After Hearing Directly From Struggling Educators, Sanders Proposes Bill to Raise Teacher Pay

After hearing from hundreds of public school educators and advocates at a town hall on chronically low teacher pay on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation to ensure all educators make at least $60,000 per year and benefit from other federal investments.

Currently, about a third of public school K-12 teachers earn less than $60,000 per year, and about 1 in 6 take on extra jobs during the school year to help make ends meet—including teachers who have years of experience.

Sanders (I-Vt.) held a town hall in Washington, D.C. Thursday, hearing from teachers about their experiences with what he called "America's teacher pay crisis."

Billie Helean, a first grade teacher and president of her local teachers union in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, asked the Democratic lawmakers who joined educators for the town hall to "consider June," one of her colleagues.

"After working all day with kindergartners, she'd rush to her second job and barely see her family," said Helean. "It's a fundamental injustice that the very people we entrust with our children's education and well-being are often paid so little that they have to work second or third jobs just to keep their heads above water."

Carole Gauronskas, a special needs educator and vice president of the Florida Education Association, described how she and her husband struggled to keep food on the table after he lost his job as an engineer.

"After working morning care, afternoon care, summer school and a second job at Home Depot, and babysitting most of the summer, I barely made $29,000," Gauronskas said. "Take away the health insurance and the deductibles... and I took home less than $16,000 per year."

"I was the 'one medical emergency or car emergency away from losing everything,'" she added. "This bill will be life-altering for hundreds of thousands of paraprofessionals."

Along with ensuring all teachers earn a minimum of $60,000 per year, the Pay Teachers Act would require districts to give educators raises throughout their career and provide them with at least $1,000 per year to pay for classroom supply expenses.

According to the National Education Association (NEA), U.S. teachers spend between $500 and $750, on average, for school supplies annually.

The bill would also raise pay for paraprofessionals and educational support staff to at least $45,000 per year; currently, about 35% of these educators make less than $25,000 per year.

The Pay Teachers Act would "significantly increase federal investments in teachers and public schools, including tripling Title I-A funding and funding for rural education programs, diversifying and expanding the teacher pipeline, and strengthening leadership and advancement opportunities for educators," said Sanders.

The senator noted that the town hall was held weeks after President Donald Trump signed the massive Republican budget bill into law—handing out a $900 billion tax cut to large corporations and a $1 trillion tax cut to the wealthiest 1% of households while slashing $300 billion in education funding.

"Across the country, most of us across race, place, and background want the same thing—strong public schools where every student can thrive and strong communities that support them. In order to attract and retain the passionate, qualified educators that inspire our students, give them the one-on-one support, and do everything in their power to help each student succeed, we need to pay teachers like the professionals they are. America's educators applaud Sen. Bernie Sanders for introducing the Pay Teachers Act," said NEA vice president Princess Moss. "We urge senators to support educators and co-sponsor this commonsense legislation that invests in our students, educators, and public schools."