I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3393 

To remove college cost as a barrier to every student having access to a 

well-prepared and diverse educator workforce, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2021 

Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois (for himself, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. 

PANETTA, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. SMITH of 

Washington, Mr. SOTO, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. 

PRESSLEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. 

BROWN, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. SIRES, Ms. MENG, Mr. TRONE, Ms. BUSH, 

Ms. TITUS, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Mr. POCAN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. CHU, Mr. WELCH, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 

TLAIB, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. 

KHANNA, and Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition 

to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To remove college cost as a barrier to every student having 

access to a well-prepared and diverse educator workforce, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Diversifying by Invest3 ing in Educators and Students to Improve Outcomes For 

4 Youth Act’’ or the ‘‘Diversify Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Schools predominantly enrolling historically 

8 underserved students are often disproportionately 

9 impacted by teacher shortages. 

10 (2) According to Department of Education data 

11 for the 2020–2021 school year, to date 43 States 

12 are reporting shortages in mathematics teachers, 42 

13 in science teachers, and 44 in special education 

14 teachers. 

15 (3) Data shows that, between 2009 and 2017, 

16 teacher education enrollments dropped from 691,000 

17 to 444,000, a 38-percent reduction. This amounts to 

18 a decrease of about 340,000 professionals on their 

19 way to becoming teachers in the year 2017, as com20 pared to 2009. 

21 (4) Current data show that the impacts of 

22 COVID–19 may be further exacerbating student ac23 cess to well-prepared and diverse teachers through 

24 declining higher education enrollments and potential 

25 increased turnover due to pandemic teaching condi26 tions, among other factors. 


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1 (5) About 80 percent of educators begin teach2 ing with a bachelor’s degree, yet the latest Federal 

3 data show a nearly 6-percent decline in under4 graduate enrollment in the Spring of 2021. Enroll5 ment declines have inequitably impacted students of 

6 color. 

7 (6) In an August 2020 Census Bureau survey, 

8 respondents cited their inability to pay as a factor 

9 in their decision to forgo college. 

10 (7) Research suggests that service scholarship 

11 programs like the TEACH Grant Program are suc12 cessful when they are both administratively manage13 able and when subsidies are large enough to sub14 stantially offset training costs. Efforts to increase 

15 the TEACH Grant award amount must be combined 

16 with efforts to ensure that the program is adminis17 tratively manageable. In order for the TEACH 

18 Grant Program to meet its full potential, the re19 search is clear that both criteria need to be ad20 dressed. 

21 (8) The TEACH Grant’s award amount has not 

22 increased since its creation in the bipartisan College 

23 Cost Reduction and Access Act (Public Law 110– 

24 84). In addition, due to the Budget Control Act of 

25 2011 (Public Law 112–25), the maximum amount 


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1 of grant aid available under the TEACH Grant Pro2 gram of $4,000 a year has been cut for a majority 

3 of the program’s existence. This comes at a time 

4 when the yearly full cost of a public 4-year college 

5 for an in-State student exceeds $20,000. Further, 

6 more than two-thirds of individuals entering the field 

7 of education borrow money to pay for their higher 

8 education, resulting in an average debt of about 

9 $20,000 for those with a bachelor’s degree and 

10 $50,000 for those with a master’s degree. 

11 (9) Grant programs can eliminate or reduce the 

12 need to borrow student loans in order to afford a 

13 college education. This is important because a col14 lege student’s potential debt burden influences the 

15 student’s decisions about what profession to enter, 

16 with the result that the student is less likely to pur17 sue a career in education or take other low-paying 

18 jobs after graduation if the student expects to incur 

19 more debt. This is especially true for students of 

20 color, who, according to a recent report, are more 

21 likely to come from families that are unable to con22 tribute financially to their higher education. 

23 (10) Students with disabilities, including stu24 dents of color with disabilities, are also likely to ac25 crue significant student loan debt. This often results 


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1 from limited ability to work while in school due to 

2 the increased time needed for coursework. 

3 (11) Teachers of color face unique barriers to 

4 entering and staying in the profession. For example, 

5 teachers of color are more likely to enter teaching 

6 through alternative pathways due to the high cost of 

7 traditional teacher preparation programs and the 

8 debt burden faced by college students of color. 

9 Lower quality pathways can result in less effective 

10 teaching and high turnover rates. Research shows 

11 that candidates who receive comprehensive prepara12 tion are 2 to 3 times more likely to stay in teaching 

13 than those who receive little training. In many cases, 

14 however, teachers of color are more likely to begin 

15 teaching without having completed comprehensive 

16 preparation and entering instead through alternative 

17 routes that often skip student teaching and key 

18 coursework, leaving teachers to learn on the job. 

19 (12) Research shows that recruiting and retain20 ing a diverse teacher workforce is key to improving 

21 outcomes for all students and for closing achieve22 ment gaps. While White students also benefit by 

23 learning from teachers of color, the impact is espe24 cially significant for students of color, who have 

25 higher test scores, are more likely to graduate from 


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1 high school, and more likely to succeed in college 

2 when they have had teachers of color who serve as 

3 role models and support their attachment to school 

4 and learning. 

5 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE TEACH GRANTS PROGRAM 

6 UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 

7 1965. 

8 Subpart 9 of part A of title IV of the Higher Edu9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070g et seq.) is amend10 ed— 

11 (1) in section 420L(1), by inserting ‘‘(except 

12 that such term does not include an institution de13 scribed in subsection (a)(1)(A) of section 102)’’ after 

14 ‘‘102’’; 

15 (2) in section 420M— 

16 (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking 

17 ‘‘$4,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$8,000’’; 

18 (B) in subsection (b)(3), by striking the 

19 second and third sentences and inserting the 

20 following: ‘‘Any disbursement allowed to be 

21 made by crediting the teacher candidate’s ac22 count shall be used for the full cost of attend23 ance (as defined in section 472).’’; and 

24 (C) in subsection (d)— 


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1 (i) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking 

2 ‘‘$16,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$32,000’’; and 

3 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 

4 ‘‘$8,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$16,000’’; and 

5 (3) in section 420N— 

6 (A) in subsection (b)— 

7 (i) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3); 

8 (ii) by striking ‘‘an agreement’’ and 

9 all that follows through ‘‘the applicant 

10 will’’ and inserting ‘‘an agreement by the 

11 applicant that the applicant will’’; 

12 (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

13 (A) through (E) as paragraphs (1) through 

14 (5), respectively, and moving the margins 

15 of such paragraphs (as so redesignated) 2 

16 ems to the left; 

17 (iv) by redesignating clauses (i) 

18 through (vii) as subparagraphs (A) 

19 through (G), respectively, and moving the 

20 margins of such subparagraphs (as so re21 designated) 2 ems to the left; 

22 (v) in paragraph (2), as redesignated 

23 by clause (iii), by striking ‘‘teach in a 

24 school described in section 465(a)(2)(A)’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘teach in a school described 


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1 in section 465(a)(2)(A) or teach in a high2 need early childhood education program 

3 (defined in section 200(9))’’; and 

4 (vi) in paragraph (3), as redesignated 

5 by clause (iii)— 

6 (I) in subparagraph (F), as re7 designated by clause (iv), by striking 

8 ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; 

9 (II) in subparagraph (G), as re10 designated by clause (iv), by inserting 

11 ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; and 

12 (III) by adding at the end the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(H) early childhood education;’’; and 

15 (B) by striking subsection (c) and insert16 ing the following: 

17 ‘‘(c) CERTIFICATE.—Upon the completion of the 

18 service requirement in subsection (b), the Secretary shall 

19 send to the recipient of a grant under this subpart an elec20 tronic certificate documenting the completion of such serv21 ice.’’; 

22 (C) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub23 section (e); 

24 (D) by inserting after subsection (c) the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary may not institute 

2 or create a monetary penalty for failure or refusal to com3 plete the service requirement under subsection (b).’’; and 

4 (E) in subsection (e), as redesignated by 

5 subparagraph (C)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘subsection 

7 (b)(1)(C)(vii)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

8 (b)(3)(G)’’; and 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘subsection (b)(1)’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’. 

11 SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO THE BALANCED BUDGET AND DEF12 ICIT CONTROL ACT. 

13 (a) EXEMPTION OF PROGRAM FROM SEQUESTRA14 TION.—Section 255(h) of the Balanced Budget and Emer15 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 905(h)) is 

16 amended by inserting after the item relating to ‘‘Supple17 mental Security Income Program (28–0406–0–1–609).’’ 

18 the following new item: 

19 ‘‘TEACH Grants under subpart 9 of part A of 

20 title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.’’. 

21 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by this 

22 section shall apply to any sequestration order issued under 

23 the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act 


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1 of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) on or after the date of 

2 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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