Sponsors (3)
Introduced March 9, 2026 by Haley Stevens · Last progress March 9, 2026
The bill invests in expanding and professionalizing teacher pipelines—especially in rural and high‑need fields—by funding residencies, supports, and accountability, but does so in ways that create new costs, administrative burdens, and eligibility or mobility trade‑offs that may disadvantage under-resourced districts and some educators.
Students and teachers will benefit from expanded teacher-preparation (residencies, practice teaching) and stronger early-career supports, which should raise teacher effectiveness and reduce early-career attrition.
Students in rural and other underserved communities will get more targeted recruiting, tuition support, and pipeline programs (including Grow Your Own) to improve staffing in hard-to-staff schools.
Prospective teachers will face lower barriers to entering the profession through removal of a mandatory master's requirement, tuition support tied to residencies, and expanded CTE pathway eligibility, reducing cost and time to credential.
Local school districts, states, and taxpayers may face significant new costs (implementation, mentor/administration, matching requirements, and authorized spending through FY2027–FY2032) that could raise local spending or federal outlays.
Competitive grant structure, matching-fund rules, and increased administrative and reporting requirements will disadvantage under-resourced, small, and rural districts that lack grant-writing, data, or evaluation capacity.
Rural and small districts may still struggle to recruit and retain teachers because pay, geographic isolation, and limited pools of qualified mentor teachers are not fully solved by programmatic supports.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a competitive federal grant program funding multi‑year projects and planning grants to recruit, prepare, mentor, and retain teachers, prioritizing rural, high‑need subjects, and diversification.
Creates a federal grant program to help local school districts and partners recruit, prepare, mentor, and retain teachers, with a focus on rural areas, high‑need subject shortages (STEM, special education, English‑learner instruction), and diversifying the teacher workforce. Grants fund multi‑year implementation projects and one‑year planning awards, set competitive priorities (including partnerships with minority‑serving institutions), require measurable evaluations, reserve a small portion for Bureau of Indian Education schools, and authorize funding for FY2027–2032.