Senate Bill: Highly Qualified Teaching Reform

S 101

One Hundred Thirteenth Congress

1^st Session

S. 101

To create more influential and effective teaching institutions for the betterment of our nation’s future and to hold teaching standards to a higher level.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 11, 2014

Mr. Scott Nesland introduced the following bill; which was read once and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

A BILL

To make the qualifications for teaching higher by means of higher post-high school education or teaching workshops and a more in-depth qualification exam to reinforce the knowledge of the teacher.

            Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

Highly Qualified Teaching Act of 2014.

SEC.2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

            (a) Congress finds the following reasons for teacher qualification reform to be necessary for the betterment of our nation. It is the norm in many other successful nations that teachers be held to the highest standard of any employment. After all, teachers are the ones to determine how intelligent and disciplined the future of our nation will be. “It is known that having a college degree is linked to higher pay, according to a 2010 Educations Pays report from the College Board. ‘The median earnings of bachelor's degree recipients working full-time year-round in 2008 were $55,700,’ reads the report.” That's $21,900 more than what individuals with only a high school diploma earned (education.yahoo.net 2 facts). With that being said, the teachers in countries like China are also rewarded for being held to such a high standard with a much higher yearly salary in comparison with the United States. This leads us to the simple conclusion that higher qualifications for teachers will lead to a more advanced, disciplined future.

            (b) The purposes of this Act are to raise the intensity of the degree required to become a teacher and also to further the education of current teachers via teaching workshops and online classes.

SEC.3. PROVISIONS

(a)    A stricter required examination.

(b)    At least a master’s degree for priority consideration in employment.

(c)    A log of continuing education hours (teachers must accumulate a total of 50 hours yearly of continuing education).

            (d) If teachers or institutions fail to comply with the regulations set forth, they will be warned, monitored by officials at the state level, and eventually reach termination if continued. States will report back yearly. The penalty to the states will be no government funding raised by this bill.  

SEC.4. APPROPRIATIONS

            (a) Forcing all teachers to meet such qualifications at first glance may seem to be rash. With that being said, teachers will receive sufficient government funding to assist them in continuing education and scholarships to help attain higher level college degrees. Teachers and teaching students must attend land grant institutions to receive this financial aid. It will cost no more than 200 billion dollars. All teachers will be granted at least $50,000 as a yearly salary.  

(b) In order to raise sufficient funds for such financial aid, the national tax on alcohol and tobacco products will be raised by 1%. This should provide plenty of money to fund this bill.