The NEST Act is designed to help get more Native American teachers into schools that serve Native American students. It does this by offering financial help to students and teachers who commit to working in these schools.

The bill creates three main scholarship programs. The first helps any student who wants to become a teacher and will work in Bureau of Indian Education schools (schools run by the federal government specifically for Native American students). The second scholarship is for Native American students pursuing teaching degrees. The third is for Native American students going to graduate school to become teachers. If you get one of these scholarships, you have to agree to teach in a qualifying school for at least three years or however long the scholarship covered your education—whichever is longer.

Beyond scholarships, the bill also helps teachers who are already working. If you've been teaching for at least five years at a Bureau of Indian Education school or at a regular public school with a lot of Native American students, you can get some of your student loans forgiven. The bill also expands an existing federal loan forgiveness program to include teachers in Native American language immersion programs.

Finally, the bill provides money to help schools improve their teacher training and professional development, and it funds colleges and universities to create special training programs for teachers who want to teach Native American languages and immersion education. Overall, this bill aims to make teaching in Native American schools more attractive and to build up the pipeline of qualified Native American educators.

NEST Act

Ruiz, Raul

Native Educator Support and Training Act or the NEST Act This bill establishes scholarships, loan forgiveness plans, and training programs for students and educators who commit to teaching in Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools or other specified schools serving Indian students. The bill establishes three scholarship programs: (1) the Indian Student Educator Scholarship Program for students seeking degrees, (2) the Indian Educator Scholarship Program for Indian students seeking degrees, and (3) the Indian Educator Graduate Fellowship Program for Indian students seeking graduate degrees. Recipients of the scholarships must commit to working for a BIE school, a tribal early childhood education program, or other specified schools or agencies for the greater of three years or the number of school years that the scholarship funded. The bill also establishes loan forgiveness programs for educators and Indians who have taught for at least five consecutive years at BIE schools or local educational agencies with high percentages of Indian students. The bill extends the federal Perkins Loan Cancellation Program to educators teaching in BIE schools or in Native American language immersion programs. The bill authorizes professional development grants for Native-serving elementary and secondary schools. It also establishes the Native American Language Teacher Training Program to provide grants for institutions of higher education to develop training programs for Native American immersion and language teachers.