Govt. eyeing teacher recruitment campaign

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Education Department says the White House has requested $30 million in the 2010 budget for a teacher recruitment campaign.

The federal department said in a release Friday the money for the national campaign is tucked in a fiscal 2010 budget request from U.S. President Barack Obama with the intent of luring students and professionals into the teaching profession.

The campaign, whose funding is awaiting congressional approval, would also offer support to those who decide to become teachers.

The education department said based on anticipated retirements and attrition, an estimated 1.7 million new teachers will be needed by 2017.

As part of the government's push for more teachers, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke Friday with students from the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education.

"The single most important factor influencing student learning in our nation's schools is the quality of teaching," Duncan told the students. "Students who have teachers who know their content and how to teach it effectively achieve substantially more than their peers who do not."