This bill creates a solution for high-need schools to recruit, induct and retain the best teachers to close the achievement gap for all students.

It seeks to invest in programs that meet the demands of high-need schools by:

The Assembly budget also includes a new plan to recruit teachers to high-need schools by offering housing subsidies in the districts where they teach.

The program was a new initiative to prepare thousands of high-achieving students to be teachers in high-need schools.

Thus, fewer students had to be at grade level in the medium- and high-need schools.

"Nobody wants to admit that changing high-need schools takes very focused effort and a lot of time," Ms. Wheelock said.

Provide up-front tuition assistance of $4,000 each year for students who commit to teaching high-need subjects in high-need public schools.

The cutoff level for exemptions was set highest for low-need schools and lowest for the high-need schools.

Nearly 45 percent of UTeach graduates teach in high-need schools.

"If you are a high-need school educating a very disadvantaged population, and half of your students are meeting standards, that's a pretty astounding rate," she said.