Senator Mike Braun: 'Consider Teachers Act' Passes Senate

The TEACH Grant program provides grant assistance to students who serve four years as a full-time teachers in high-need.

(Washington, D.C.) - The Consider Teachers Act, a bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Mike Braun, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, and in the House by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton aimed at fixing a broken system burdening teachers with unfair loans, has passed the U.S. Senate.

The TEACH Grant program provides grant assistance to students who serve four years as a full-time teachers in high-need, often underserved communities. However, often due to basic clerical mistakes, thousands of teachers have found their grants converted into loans that must be paid back with interest. The Consider Teachers Act aims to fix this broken system permanently and provides extra time for teachers to complete service requirements due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"The TEACH grant is an important program to incentivize teachers to serve in neglected communities, but 12 years of poor government management has turned these grants into groans for thousands of teachers," said Senator Mike Braun. "This bill passing the Senate shows our appreciation for America's great teachers, and now I hope the House of Representatives will act to fix this broken system once and for all." 

“Arizona teachers receiving TEACH grants serve in low-income schools, helping Arizona students access quality educations across our state. The government made a promise to these teachers—and our commonsense, bipartisan bill ensures the government honors its obligation and protects our teachers from surprise bills,” said Senator Kyrsten Sinema. 

“I am pleased to join Senators Braun and Sinema in introducing the Consider Teachers Act of 2021, which will reform the Teach Grant program that is unfairly converting many teachers' grants to loans. Currently, many teachers are finding their grants converted to loan debt because of small administrative errors that might be unavoidable due to the coronavirus crisis. This bill will correct the administrative process and extend the period teachers have to fulfill their service requirements by three years for those who were affected by the coronavirus crisis,” said Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.