Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
- The Rhode Island Foundation announced a program to recruit new teachers of color over the next five years.
- The program includes an incentive of up to $25,000 in student loan repayment for the new teachers.
- The program has raised $3.1 million and is aiming to hire teachers in the city of Providence.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
To address the diversity gap between students and teachers in Providence, the Rhode Island Foundation announced a new program on Monday to recruit new teachers of color – with student loan repayment as a benefit.
The Rhode Island Foundation said in a press release that it has raised $3.1 million to increase the number of teachers of color in Providence public schools. Students of color represent 80% of the district's enrollment while just 20% of teachers make up minority groups, the release said, and this new program plans on recruiting more than 125 teachers of color over the next five years with up to $25,000 in student-loan repayment as an incentive.
"The benefits of a diverse faculty are well documented. Students can be inspired in new ways when their classrooms include role models who look like them," Neil D. Steinberg, the foundation's president and CEO, said in a statement. "Research confirms that when taught by a teacher of color, students of color experience higher reading and math test scores, higher graduation rates, decreased dropout and discipline rates and increased enrollment in advanced courses."
To be eligible for the program, full-time teachers must be new hires and identify as Black, Asian, Indigenous, Latino or multiracial, according to the release. If eligible, the new teachers can receive up to $6,000 of their student debt paid off after one year of teaching, up to an additional $8,500 after completing a second year, and up to $10,500 after completing a third year of teaching.
Current teachers are not eligible for the program.
Insider previously reported that the student-debt burden falls disproportionately on people of color. Last week, 36 civil rights organizations called on President Joe Biden to cancel $50,o00 in student debt per person to help alleviate the racial disparities that have left borrowers "on the brink of financial devastation."
"Student debt cancellation will help Black and brown borrowers build wealth and enable our economy to move forward as millions of Americans are able to start families, buy homes, and set up small businesses," the organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said.
The organizations noted that upon graduation, Black borrowers typically owe 50% more than white borrowers, and four years later, Black borrowers owe 100% more. Canceling $50,000 per borrower would eliminate student debt for 75% of all federal borrowers, including full cancelation for 85% of Black borrowers and 96% of Latino borrowers in the lowest income quintile.
Biden has not yet canceled $50,000 in student debt per person, but has asked the Justice Department and Education Department to review his ability to use executive powers to do so.