A program that helps veterans become teachers is on life support and four veterans service organizations are fighting to ensure it survival.
Troops to Teachers was defunded with little fanfare as part of a Defense-Wide Review. The Department of Defense opted to realign program resources to higher priority programs more closely related to the National Defense Strategy.
“The lines of dialogue were open about this,” said John Kamin, assistant director of The American Legion’s Veterans Employment & Education Division. “There were regular meetings that happen about transition between DoD and veterans service organizations, but somehow this never became an item they thought they needed to share with veterans organizations.”
The American Legion was joined by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Student Veterans of America and Disabled American Veterans in supporting Troops to Teachers.
“Allowing the Troops to Teachers program to sunset would go against America’s critical need to support our children’s education,” the VSOs wrote in a joint letter to leadership in the House Committee on Armed Services.
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Troops to Teachers was designed to assist transitioning service members and veterans to begin careers as educators in K-12 public, charter, and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. The Department of Defense reported that TTT has placed over 21,000 veteran teachers in classrooms since it began in 1993.
“Who we say are the biggest champions of this program are the principals and schools themselves,” noted Kamin. “They see how effective these teachers are.”
An American Legion resolution underscores the organization’s support for renewing funding for the program at both the state and national levels.
Kamin said the public can help the program survive by contacting their elected representatives, especially those in the House of Representatives.
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“The more energy we can get especially on the House side, to get folks engaged to let them know this is not going to be a bargaining chip, we need to pass it, the better we’ll be,” he said.
The program provides counseling and referral services to help participants meet education and licensing requirements. It also helps them secure teaching positions.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.