1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Addressing Teacher Shortages Act of 2018 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Currently, there are not enough teachers to meet the demand for teachers in all locations and in all fields, creating a teacher shortage. The teacher shortage is a result of growing student enrollment, shrinking pupil-teacher ratios, declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs, and high levels of attrition from the field. Teacher shortages are particularly acute in rural schools and in certain subject areas, such as the fields of STEM, special education, and English as a second language. Additionally, there is a lack of racial diversity in the teaching workforce. (2) Rural schools serve 18 percent of all students in the United States, including over 9,000,000 students in rural public elementary and secondary schools. More than 40 percent of all small, rural local educational agencies in the United States struggle with adequately staffing their schools. These personnel shortages include difficulties both in recruiting and retaining educators. Shortages are especially pronounced in special education and STEM fields, when compared to urban teacher labor markets. (3) Rural communities face unique challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers for reasons such as funding, limited teacher supply, and geographic isolation. Rural schools often experience difficulty hiring and high turnover due to inadequate resources, lower salaries, and poor working conditions. (4) The demand for teachers is going unmet in some subject areas more so than others. In 2017–2018, 48 States reported shortages in mathematics, 46 in special education, 43 in science, 41 in foreign language, and 31 in English as a second language. (5) Although the share of teachers of color has been increasing, there is a gap in racial diversity between teachers of color who comprise 20 percent of the teacher workforce and students of color who account for 50 percent of students. (6) Data from the 2015–2016 National