in the number continues to grow. some states like california over half of new special educators are not fully -- the enrollment is special-education preparation programs has declined by 16% in recent years and additional licensure programs which does not bode well for the future. we confront this crisis at the same time the number of students requiring special-education services has increased. 17% since 2001. states and districts have had to scramble to fill special-education positions in ways that are unsustainable over time and will exacerbate the problem rather than solve it. lowered standards for certification and increasing the use of long-term substitute an expansion of short-term programs which plays people of teachers without the knowledge will keep the schools open but they will not generate the results that we want for students with disabilities nor expand a qualified workforce for the shortage leads to larger caseloads for special educators with less time for students with complex needs. special educators burnout and students are underserved. we know generally teachers around prepared such as that entering the profession through emergency and alternative pathways that do not offer robust student teaching and a full curriculum are two to three times more likely to leave then those were fully prepared. research shows comprehensively prepared and credentialed educators are more likely to stay and are best equipped to deliver results for students. without the qualified personnel student outcomes suffer. the pair recently shared with me her son with dyslexia which was presented great obstacles to him and learn to read resulting in tremendous frustration. when he gained access to fully prepare teachers with expertise in reading instruction he lost some. today at age 27 he is eight applying to a doctoral program produces different set highly qualified teachers make. multiple education programs are -- including improvement strategies the use of teacher candidates as substitutes for part of their teacher training programs. we know what strategy worked greater investment will enable them to two federal programs have -- and a newly founded one shows us the dire lack of diversity. as a supplement to provide greater investment in personal preparation programs under i dea the district quality partnership grant and the hopkins centers for excellence programs. in summary students with disabilities need access to well prepared diverse experience in the state educator workforce for greater investment in these programs urgently needed. thank you. >> thank you and thank you to all the witnesses for your outstanding testimony this morning. it's a struggle for all of us and for those of you who have been engaged in a fault with the teaching profession in educating students an understanding, i know your hearts are full. thank you for carrying on. it's important and it's an important discussion by the way this is the first teacher shortage and we have had since the pandemic and so it's particularly important. in addressing the teacher shortage is some states are lowering qualifications to be coming at teacher. and connecticut the state board of education voted to authorize emergency certification that allows individuals to fill teaching positions for subjects in which they are not certified to practice the ended nearly 30 years ago. i have two questions here. ms. carver thomas what does the research say about the importance of having access to fully certified teachers and dr. west what is the real-life impact on students with disabilities and their families when students have a special educator that does not have the training or skills to teach and dr. west, ms. carver johnson first. >> thank you for the question chair delauro. teachers or vacation matters for students in several ways and i'll talk about a few of those. student achievement teacher shortages we can discuss and financial costs. when it comes to student achievement research shows there is an association between the kitchen and student outcomes. a study led by the policy institute researchers apostate outlier study looked at the california districts and the relationship between teacher characteristics and student outcomes and found districts with those teachers had better student outcomes particularly for black and latino students controlling for a range of other school and teacher characteristics. when it comes to shortages we know when there aren't enough credentialed teachers to go-round districts and schools will turn to emergency credentialed teachers and teachers who were not fully prepared to teach their subject matter. these are teachers who are more likely to leave that school or the profession entirely creating of instability in schools disrupt the institutional knowledge disrupts professional learning disrupt student learning and we know that deterrent disproportionately impact students of color who bear the brunt of that kind of teacher demographics were more under credentialed teachers are serving those students. and when it comes to financial costs to cost money for districts to recruit higher support train teachers who they bring into the classroom and those teachers are coming in and out having to constantly be replaced they walk out the door with those teachers as investments do and those are investments for students. >> dr. west the impacts on students with disabilities? >> chair delauro i'd like to start by reminding us who we are talking about. we are talking about students with autism. we are talking about students with intellectual disabilities. we are talking about students who are and students who are. we are talking about students with learning disabilities. these are the students we are talking about. imagine going into a classroom without the proper preparation and seeking to teach a nonverbal students with autism. these are significant skills that need to be acquired and developed during comprehensive and intense preparations. there simply is no way, no substitute for developing that skill set that i was talking to a parent yesterday who has a 6-year-old with down syndrome and she was sharing with me that he has developed wandering away behaviors which is not uncommon in students with down syndrome. the strategies that one might commonly used such as being very firm and come back here and don't do that articulate that's a situation at home or something reinforces behavior. research shows us there are other ways to manage this behavior that will not reinforce it and if you aren't aware of that than the behavior escalates and that's just one example. i also want to point out many students with disabilities most students with disabilities are in gen ed classes most of the times time so that partnership between special educators at that unique skill set and content knowledge of general educators is critical to the delivery of strong academic services and social emotional support to all students. special educators have a great investment and fully prepared and fully credentialed educators. >> thank you. just a note i mentioned in my opening comments early on a mic or i finish graduate school and i was looking for a job. one of things i decided to do while i was looking was to make myself available to be a substitute teacher. i graduated with a b.a. and an m.a. and not in teaching profession. i will tell you i was called as a substitute teacher just about every single day. you and essence are trying to manage a classroom and keep it together. we do have substitute teachers who are in full-time and without the training there is a loss especially for teachers who are ill and out for a time. .. >> what we are going to do and i was just telling her that by noon we were must knee deep in macaroni and so but nevertheless, i don't have the skills to be there and we need to have trained people, and your you are training people to be something answer without, have gone over my time in a hauteur ranking of number cynical thank you new pretty good at keeping the unruly students on the committee so i think your early training good wealth and let start with the doctor, and this is will any of you would like to answer, we know obviously we have a shortage of, huge shortages and special ed obviously, as we mentioned in math and science usually also had yet most school systems, uniforms based on seniority and credentials, is there merit in doing what they do with the college level is a guy who was a history professor in college i can tell you that i did not make anybody an engineering department or what they made and i don't begrudge them that and i don't mean that, is just my skill, and more available than the others so would be worthwhile for a pay differential and specific shortage areas it to try to attract more people in and keep them for longer. >> will thank you representative, there was definitely worthwhile thinking about how the district can the anaheim been there is, not only the hype demand areas but with a pay to reward teachers to doing extra doing excellent work in the classroom and encouraging their students to learn for a year or year and a half fourth of learning your time to really reward those professional teachers schools have largely made a decision to take existing resources you mentioned earlier has increased significantly over the past century had to use those taxpayer resources to fund and hire nonteaching staff instead of putting that into something like differentiated teacher salary and so again we just look at the recent and go back to the year 2000, from 2019 - and while the numbers of student in the teachers in public schools, just increased about a percent of the number of principles and assistant principals increased 37 percent in the number of school districts administrative staff increased 88 percent and some again, this is about decision about choices and the districts are making and we can hug those overall aggregate numbers to go back even further back to 1950 and mentioned increasing significantly the time and big part of that is this increase in the nonteaching staff and the number of students increased about 100 percent from 1950 forwarded but the number of teachers two in a number of administrators and nonteaching staff increased, 709 percent over that time and so absolutely right the district made to pay, reward the excellent teachers. and it will require different changes that the schools are made in the past. >> with me ask you a quick follow-up, and i invite anybody else to have their awesomeness to participate and the federal government and we cannot in my opinion mandate these kinds of things from here. and we can incentivize the behaviors that we like and we try to do that on some cases had if you think probably across the country, is there anybody know what were talking about, particular system that you would say they approach this a little bit differently than most of the stays and this is working better. >> will i think what we can assume is something that in the ways of covid-19 which is how diverse the delivery of the instruction has become in the way in which is enabled individuals into teaching and be rewarded so if you think about that something like learning and micro schools, and really innovative approaches on the ground and these options enable these teachers to be paid directly from the families and really, you can imagine the situation where the sky is the limit in terms of earning potential for these instructors and hopefully that's we get to come to a point where these excellent into man teachers are rewarded handsomely. >> at the doctor, let me turn to you for your basic point about the importance of diversity in teaching and kids being able to look like themselves in pursuing the profession in our records we know it's not where we would wanted to be in that regard and again is there a particular place or state or system in your opinion that are handling this better than we should book out or approach progressively in achieving this goal. >> thank you for the question, absolutely, there are programs like those that talk about today and the residencies that have become popular but across the country and states like california that are investing and considerable investment in these programs we know that these programs have a much higher levels of diversity sand the teacher workforce at large largely because it's comprehensive preparation but also we see the siphoned during the residency here and lisa force that they receive clinical experience that is really for typically through the school year while there also completing coursework and internet have high retention rates printed teachers prepared for the pathways is very promising model we see this investment and in california, and an uptick in the enrollments which defies that the national credit because quite a bit of need. >> thank you very much and the purposes for whatever, it is a good time on my schedule so i'm guessing i have gone over my time and i apologize if i did and it might help if we can get that displayed on the screen in with i yield back. >> i think you are muted madame chair. >> any case, she has her hand raised to answer your question i'm sorry, i apologize to a edges have no times ago i had. >> i think that there are ways in which there has been very different if things that has pay for the shortage areas for special needs like doctor wes was talking about and we have done that a lot in the programs the pay-for-performance that actually it hurts while you are seeing a slow walk away from pay-for-performance people actually left behind the schools where you actually need to have the kids and you need to have the best well prepared teachers of the pay for shortage areas, is a really good idea and we have done that in a bunch of different contents but the bottom line is, that you actually have to have decent pay and of the basis of and people have to rely here after here on being able to feed their families and being able to re- violate kind of incoming that is important as well and then you can do differentials in the last thing that i would say is, i agree with doctor burke without their has been too many non- classroom positions that have been created and a lot of that is because the paperwork in the federal accountability system in terms of and that is part of the reason we are seeking to actually change the accountabilities and really focus on 200 but you know and be able to do it make sure the data is there what is happened is the search for data and one more time that is focused on data collection as opposed to on teaching and that is why it's one of the number one issues that current teachers have in terms of safe giving time the tools in the trust so that i can actually make a way for my kids. >> i'm shocked they would generate paperwork and thank you and i yield back. >> thank you very much, you for having this hearing and i know i brought it up but three weeks ago maybe if even death, this is very quick coming together and so thank you and thank you to all of the witnesses and you provided concrete examples and suggestions of what we should do and a number of you in my sit in wisconsin, in wisconsin, we had in 2010, when scott walker was governor, he did an attack on public employees and say - in the outcome of that within a year or two, because the medicine school of education, one of the best in the country, for a public university had a drop to about 40 percent of applications going to the schools they had prior than that there was a respect issue from the profession it was directly i would have ended and right now in wisconsin, starting teacher salary that i can look up, maybe couple of years old, was $26535, which is in the lowest 25th percentile and right now i have fast food restaurants giving $20 an hour and certainly won't have a lot of people perhaps looking at that is a path and my own sister-in-law, taught for over a decade and quit teaching because of the disrespect that is now have an and she taught different states and in wisconsin so the disrespect, the profession and i think that we saw the pay issues and on top of the challenges of covid-19 every thing else, it had a real impact in a place like wisconsin in fact, medicine school district is to be unattainable school district for many first-time teachers are now, they're getting two or three applications for some positions. >> in a significant change at least in my state love it resumes to what you said specifically and what can we do around that issue giving the teachers the respect again from the profession within their district and their respective a salary does not in the bottom 25th percentile. >> will or two things that is a schoolteacher and, i mean, sinema one point of the first things, and that is why i said to all of you, there's a lot of common sense involved here and a lot of the research about what actually happened at the schools, you cannot control every single factor that is happened in the schools because that's why i say that i ask you, what would make you as a person recommended teaching to your child or grandchild comes to actually two things, teachers think god, then go under they do go to teaching because i want to make a difference in other people's lives and that is something that you well that is who the teachers are but what we can do is make their lives such that they don't walk into school with a pen or some a throne they can actually have freedom and latitude to meet the needs of the kids when they see those needs and that you can call that trust or tools or time or respect any comes down to not entice me have to actually have some latitude to teach and some kind of benefit of a sense that what we are doing is right and that is number one and number two is the preparation and the doctor said this about how these residency programs, they really help you walk in without preparation both the preparation so that you know the circumstances that you are walking into in the second big thing is, the pay, so that people can actually raise a family on the pay they have. >> sons appropriations process there's some very specific suggestions the doctor that we can do immediately, and appreciate god and in this budget what can we do mostly immediately that you think would be helpful. >> everything such can do, you can increase the investments in terms of the podesta hawkins investment program so that we can actually focus on the residency programs dealing with hbc you and number two, you can really increase the amount of money that goes to a community schools in the services so that the teachers can actually meet the needs of the kids number three, just like the art money and the ada money, these things can go into how we can increase the compensation for the teachers. >> thank you very much and i yield back. >> okay and i think that's where we are and yes, doctor. >> thank you and thanks everyone is very today, and you know i don't know what is going on but starting salary is $49900 and so probably local issue and certainly federal government should be involved in that they should all be negotiated at the local level into the way, i just have a question for ms. weingarten, do you think the teacher should be able to strike. >> doctor, i think that we should have these kind of collective bargaining programs. >> i have a lot of questions, do you think the teachers should be able to strike. >> i think that if the teachers that should do everything that they can. >> to think the teacher should be able to strike, this is a simple question, for example law enforcement can collective bargaining they cannot strike because we think the role is very important in the community and as professionals we don't think they should so i can do you believe it that the teachers should be able to strike. >> is a yes or no question, you believe it or you don't. >> i do believe that every single worker in america. >> okay let me go on you're not answering my question so i need to go on, you're not answering my question, you're not answering the question and i understand why but in balancing the teachers they go out on strike and these are professionals are supposed to be some of the most important it people to end effector children's education and sometimes they go for weeks without these children getting an education now doctor murphy, let me ask you. >> i would like to answer. >> mama, i'm moving on and i only have a limited amount of time, don't filibuster it, doctor berkey, what is a history of the unionization because it appears that we have gotten worse teaching, over the last 50 years and at the same time, teaching increase so is her connection and in inabilities you i will say we out but to discourage the teachers really are good because mary kay is discouraged where if you teach better coming get paid more and negotiate salary skills and run for the history of the unionization. >> so it is been with the profession a long time burnout in part in the early 20th century and effort of teacher professional nation, however do you forgot that has really worked to something entirely different and the capture of the institutions like the education which if we want to talk about ways reports that the teachers and lower their cost of entering the teaching profession, union supportive policies like rewarding the teachers to get a masters degree versus the teacher to go to colleges and take on more debt than they otherwise would have and we the same time has no impact their ability to be a better teacher increase student outcomes and if you look overall at salary workers, union membership grapes are about 10.3 percent, overall however, mom public school teachers that right source up to 70 percent, and the highest unionization rate of any employment sector and so that means millions of members are paying tax-exempt revenues to the national teachers association annually in the matters for this conversation because enrollee speaking, the unions are closing many of their full promise for attracting qualified teachers in the reforms i mentioned earlier, removing the barriers and undressing undefended and providing pay for exceptional teachers and i would have liked i think many would agree that many of these union policies really exasperated the teachers frustration by forcing the schools for nearly two years to remain closed and forcing educators to engage in emergency remote instruction and so, so many of these policies that have really raise the public education for over century now are rooted in the policies that are supported by special interest groups. >> and just in the pension reform, is this an impediment to the lack of the mobility of the teachers between districts. >> it necessarily between districts but it does between states and their ability to move state to state or to consider if they want to exit the profession and find other employment and to do that and out could weigh on your mind ahead of time if you're considering entering this teaching profession not having the possibility. >> thank you very much and i yield back. >> ms. clark. >> thank you and thank you to all of the witnesses for being here today and i just want to echo the comments of some of my colleagues about just how horrifying it is to watch what happened and do -underscore that we are not powerless to act and we have not been powerless but we have failed are students in our teachers by not acting to reduce gun violence in this country and the school massacres are not freedom in the shooting the children in the teachers in the classrooms, is not some extension of a constitutional right to that we have to do better hand we will and i want to talk to you about another issue that is facing our country and it will not allow us to recover and addresses teacher shortage issue fully if we don't tackle the lack of childcare and when we look at the urge you to kids and educators median hourly wage in this country is $12.24, not enough to raise a family on. one third of headstart, positions are unfilled citing compensation has the number one reason why they are not taking those jobs and so my question it for ms. weingarten and it is good to see you is can you speak to why a reliable childcare system and the availability of child care benefits is an important tool for the teacher recruitment and retention and how as we are working to raise compensation and benefits for the teachers, we can offer but also focus on early educators and why that is so important. >> so thank you representative clark and i also want to say, that i grew up in a system where we did not have a strike and the right to strike should only be a last resort and i should never be a first resort only last resort and that's what most teachers do it i just wanted to make it clear that what i would've said to that answer in terms of childcare, one of the things that all of you were working on the child tax credit and childcare is how we actually in america, reduce the cost for families so that people can actually do the kind of work and deal with the kinds of things that they want to do in a fortunately in america, if you have your wealthy enough, you know, childcare is not an issue. and if you're not, childcare is a huge issue so that is an issue with when you about the jobs that are anything outside of being an investment banker or equity manager or things like that predict so incoming jobs for teacher whether the 50 - 60000 that you see in baltimore, or if the wages in early childhood and if you do not have childcare, how are you going to be able to do that and so it is how you drive down these costs in europe and western europe, there is a package of things that happened for the workers so that they don't have to think about paying for it that way they don't know to think about childcare to think about retirement security they just have this kind of wages and so cutting the costs whether it be student debt cost or childcare costs, arc usually important. >> thank you for that and to mst to ask, as we are looking at trying to increase our amount of teachers in early educators so that we can help solve this childcare crisis had have a robust public schools that we want, what are you seeing is a movie key barriers that are keeping the interested students from entering the teaching profession. >> thank you and i would say that one of the key barriers is the affordability of comprehensive preparation and we know that it has increased in the past several years and yet our programs that are designed it to help them afford those costs like to teach, has not been substantially updated by congress. since 2008 and so, those various are you higher for potential teachers of color who research so there more sensitive to that and and potential wages. >> thank you so much and i see my time has expired and i yield back. >> thank you, doctor barkan, had all of the members of the panel, thank you for joining us and i had a question for you doctor burke based on your research, where are you seeing more interest in the aspiring the teachers and is it a geographic issue or are there certain fields of study that you're finding there's more interest in or less interested in being the teacher. >> will i think it might actually be the kind of cool big teachers can teach and were sing a real renaissance application in particular the growth and charter schools movement had a free are saying as a result of that, that that sector is actually working to create their own teacher education pipeline for entering the schools i guess partly in response to the fact that were sing so much interest in particular sector. >> how they creating that pipeline in one of the things that strikes me is often income you will have students and i'm sympathetic and we've heard a lot about the debt that students have as they finish their preparation for teaching and the link of time. what kinds of innovations are you saying that area that's making it easier for people to transition into teaching. >> on so within the classical sector, some of these are partnering with the existing colleges of education at the universities where they are philosophically aligned in terms the curriculum and in some of these schools, there actually working really house to educate and prepare the teachers winter into the classroom and is the undergraduate level, if you have a foresighted to in a mentoring and education, you can enter into the teaching profession relatively easily however, have you decide later on after getting a bachelors degree, that you want to the classroom and become teacher, for most people, that means going back to school going to masters degree and spending $40000 or whatever might be torn the masters in a few years and that is unattainable for a lot of people and so get it really does come back to reducing those barriers across every type of k-12 education sector whether it is charter public private charter, etc. making sure that those career professionals and were to go who would be excellent educators have the ability to do so without spending a lot of time and money to obtain credentials. >> i'm sensitive to the role of the federal government versus the state government and local you know, sports and everything and what role with the federal government have you to making those kinds of innovations of likability more widely available. >> one very good option would be allowing flexibility with all federal educational is important to remember that the federal government is a small small stakeholder and that overall k-12 financing between 8.5 and 10 percent of overall k-12 financing in a given year and so, these reforms both for me sending perspective in good constitutional government largely has to happen in the state and local levels of government should provide flex ability the funding that it currently does provide for the person allow the states to put those existing education dollars toward any lawful education purpose under state law so that they wanted to take those funds and use that to revamp the teacher compensation or advanced education choice options for the students are focus on reading or whatever the states want to do and they'll be able to do that with those existing funds. >> thank you and ms. weingarten, could you respond in this seems that i draw from people in michigan, concerned by parents who feel like in public schools, that their values are being undermined their voices are not being heard and are you hearing that message and if so, where can be done to restore the confidence that the parents have in our public education system. >> will think you for the question congressman, and when i hear a lot is a lot of frustration in the teachers and the parents want more of a voice in terms of you, was company day-to-day basis and what i'm hearing this year, is that a lot of people wanted more boy trust me the needs of kids meaning, in stead of that gets came back we managed to try to figure out how to meet those needs and so i've heard a lot of we don't have enough counselors for the person of these kinds of things but what were also saying the reason why they have ceased pushing this program is that you need to get back to the basics of focusing on the reading and in the kind of community schools that share that has been really champion focus on how we create the pathways to you know the jobs in the colleges. >> thank you nicaea i have overflow instead of my i've exceeded my stay here so i yield back. >> that is okay, the discussions are good. >> thank you coming quickly before get to my questions, i do want to briefly echo the sentiment the many my colleagues have shared about horrible shootings at this texas and you know obviously older parts are broken and those of us in our moms or grandma's dowsing grandpas you know there's really nothing worse then learning about these terrible incidents that we have got to do something about that is my call to action everybody, have got to do something legislatively and play a role in helping to get our nation in a better place also ideas out there and we need to take that up as well and i think you chair into a ranking member as well for pulling this hearing and i know in a very personal level how important to the topic of teacher shortage is added we had done a series of these rural economic roundtables across the 14 counties that i serve in this congressional district in northwestern illinois had been a recent one in every single one of them, if you not every single one of them we heard about teacher shortages and you know obviously when we have something that is so important, and foundational profession of teaching, there were having trouble attracting and keeping educators across the country and i think that is why this is so important that in the state of owner we have about 41 unfilled teaching positions and professionals and other staff and so 4100, so obviously, there are a lot of things that lead into that but when you get down to it, and i know that you know this probably as well as anybody if not better than anybody, you know that were asking a heck of a lot of her teachers and her staff while paying them too little and so we have a bill that creates incentives and one of them that i am part of is called the repeating educators, investment now act that would give fully refundable tax credits to the teachers and title i schools and so the credits would start and started 5800 and wrap up to 11600 to help retain the self and self this weingarten, can you talk about why the incentives like those under the retainer are really important and maybe even essential if we want to bring teachers into the workforce really is a device them to say in the workforce. >> thank you congress woman look, any of the kind of incentives, what will be say that we are working on and we have a shortage of task force that will present its findings and when a big focus on this as part of our convention in july similarly talk about today is some of what we are bringing forward but what you just focus on his going forward, and what happens is that if you have teachers a better their third year within the first year and doctor market, i started as a lawyer before of the teacher and i was one of those teachers and i wish i had a residency program and i was not a good teacher in my judgment my first year and i needed the support that i got from other people and so by my 34th your eyes much better teacher and those were retention bonuses when the people are deciding will us in the teaching are not as a hydrogen field in the bonus is important the bump is important to because then we can keep the people in the profession and they can raise a family and live in the community and teach and the work you are doing is really important in terms of giving us the funding to be able to retain people in their up to tenth year. >> so if we can kind of keep along these lines in my questioning of the 14 counties that i mentioned, 11 of the 14 are mary rural and that 85 percent sounds in the congressional district that i represent have 5000 residents are fewer in the house and 60 percent 1000 if you are and so we are seeing the shortages in the rural areas and in a really big way and wondering if you have any thoughts about different ways that we should tackle the problem in rural areas versus more urban settings. >> and yes more more and were starting to think about that and you and i have had the conversation around what we did in peoria and having that kind of housing career tech ed facility that ended up being used for several rural counties in rural areas and we had to deal with transportation issues and things like that but then you can figure out how to cluster these together and so that we have the expertise in a physics teacher are a teacher of calculus and we have been doing enough frankly in west virginia where we would has been running a private partnership adjacent to the school district about how we make sure that we have expertise so that rural areas do not have this kind of deficit and you need to get great teachers who are deeply knowledgeable. >> thank you paddocks my time has expired and with that, i yield back. and thank you so much. >> thank you very much and congressman kline. >> thank you i think the witnesses for being here today is hearing and according to virginia department on critical shortage areas this year are special head, elementary, pre- k-6, and middle grade six - eight and then career and technical education in the math and read six - 12 and you know, it is our priority to ensure students can get education this hymns from good teachers and we need to address the issue head on and find a way to help our states to get the students back on track after the closure of schools for almost two years and virginia had an especially aggressive shutdown in urban right led governor and general assembly and virginia schools are struggling as a result according to a new report presented to our current governor and the data demonstrates lower student achievement, and reading and math, wider achievement gaps and reduced transparency and eroding confidence in the commonwealth public schools governor mentioned that the significant lowering of expectations lack of transparency in the week accountability for these results that ends today i am hopeful that a new governor will get into the right direction and let me ask doctor burke, how would you do find a teacher shortage, international definition or is this more of a state and local new wants issue. >> thank you and i think that it's a local new wants as you put it, we see differences across the country and it is certainly not a national problem that needs to be addressed by congress and again i would point to decisions being made by local public school district is an states across the country and we look just from 1992 - 2014, with young people spending increase of 27 percent places teacher salaries actually fell 2 percent over that sign time and so the public schools really chosen to fund a non- teaching search rather than direct these ever-increasing taxpayer-funded 200 teachers salaries. >> absolutely pass on testimony, the statistics, inflation-adjusted for the people spending it from 92 - 2014, increase by 27 percent, but the teacher salaries fell by 2 percent is a public school chose to find a nonteaching staff search rather than direct ever increasing taxpayer spending to hire the teacher salaries and that is just and ensure that problem is worse in some states as opposed to others in some states are probably doing better and it just goes to show why we should encourage the states to address the problem as needed as opposed to impose a one-size-fits-all requirement and can you talk about how the covid-19 many contributed to the loss of the teachers. >> sure and representative, and all encourage him so i think it's important to the educational device and i'm glad that the nea and every other union standing up for them and thank you and i yield back. [inaudible]. >> thank you. >> hang on a second, i am being told here excuse me, technological difficulties and we cannot proceed on a live stream until the lifestream is working and so my situation where a couple of roof moat members are participating in a hybrid, maybe their equal rights and having virtual hearing with no lifestream, the house and can be rules, that having no flexibility apparently, and is working out come on guys give me a break here, this is technology all right and we are done, let's move on congresswoman go ahead. >> thank you. >> and thank you the ranking members also for the searing and what a day and let me also thank all of our panelists for being here today and especially in for your tremendous work in leadership and secure the future and let me associate myself with all of the remarks about the tragic it horrific massacre yesterday and the gun violence, continues to kill students and teachers and staff and it is an epidemic on the public health epidemic had it has got to stop. i'm getting so worried that this trauma is settling in and people become numb to this and i am wondering now, just in terms of a barrier to the teaching profession, how are the teachers now viewing the epidemic of the gun violence in terms of wanting to go into the profession, this is heartbreaking and so we have to move quickly on the legislative solutions which my colleagues well let me just ask the doctor a question following up with the congresswoman and it is good to see you. >> good to see you, my assistant is doing phenomenal job with regards to students of color and teachers of color and being able to not only related to the students but also to teach the curriculum, that empowers the students to learn and make it more interesting in terms of reading and i did not have one black teacher and it was awful. there was no connection for example the black history in the curriculum or african history there was no connection to who i was as a human being which really created a lot of trauma for an ongoing myself but most black people my age and so can you talk about this in relationship between teaching history and also in the context of having teachers of color being able to teach history the same time teaching everyone and then second with regard to center of excellence i had a privilege to work with and very well and i spoke at his memorial i cannot believe this is just the first time that we put 1 million per grantee hand to the program in this committee did so can you just tell us what we need to do given the importance as it relates to the teacher education in our young people because there really trying to 50 percent of the nations teachers. >> thank you and yes i want to reiterate the importance of teachers of color and cultural translators and teachers of color able to connect to what their students are experiencing with the rain the classroom and that's important and we see from other research the importance of culturally and essentially disconnecting in the experience and to get the new information they might learn as impact on their ability to achieve and we found another research that those practices lead to better academic outcomes for the students which can go a long way towards addressing some of the long-standing securities in the students opportunities and outcomes that we see and we see this in decades had its pcu and also universities and other minorities and institutions play an important role in developing the teachers who will want to classrooms and play that important role as you mentioned, hbc you disproportionally prepare the teachers of color and preparing for teachers of color by proportionate than other types of institutions and so is incredibly important that they have the resources they need to be able to create high-quality programs like residencies another kinds of high quality teacher preparation programs offer the kinds of rigorous coursework aligned with clinical practice and in school and mentoring from expert mentors teachers and that experience in the kind of schools that their teachers will ultimately teaching teachers of color are more likely to teach in school with mostly schools of color and it's important that there he will have these experiences in their settings and so that they feel confident and well prepared when into the classroom and more likely to stay for the long haul. >> real quick, before my time is up, to comment on the gun violence and how that is affecting the teachers and the young people entering into the teaching profession. >> and so thank you and all morning long as you can imagine, my phone has man ringing off the hook, what can we do it how do we move through this in the teachers across the country are thinking about this at the same time, number one, about the grandmothers in buffalo and the kids in texas and number two, they are thinking about grandmothers in buffalo and kids in texas and number three, thinking about how do we create a safe welcoming environment for all of us and that is why alene into in this hearing, the whole issue about the community schools and wrapping around the services in schools are relational and if we create the trust and we connect in terms of relationships, the printing lien in post covid-19 era, that is going to be really helpful and that's what the teachers are thinking about, not arming themselves, but how we can create a self and welcoming environment. >> and thank you thank you very much. >> thank you for this hearing and thank you to all the panelists and i'm going to follow-up with something, look my heart break for the brutal murders in texas and also, across this country just in the last several weeks. and what we see is not just this proliferation of guns, is of hate and i come from florida move a big teacher shortage, about 9000 teachers next year, we got ourselves a the sunshine state, the sunshine state except in the classrooms pretty we have two policies that the legislature just enacted and i would like to get your opinion on them and there is a bill the bands any classroom discussion on gender and identity or identification and that any parent might find inappropriate in ages k - 12 predict and is much more than that and then the stop woke fact classroom discussions on race gender and oppression it and education and dialogue about race and inclusion and in other words, the band like 40 macbooks and actually asked the question, one of them, honey feel about math and, understand with the children are feeling and respecting their family lives and am just wondering, how these restrictions are attribute to recruitment challenges. >> as you can imagine, of course i have the part of it is happened over the course of generations, is that when there is uncertainty in communities there is fertility for cultural war in schools and you saw that back in the trials years and years ago when the issue of evolution versus bible studies and i say this to somebody is married to a rabbi and very religious and you see this now in terms of the anxieties appears have had its fertile ground because we have to make sure that we help kids recover and thrive in the aftermath of covid-19 in the aftermath of the covid-19 as opposed to all the other things we all try to do the best we could and effective parents get this last poll shows that 88 percent of the parents talk to teachers did the best they could and so what we need to do is to create an environment in the schools where the kids are free to grieve and think and to be themselves and that is why don't think a lot, is so negative because how does a teacher if a child says something can class, that is underpriced three, what is the teacher supposed to do and it hamstrings the relationship between the teachers and the kids and in terms of history, history teacher told him to teach on history and there are people right now who cannot figure out how to teach about what happened in buffalo and of course are things that can and they cannot say and we have to trust our kids, make sure the parents know and to actually make sure the kids feel the relationships in the agency and the empathy so that we can be a more perfect union, trust people to be able to do this. >> yes, we don't know with the mother was for yesterday shooting but we do know some of these other shootings were definitely racist in nature. and we seen over the past several years, certainly mental health issues. coming back to the florida laws seems to me that the teachers have to be on pins and needles that i say anything that would make somebody uncomfortable because they talk about racism that is just idiotic law and's going to cause more hatred and racism and violence in this country and with that, think you all again for being here today and i yield back. >> thank you and were going to be able to have a second round and determination i know the congresswoman lee is there and congressman: believe us to want and so others please let us know who there, that me ask this is a question to us her to ms. weingarten, i'm concerned know you are there was a question about parents and the teachers and working together earlier. i'm frankly concerned about a lot of the false narratives that are out there and my opponents public education because there making these conditions much more difficult and you know, their efforts to scapegoat in the teachers, don't reflect in my view but i wanted to system how the parents actually feel about the children and teachers in the schools whose recent data on the heart research to find a 72 percent of the parents and schools, provides excellent or good quality education the 30 endorse the quality of the performance of the teacher and you represent many members of your community and community that our first responders with poverty grief and children's mental health challenges and how do you think of parents and teachers working together to support student learning. >> so, the parents have and i don't disagree, actually very hybrid learning was one of the worst things that happened and many of us and i think my record, can only for myself, from april of 2020 wanting to see how we could give the schools reopen served on the cuomo task force to get schools reopen in new york there are endless numbers of puppets about it and safety was one of the ways that we did it in a very uncertain time and so, the question really becomes, how can we create the parent-teacher partnership with is absolutely essential for the kids to thrive and complete do it in lots of different ways and places. but this morning is one of the only places that government gives to the parents to actually help the families and so we have to on a local level this for the reason wife you why your bill for you know full service community schools is so important because if we can get the title i coordinators the money to wrap the services around and have 25000 of these community schools and just in canada, time of this human terms of the charter sector and if we can actually do this, we have an infrastructure by which the parents can always feel comfortable and always get answers in the schools had have the kind of childcare that that representative clark was talking about those are the kinds of things we need to do we need to make sure the parent-teacher relationship is one that is open and one that is really respected and what we see as the schools that were, how that this were trying to do all across the country. >> i'm excited to hear you talk about the communities come up we put in $75 million at the 2022, that's about a $45 million increase. and my intention to increase that effort and i volunteered again and work down in florida in the community school and watch the school open at 6:00 a.m. and watch a close at 10:00 p.m. and whitewash parents and grandparents and kids interacting with each other and you know, all through the day and was an environment in which the parents were deeply involved with our youngsters and what was happening so i think that we are in the truck to move back on that in the other piece of that as well that you my talk about isn't it true, elected school boards, is country, our parents elected so that they have a role and what is happening in the classroom with their kids there on the board but the kids with the same school. >> will look, i'm a big believer in local governance schools and i have worked in many systems, worked with mayor control in new york city and yes, the two of us actually reseller 23 percent for the schoolteachers and if it did actually hugely reduced number of the teachers in your city and doctor burke, actually did huge great scores we did some of that work and so what happens is that when you have local schools and you create trust, every parent has issues that they're struggling with and every teacher has issues but is it about time in america, but increase trust to help local boards elected by people in the community and trust is what we are going for in the more and you see, that the opponent sometimes say they are trying to create distrust to actually disconnect people from public schooling in the public schooling is something at that the republicans and the democrats can independence, they can really think is important in their communities and the boards and the locally elected boards help create that trust. >> thank you. >> congressman paul. >> thank you very much and again i think all of our witnesses and this is a really good discussion. let me go to covid-19 first and i don't want to point fingers at anybody because i think we are dealing with an unprecedented situation people basically did the best they could wherever they were out of some things and my personal view was shutting of the schools was probably a big mistake and in my say, two different examples because the two largest school system to shut down and most of rested not initiative early and you know at the end of the school year in 2020, but most of them reopen in the fall of 2020 and they remain open and under biblical circumstances they seem to have better results honestly in terms of their kids and all of the social problems that we've explored in the community so when two lessons were learned and held of covid-19 will be very interested in what we should think about going forward should we ever confront something like this again and hope that we don't which is hopefully it's one once in his center event that maybe we may be overthinking it right now but we know were going to be dealing with it on this committee for a long time we know in your school systems you're going to be dealing with the biggest we have to has a very long tail to edit and so let me start with missus weingarten and anybody else in the panel, couple of suggestions to think about lessons learned from covid-19 and i would love to hear them. >> so number one, and thank you for the question, number one we need real consistency to the biggest extent impossible and what the public health positioning is, people are very confused particularly at yes the covid-19 changed the rules changed but to the extent that we could have real consistency coming from all corners that would have helped create a trust would've been very very helpful because of and we believe that safety resources worth a way to reopen schools and there were many other people on this committee that i had many conversations with about how we create both safety and in person morning events number one and number two, we learn how to trust teachers a lot at the beginning of this pandemic had there was no real platforms lots of different places and there have been lots of virtual learning before hand and the former secretary of education pushed it really hard but we learned how to trust the teachers a lot and let's not stop trusting the teachers now that we are back in person and they were ingenious and they were creative and bus drivers and to food service workers must actually trust them the same way that we did when we were in an unprecedented pandemic. >> thank you. >> thank you and so i think something that we learn from the pandemic was that there's sort of a distinction between short-term and long-term solutions to shortages and stepping issues that we have been dealing with during the pandemic and the teacher shortage predates the pandemic and was exasperated by the pandemic and so i thank you so important to going forward to think about long-term solutions that can be enacted now so that we are not looking for short-term solutions while we are in crisis mode really undercuts the ultimate outcomes that we want to see. >> thank you doctor burke. >> thank you and the number one lesson that we can take away from covid-19 is that we should fund the students and not the system there was a big part of the reason the parents did not have educational continuity for the children is that the dollars go to the school district and of the students themselves so when the schools shut down comely and very few if any choices to make sure the children did have access to in person instruction is a really important lesson going forward is that every single dollar that we spent should be going directly to the families to allow them into the learning environment that works for them and reflective values, and lofgren section ten safe and effective long-term. >> i'm out of time but doctor wes if you could quickly respond. >> please. >> thank you and i appreciate the question and i think just to echo that, our shortage in special education has been with us for you know as long as i have been doing this work, at least four years and like with many situations, covid-19 has exasperated what was already there so we were able to really see this in these long-term solutions are really important i would also point out that there are many students with disabilities with significant health conditions for whom return to school, posed a accelerated threat and so i think that's important to think about when we think about these public health kinds of situations a clearly this preferable to be in person school delivering speech therapy and online or assistance, it is very challenging to do virtually and thank you. >> thank you and thank you and i yield back. >> and congresswoman lee. >> thank you, we just say that i hope found a community school i worked in a community school and that part of the black panther community school and missus carver thomas alva you know, for the kids went to this community school, for all the reasons we know, that the teachers who cared about them and teachers who look like them and there was a curriculum that they can relate to and they excelled in math and science and it was unbelievable and so i think the community schools as long as they are public and you know, i don't support the vouchers or any of those privatize public schools but the community, they really are a very interesting an excellent structure for low-income kids especially kids of color. having said that, i actually worked when i was in california just later, i worked london suspension exposure on the black boys and a couple of years ago, they must throw tendons like 40 percent of the african-american babies were expelled and suspended from preschool and so we also department of education to get a handle on this and also in california, in the day, kids were kicked out or expelled from public schools because there were so vague there's no real guidelines on what to do if there were issues with the children and of course were no resources for alternatives in terms of truancy and making sure the teachers had a path to you know, the report system for the children for whatever reason, that they thought they needed to be expelled and so i am wondering, in california, that this cup tie that up so that the kids have the teachers have alternatives so that they can teach so they don't have to be mental health counselors and so they don't have to be public safety officers in second life anybody knows what is happening with these young black boys in preschool and are they still being expelled like they were a few years ago. >> thank you representative for that question and is quite a few different pieces first i will say is that that one of the studies that i mentioned, then looked at the student outcomes that looked out and showed teachers certification matters and those other research showing that when teachers or students have more, novice teachers they also are more likely to be suspended or exclusionary disciplinary practices and so both of those sort of ideas suggest that the preparation really matters to ensure that the teachers are prepared with the instructional strategies that they need to be able to teach without suspending the students and also we see that the research shows that when the students have more teachers of color they also have fewer recent suspensions and chronic absenteeism and so it is clear that there are instructional practices that make a difference and having that access to the preparation really matters for the students experiences in the classroom. i cannot speak to the preschool rates of suspensions, that is troublesome but it will say that it preparation make the difference. >> do you or jane or anybody can you respond to that issue with regards to little black boy. >> just a quick point on that, we do know that students with disabilities and students of color are disproportionately suspended from school and they have disproportionately experienced this rejection from the schools but does not help them advance and we also know that the students of color are disproportionately included in special education particularly the black boys and it goes back to the skill and the expertise of the educators having and being able to work with them in a research-based way and the knowledge. >> ms. weingarten. >> is a problem congresswoman lee had it as part of why data is collected to make sure that we change this and one of the ways of doing that is the justice program plus the ensuring is doctor wes just said, that people actually are to meet the needs and eventually competent way of all kids and it is kind of why we are getting out it in a lot of different ways and how do you have more diverse teaching staff and how you actually deal with these issues and how you create more free time is schools and how to make sure that the teachers are prepared. >> thank you and would you like to respond. >> i don't have any hard data to respond to you and we do know that when you control the behavior the sum of the differences do shrink but i don't have hard numbers. >> thank you again the day cover such a tragedy, it is kind of overwhelming to be here with all of you and you flip through the experience it and remind of how much work that we have to do but we have to stop the gun violence on the campuses. >> hi just want to say, that i think that the child study center has done a lot of work in this area and they work on this and i should put you in touch with them about what they about in terms of that data was happening to preschool youngsters and etc. and especially we have at one point on that issue may be that we can work on something like that again. >> i would like to see that but we gotta get this under control because we've written a lot into our approach will the direction and you know, the appropriations, you know the language to address this report and haven't gotten any reports back from the department of education and this goes back ten years you know. [laughter] and i've been working on this year and so that would be very helpful maybe from this point on we can get a good grasp on what we need to do and thank you. >> thank you and let me ask congressman, if you want to make any closing remarks and will wrap up. >> i will quickly and first of all thank you again for the hearing and i marveled my colleague wesley from california because it is four hours earlier help there and so to get up that thank you. >> okay, will i still marvel at you anyway. >> thank you. >> for anybody out west that manages to tune into our harry printing like a time and so it is a very important hearing and i want to say thinking and thank you to the witnesses is been a difficult they had we all acknowledge that. like my friends in california, i appreciate the fact you do give us some optimism about where we are headed and what our potential is and without changing problems we do have and i'm sometimes inclined to think that we try to do too much of the federal level i am not talking in terms of money and we just have to many programs and not enough money we would be better off to narrow down on a number of programs and spend the dollars that we do today to not spread ourselves quite as thin as we do. it is the subject of another hearing i may also do think that we have a larger cultural problem and i mentioned in my opening remarks and i probably should have received some request but the profession has lost a lot of respect i think had i read that my son is a public school teacher to begin my career to be an educator, these one of the most noble professions that there is and the fact that we have people literally leaving out of discouragement and part of that is other opportunities with think part of it is just exhaustion we need to rethink some of the burdens that we put on the teachers had missed weingarten talked about the sheer paperwork and we exceed or we excel at the federal level we never give you many for free we always send a list of requirements reports and what have you and that is something that we ought to think of ourselves there's a certain level of trust to trust people of the local level to make good decisions and we don't and i am not talking here about normal safeguards in terms of making truly the money is not misappropriated about at the end of the day, like to the money following the students and their families to make good choices, there's a lot of merit in that i think can it brings the decision-making of dollars close together and that usually works out better in the long run and regardless of that i appreciate everybody's participation is been lively discussion i think all for suggesting it and i think you for following up so quickly and giving us this opportunity today and without again, i look forward to continue to work with my friend the chair on these issues and i yield back. >> thank you very very much and i do want to say thank you and i know he sought i know but the quest of the last hearing and suggested this had quite honestly, this is the first hearing that we have had on the shortage of teachers since the pandemic it but, two things that we said this is been such a really elevated conversation and really appreciate the richness of it and the discussion and the ranking member said that always revered in our society where the teachers and for most families and you know, other generations and you know they wanted you to pursue teaching and that was the thing to do. especially for the women, that is very true and i think that missed weingarten, her comments about how would you advise your child or your grandchild to go into teaching profession and how would you want to give them the sense of nobility of the profession and we have lost that. >> we have also a lot of that and recently and what i thank you so that what we focused here on, is that the teacher shortage is a national crisis and eight existed before the pandemic and it was exasperated by the pandemic in the paying in the teachers what we are paying them is a crisis in we need to address that and i think that again that the risk of this conversation has been he suggestions that we have had the witness and comprehensive preparation teacher residencies and mentorship sent induction support, improved teaching positions and grow your own program and dual certifications and more funding time and reduced class time, and improved his teacher pay. special education, how to retrain for special ed teachers. and teachers of color, how do we this is a big issue today. expand access to collective bargaining and community schools and i am so proud of that we are having a resurgence of the importance of the community schools we do that a number of years ago then they just write down and they were vital and dynamic in creating that atmosphere of the students in children and families and academics and you know teachers coming together and mental health support and investing in critical preparation programs and mention all of those because i want to say this is encouraging, we are looking at the federal level and recently this committee has really made some investments and that's in the teacher quality partnerships which we increase about $16 million and hawkins program, calling, that is a million dollars and for the first time, the first time that we have moved in this direction it with a hot consider of excellence in ida, personal preparations, and imaging the community schools and $75 million in school-based mental health and you know which is in investing in and and number of the suggestions that you have made, under these categories so that we have an opportunity to make the investments at this time in areas that have really been flat funded are underfunded for years and understanding the breath of the problems that we face today and the fact is, we need to prioritize these investments and understand their value in terms of these systems that educates our young people and provide them with the opportunities for the future and it gives them the path to success in their is no more noble quality or greater achievement, everyone here will tell them to get an education that you can succeed and that is what you are all the business to do and we have the monies with these increases hbc you and i only say that because i feel good that we are on track that i want us to be able to do more and when i think about what happened yesterday, and i we go forward to because we have to go forward, we have to reassure and not talking here today about gun violence but we need to address that in congress needs to address that in a very serious way but we need to assure the teachers that they are safe and their families know they are safe and sending oak tragedy, young woman named victoria, she was protecting her students, was shot and killed. and maybe the same circumstances for the young woman yesterday who had been teaching for 17 years talk about an experienced teacher, we have to ensure the teachers that they are safe and we respect them what to do and put aside those who want to have just a dissension amongst teachers, and for students and what can we all say and went to school, i would everyday and wielded, never for a moment, my parents or i felt that i was not going to return home that day and today, it lives each one of her kids. and lives with her parents. this is a moral responsibility to address this issue to the extent that we can provide the moment not only the prayers, but addressing the situation will speak for myself and i don't know where everybody else is, that we cannot ban assault weapons in this country, that is something that i cannot - but we need to provide the kinds of mental health and efforts that can reassure people and at our schools that they are a safe environment for the youngster. and for the people who teach our young people and that the teachers have the most trust in this been the most time with her children and we cannot ever forget them. >> and understand the commitment they make you want to work with you and willing to address these issues in terms of you know, the barrier shortages in the current system that we have we can try harder and with this weekend succeeded thank you thank you so much for getting it lives to this profession in making sure their kids are well educated. will discuss campaign 2022, the biden presidency, and divisions in the republican party with republican strategist brendan buck and democratic strategist bre maxwell. then john o'neill and sarah

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