PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES NATIONAL TEACHER
             RECRUITMENT INITIATIVE AND CALLS ON CONGRESS TO
                INVEST IN AMERICA'S EDUCATION PRIORITIES

                            August 26, 2000

In his weekly radio address, President Clinton will launch an on-line National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse to help states and school districts across the nation address the teacher shortage they face. This clearinghouse is a one-stop teacher recruitment shop that will connect teachers to jobs across the country and connect school districts to qualified teachers.

As millions of students head back to school next week, tens of thousands of teachers are needed for their classrooms, with virtually every urban school district facing an urgent need for qualified teachers. Teacher quality and smaller classes are critical factors in increasing student achievement; the President's budget includes $1 billion for recruiting and training high-quality teachers and another $1.75 billion to stay on track to hire 100,000 qualified teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. The President will call on Congress to make education a priority by demanding more from our schools and investing more in them and will urge them to send him a budget that continues our progress in reducing class size, invests in ensuring every child is taught by a qualified teacher, and includes his tax credits and loans to build and modernize 6,000 schools and make emergency repairs to another 25,000.

THE URGENT NATIONAL NEED TO HIRE HIGH-QUALITY TEACHERS. This Fall, school districts across the country are scrambling to find tens of thousands of teachers, and over the next decade, school districts will need to hire 2.2 million new teachers -- nearly the same number of teachers working today. In Maryland, school districts are trying to fill 578 teaching slots before school starts next week, and the state is estimated to need 11,000 teachers for next school year. California is estimated to need more than 300,000 new teachers over the next decade. The nation's 57 largest school districts will need to hire 700,000 teachers over the next decade, and 95 percent of these districts have an immediate need for special education, math, and science teachers.

THE ON-LINE NATIONAL TEACHER RECRUITMENT CLEARINGHOUSE. The on-line Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse that the President will announce today, was developed by Recruiting New Teachers, Inc. with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and provides the first-ever, one-stop shop for teacher recruitment that will link teachers with the districts that need them. This Clearinghouse includes a unique portal that will help connect teachers to job banks and job listings; help teachers identify possible opportunities to teach in their field anywhere in the country; and make it easier for school districts to recruit new teachers through on-line resume posting. The Clearinghouse will also provide in-depth and up-to-date information on issues important to teachers and districts, such as recruitment, retention, certification, incentives and pay. The U.S. Department of Education will send information to school districts and colleges of education across the country notifying them of this new and innovative on-line resource. The Recruitment Clearinghouse can be accessed at www.recruitingteachers.org.

INVESTING IN TEACHER QUALITY TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT. Research has shown that teacher quality is an integral component of increasing student achievement. The on-line site builds on other Administration efforts to help districts recruit teachers, forgive up to $5,000 in college loans after five consecutive years of teaching in high-need schools, and provide teachers in high-need school districts with discounts on HUD-owned homes. The President's budget also provides for a $2.75 billion package to attract, hire and train high quality teachers, including: 1) a $1 billion teacher-quality package that invests in high-quality professional development aligned to challenging standards, teacher recruitment efforts, expanding the Troops to Teachers program to attract mid-career professionals from all sectors into teaching, and training for early childhood educators; and 2) $1.75 billion to stay on track with the bipartisan agreement to hire 100,000 high-quality teachers to reduce class size in the early grades.

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO HELP IMPROVE OUR SCHOOLS BY INVESTING MORE AND DEMANDING MORE. The President and Vice President believe that to improve America's schools, we must invest more in them and demand more from them. The President will call on Congress to make improving education a top priority in this time of prosperity, and he continues to urge the Republican leadership to send him a budget that includes: funding for staying on track to hire 100,000 teachers to reduce class size in the early grades, helping states find and train the teachers they need to ensure all students are taught by a high quality teacher, expanding after-school and summer-school opportunities, investing in the GEAR-UP Program to help disadvantaged students prepare for college, and building and modernizing 6,000 schools and making emergency repairs for another 25,000.

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