Diversify Act
Bill: S.1780 | Sponsor: Sen. Booker, Cory A. (D-NJ)
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Diversifying by Investing in Educators and Students To Improve Outcomes For Youth Act or the Diversify Act
This bill revises the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant program. The TEACH program awards grants to undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching in a high-need field and in an elementary or secondary school that serves low-income students.
First, the bill raises the maximum amount for TEACH grants.
Second, the bill allows TEACH grants to cover the full cost of attendance. Currently, these grants may be used only for tuition, fees, and on-campus housing.
The bill allows teaching in a high-need early childhood education program to count toward service requirements for the program.
Next, the bill eliminates the process for converting a TEACH grant to a loan if a recipient does not complete the requirements of the program. Further, the bill prohibits the Department of Education (ED) from instituting or creating a monetary penalty for failure or refusal to complete the service requirement.
In addition, the bill requires ED to send an electronic certificate to grant recipients who have completed their service requirement.
The bill also exempts the TEACH program from sequestration, which is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.

To remove college cost as a barrier to every student having access to a 
 well-prepared and diverse educator workforce, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Diversifying by Investing in 
Educators and Students To Improve Outcomes For Youth Act'' or the 
``Diversify Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Schools predominantly enrolling historically 
        underserved students are often disproportionately impacted by 
        teacher shortages.
            (2) According to Department of Education data for the 2020-
        2021 school year, to date 43 States are reporting shortages in 
        mathematics teachers, 42 in science teachers, and 44 in special 
        education teachers.
            (3) Data shows that, between 2009 and 2017, teacher 
        education enrollments dropped from 691,000 to 444,000, a 38-
        percent reduction. This amounts to a decrease of about 340,000 
        professionals on their way to becoming teachers in the year 
        2017, as compared to 2009.
            (4) Current data show that the impacts of COVID-19 may be 
        further exacerbating student access to well-prepared and 
        diverse teachers through declining higher education enrollments 
        and potential increased turnover due to pandemic teaching 
        conditions, among other factors.
            (5) About 80 percent of educators begin teaching with a 
        bachelor's degree, yet the latest Federal data show a 4.5-
        percent decline in undergraduate enrollment in the Spring of 
        2021. Enrollment declines have inequitably impacted students of 
        color.
            (6) In an August 2020 Census Bureau survey, respondents 
        cited their inability to pay as a factor in their decision to 
        forgo college.
            (7) Research suggests that service scholarship programs 
        like the TEACH Grant Program are successful when they are both 
        administratively manageable and when subsidies are large enough 
        to substantially offset training costs. Efforts to increase the 
        TEACH Grant award amount must be combined with efforts to 
        ensure that the program is administratively manageable. In 
        order for the TEACH Grant Program to meet its full potential, 
        the research is clear that both criteria need to be addressed.
            (8) The TEACH Grant's award amount has not increased since 
        its creation in the bipartisan College Cost Reduction and 
        Access Act (Public Law 110-84). In addition, due to the Budget 
        Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-25), the maximum amount of 
        grant aid available under the TEACH Grant Program of $4,000 a 
        year has been cut for a majority of the program's existence. 
        This comes at a time when the yearly full cost of a public 4-
        year college for an in-State student exceeds $20,000. Further, 
        more than two-thirds of individuals entering the field of 
        education borrow money to pay for their higher education, 
        resulting in an average debt of about $20,000 for those with a 
        bachelor's degree and $50,000 for those with a master's degree.
            (9) Grant programs can eliminate or reduce the need to 
        borrow student loans in order to afford a college education. 
        This is important because a college student's potential debt 
        burden influences the student's decisions about what profession 
        to enter, with the result that the student is less likely to 
        pursue a career in education or take other low-paying jobs 
        after graduation if the student expects to incur more debt. 
        This is especially true for students of color, who, according 
        to a recent report, are more likely to come from families that 
        are unable to contribute financially to their higher education.
            (10) Students with disabilities, including students of 
        color with disabilities, are also likely to accrue significant 
        student loan debt. This often results from limited ability to 
        work while in school due to the increased time needed for 
        coursework.
            (11) Teachers of color face unique barriers to entering and 
        staying in the profession. For example, teachers of color are 
        more likely to enter teaching through alternative pathways due 
        to the high cost of traditional teacher preparation programs 
        and the debt burden faced by college students of color. Lower 
        quality pathways can result in less effective teaching and high 
        turnover rates. Research shows that candidates who receive 
        comprehensive preparation are 2 to 3 times more likely to stay 
        in teaching than those who receive little training. In many 
        cases, however, teachers of color are more likely to begin 
        teaching without having completed comprehensive preparation and 
        entering instead through alternative routes that often skip 
        student teaching and key coursework, leaving teachers to learn 
        on the job.
            (12) Research shows that recruiting and retaining a diverse 
        teacher workforce is key to improving outcomes for all students 
        and for closing achievement gaps. While White students also 
        benefit by learning from teachers of color, the impact is 
        especially significant for students of color, who have higher 
        test scores, are more likely to graduate high school, and more 
        likely to succeed in college when they have had teachers of 
        color who serve as role models and support their attachment to 
        school and learning.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE TEACH GRANTS PROGRAM UNDER THE HIGHER 
              EDUCATION ACT OF 1965.

    Subpart 9 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1070g et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 420L(1), by inserting ``(except that such 
        term does not include an institution described in subsection 
        (a)(1)(A) of section 102)'' after ``102'';
            (2) in section 420M--
                    (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``$4,000'' 
                and inserting ``$8,000'';
                    (B) in subsection (b)(3), by striking the second 
                and third sentences and inserting the following: ``Any 
                disbursement allowed to be made by crediting the 
                teacher candidate's account shall be used for the full 
                cost of attendance (as defined in section 472).''; and
                    (C) in subsection (d)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking 
                        ``$16,000'' and inserting ``$32,000''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 
                        ``$8,000'' and inserting ``$16,000''; and
            (3) in section 420N--
                    (A) in subsection (b)--
                            (i) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3);
                            (ii) by striking ``an agreement'' and all 
                        that follows through ``the applicant will'' and 
                        inserting ``an agreement by the applicant that 
                        the applicant will'';
                            (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 
                        through (E) as paragraphs (1) through (5), 
                        respectively, and moving the margins of such 
                        paragraphs (as so redesignated) 2 ems to the 
                        left;
                            (iv) by redesignating clauses (i) through 
                        (vii) as subparagraphs (A) through (G), 
                        respectively, and moving the margins of such 
                        subparagraphs (as so redesignated) 2 ems to the 
                        left;
                            (v) in paragraph (2), as redesignated by 
                        clause (iii), by striking ``teach in a school 
                        described in section 465(a)(2)(A)'' and 
                        inserting ``teach in a school described in 
                        section 465(a)(2)(A) or teach in a high-need 
                        early education program''; and
                            (vi) in paragraph (3), as redesignated by 
                        clause (iii)--
                                    (I) in subparagraph (F), as 
                                redesignated by clause (iv), by 
                                striking ``or'' after the semicolon;
                                    (II) in subparagraph (G), as 
                                redesignated by clause (iv), by 
                                inserting ``or'' after the semicolon; 
                                and
                                    (III) by adding at the end the 
                                following:
                    ``(H) early childhood education;''; and
                    (B) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 
                following:
    ``(c) Certificate.--Upon the completion of the service requirement 
in subsection (b), the Secretary shall send to the recipient of a grant 
under this subpart an electronic certificate documenting the completion 
of such service.'';
                    (C) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection 
                (e);
                    (D) by inserting after subsection (c) the 
                following:
    ``(d) Prohibition.--The Secretary may not institute or create a 
monetary penalty for failure or refusal to complete the service 
requirement under subsection (b).''; and
                    (E) in subsection (e), as redesignated by 
                subparagraph (C)--
                            (i) by striking ``subsection 
                        (b)(1)(C)(vii)'' and inserting ``subsection 
                        (b)(3)(G)''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``subsection (b)(1)'' and 
                        inserting ``subsection (b)''.

SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO THE BALANCED BUDGET AND DEFICIT CONTROL ACT.

    (a) Exemption of Program From Sequestration.--Section 255(h) of the 
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 
905(h)) is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
``Supplemental Security Income Program (28-0406-0-1-609).'' the 
following new item:
            ``TEACH Grants under subpart 9 of part A of title IV of the 
        Higher Education Act of 1965.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to any sequestration order issued under the Balanced Budget and 
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) on or 
after the date of enactment of this Act.
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