Making sure each child receives a quality education is impossible without quality teaching. We must make sure our schools are attracting the very best people possible to shape and mold the young minds of the next generation. To do that, we must make sure teachers receive the compensation they deserve.

America's teachers are underpaid and overtaxed. I have cosponsored the Teacher Tax Cut Act which would give each educator a $1,000 tax credit. This shows a true commitment to education and lets America's teachers know that the American people and the Congress respect their work. It would also encourage highly qualified professionals to enter, and remain in, the teaching profession by raising their take home pay without increasing federal spending.

I also find it disturbing that our dedicated teachers often dig into their own pockets, spending hundreds of their own dollars per year, to pay for basic classroom materials not supplied by schools. That's why I have again co-sponsored the Apples for the Teachers Act. This bill would provide America's three million teachers with an annual tax credit of up to $100 for classroom expenses not reimbursed by their schools. It would also make it easier for elementary and secondary school teachers to deduct qualified professional development expenses.

As a Member of the House Appropriations Committee, I continue to support increased federal educational spending while pressing for more local control of educational decisions that make the difference between success and failure.

These are major steps in the right direction toward treating those who have dedicated their lives to educating our children with the respect they deserve. I remain committed to the teachers in Tennessee and across the country as they educate and enlighten our future leaders.