November 15, 2006

WASHINGTON - If a bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Tom Petri becomes law, more schools would benefit from a program to help retiring military personnel start second careers as school teachers.

Petri's "Troops to Teachers" program was originally created in 1994 to help recent military retirees find teaching positions, especially in math and science. In later years a stipend was added to help the veterans obtain proper accreditation, and a provision was approved to help interested personnel begin working for accreditation prior to leaving the service.

"The intention was to increase the pool of available teachers widely across the country to 'high need' schools, and that's how the Pentagon implemented the program," Petri said. "But when management of the program was moved to the Education Department a few years ago, that Department interpreted the law to define 'high need' much more narrowly, meaning that participants in the program would have to teach in schools with an exceptionally large percentage of students from low-income families."

"Those schools need extra attention, but only three percent of Wisconsin's school districts qualify under the Education Department's regulations," he said.

Petri terms his bill a compromise between his original intent and the Education Department's interpretation.

"My bill ensures that veterans teach in high-need schools first and foremost, but are not locked out of the program based on the geographic makeup of their communities," he said. "If, as defined by the Education Department, no high-need school exists within 50 miles of a veteran's home, veterans would be eligible to fulfill their obligations in schools that serve low- income students under the original definition of high-need, which was a school receiving Title I funds."