BATON ROUGE - Congressman Cleo Fields introduced a bill on Sunday to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, providing undergraduate student loan forgiveness to public school teachers who completed eight consecutive years of teaching. 

The bill's goal is to attract and retain qualified educators nationwide during a teacher shortage that continues to impact schools across the nation. 

“This bill not only honors the work [teachers] do every day but also helps remove the
financial barriers that prevent so many from entering and staying in the classroom,” Congressman Fields said.

Congressman Fields visited Northside High School in Lafayette on Monday to recognize Ms. Frances Davis Shaw, who was one of the first black educators to help integrate Northside High School in 1972. Shaw, 80,  came out of retirement to teach due to the teacher shortage.