President Biden Signs Norton, Spartz, Braun and Sinema Consider Teachers Act Into Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Biden signed the Consider Teachers Act into law yesterday. The bill, co-led by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), will correct a problem with the TEACH Grant program that has caused thousands of teachers to find their grants converted to loans that must be paid back with interest. The Senate passed the bill in April and the House passed it in September.

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

"I am pleased the President signed my bill with Congresswoman Spartz and Senators Braun and Sinema yesterday, Norton said. "The Consider Teachers Act of 2021will reform the TEACH Grant program, which is unfairly converting many teachers' grants to loans," Norton said. "Currently, many teachers are finding their grants converted to loans because of small administrative errors. 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. As the daughter of a teacher in the D.C. public schools, Vela Holmes, this bill pleases me personally."

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