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teacher pay
Sanders Warns 'Absurd' Low Pay of Teachers Fueling Public Education Crisis
"We cannot continue to run our public education system on the backs of saints and martyrs," an elementary school teacher testified to a Senate committee.
Jun 20, 2024
A pair of public school teachers warned a key Senate committee on Thursday that low educator pay in the United States is fueling staff shortages across the country and damaging the country's education system, which is also under sustained attack from right-wing lawmakers who want to slash federal investments in schools and abolish the Department of Education.
"The number one reason teachers leave the profession is the pay," John Arthur, an elementary school teacher in Holladay, Utah, told members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee during a hearing convened by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"The number one reason parents don't want their children to become teachers is the pay," Arthur added. "So the number one solution to addressing the issues we face must be increasing teacher salaries."
"The situation has become so absurd that four—one, two, three, four—hedge fund managers on Wall Street made more money last year than every kindergarten teacher in America." —Sen. Bernie Sanders
In written testimony submitted to the Senate panel, Arthur argued that low teacher pay, chronic lack of resources, and extreme stress exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic are at the core of staffing crises that are impacting an overwhelming majority of U.S. school districts, posing a threat to the entire public education system.
"We cannot sustain a healthy, effective public school system when so few parents want their kids to join me and my friends in the classroom," Arthur's testimony reads. "We cannot continue to run our public education system on the backs of saints and martyrs. We must raise wages to the level at which we can successfully recruit and retain the talent we need to effectively educate all children, regardless of zip code."
A teacher at Philadelphia's third-largest elementary school, Gemayel Keyes, echoed Arthur, noting during Thursday's hearing that low pay and substantial student loan debt have forced him to work a part-time job and denied him "the American dream of homeownership."
"We must invest in our teachers but also in our paraprofessionals," said Keyes. "If we continue to underinvest in the pay and working conditions and don't match the responsibilities and job expectations, the paraprofessionals shortage will rise, the same way the pipeline of teachers has declined. I must also acknowledge and fully recognize that my job as a teacher would be impossible to do without my paraprofessional staff."
Watch the full hearing:
According to the latest data, the average starting teacher salary in the U.S. is $44,530, and nearly 80% of the nation's school districts pay a starting salary below $50,000. Teachers have a starting salary below $40,000 per year in around 30% of U.S. school districts.
The national average teacher salary is $69,544, and significant recent pay increases in some states have not been enough to keep up with inflation.
Just 15% of K-12 public school teachers are extremely or very satisfied with their pay, according to a Pew survey released earlier this year, and 68% say their job is "overwhelming."
"Student absenteeism is at an all-time high and teacher shortages are at crisis levels in most states," William Kirwan, vice chair of Maryland’s Accountability and Implementation Board, told the Senate panel. "Our students do not perform well on international assessments. Alarm bells should be ringing across the country."
Sanders, the lead sponsor of legislation that would set the minimum annual salary for U.S. public school teachers at $60,000, said during his opening remarks at Thursday's hearing that "for decades, public school teachers have been overworked, underpaid, understaffed, and, maybe most importantly, underappreciated."
The senator added that while there are "many reasons" why U.S. public school teachers are leaving their jobs each year at double the rate of peer nations, "one of the primary reasons is the extremely low pay teachers receive."
"Incredibly, the average public school teacher in America is making nearly $100 a week less than she or he did 28 years ago after adjusting for inflation," said Sanders. "Meanwhile, because of lack of resources and tight school budgets, about 80% of public school teachers are forced to spend their own money on classroom supplies without being reimbursed."
"The situation has become so absurd that four—one, two, three, four—hedge fund managers on Wall Street made more money last year than every kindergarten teacher in America," Sanders continued. "Public school teachers should not be forced to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. They should not be forced to be on food stamps."
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The Poverty of Education When We Make Our Teachers Poor
In the richest country in the world, we can do so much better. What will it take to reverse the trend?
Nov 24, 2023
Teacher shortages have been reported in all fifty states, and 86 percent of public schools are hard pressed to fill vacant teaching positions. Low pay is often cited as a cause of the shortages. Let’s put that in context.
On average, teacher pay in the United States is nearly 25 percent less than what other college graduates receive, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). If you are a teacher in New Hampshire, as I am, your paycheck is nearly 30 percent less than other college graduates. Let that sink in.
People who go into teaching are taking on the same level of debt as other college graduates (or more), yet they are receiving nowhere near the same financial benefits. The typical U.S. graduate with a four year degree walked away with their diploma and $29,417 in debt in 2022. In my home state, the average debt for a bachelor’s degree topped the nation at an astounding $39,928.
Undoubtedly, this economic reality of the teaching profession is having an impact on teacher prep programs, which are seeing a drastic reduction in the number of enrollees. This in turn means fewer new teachers entering the profession. When the cost of a degree is paired with the “teacher pay penalty,” to use EPI’s terminology, the math is undeniable: politicians are shortchanging teachers.
In my more than a decade of working in public schools, I can attest to the fact that teachers are selfless. But we can only carry so much for so long. We’re only human.
Teachers are being paid roughly seventy cents on the dollar for their labor. If most other jobs had this kind of wage disparity during a labor shortage, employers would increase wages to attract qualified professionals into the field. Instead, what we’re seeing are rightwing activists using fear tactics, book bans targeting Black and LGBTQ+ histories, and direct threats to the livelihood of teachers in an attempt to erode confidence in public schools. These attacks have a high price: the financial future of educators.
In my more than a decade of working in public schools, I can attest to the fact that teachers are selfless. But we can only carry so much for so long. We’re only human. It’s time we exclaim with a collective and unified voice: Pay teachers more! Local, state and federal governments must invest in public educators now. We cannot afford to balance society’s books on the backs of teachers.
Fair pay and freedom to read might sound “far out” after a year that saw a record number of books banned and a record income gap between teachers and other professions.
The truth is every community in America needs to come together for our schools, our profession, and our communities now more than ever. Every student deserves a dedicated teacher and every teacher deserves fair pay for their dedication.
Educators have long been asked to carry the burden of underfunding. But the data shows that in the not so distant past, things were a bit more fair when it comes to educator pay. In 1996, the difference between teacher wages and other college grads was about $300 per week. Today, that difference is over twice that and rising.
The shrinking purchasing power of educators coincides with classroom jobs being more difficult and demanding. Every educator strives to create classrooms of compassionate care, but the day to day experiences and the broader data show that we are facing a systemic crisis when it comes to the mental health of young people. Widespread anxiety and hopelessness among students must be taken seriously and responded to with increased investment in public schools. We cannot continue to ask the schools that serve those that have the greatest needs to do so with least resources.
In the richest country in the world, we can do so much better. What will it take to reverse the trend?
We need our unions to be reinvigorated by the transformative energy and passion of classroom educators. From early educators who teach the ABCs to the high school teachers who teach calculus, we need everyone to pull together to defend our public schools, the pillar of our democratic way of life.
We must draw inspiration from our brothers and sisters across the country and find common cause with those battling inequity in other industries. We can see the gains that are rapidly being made by teachers in Los Angeles and by workers in other sectors, such as with the Writers Guild of America, the United Auto Workers, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose successful strikes resulted in significant pay increases and other concessions.
UAW President Shawn Fain and President Joe Biden agree that “record profits should mean record contracts.” The present economic conditions favor workers more than any time in the past two decades. States with significant budget surpluses must make significant investments in teachers and public schools. This includes states like Texas, where the $32.7 billion surplus could be used to attract and retain professional educators, a step toward redressing chronically low pay.
Public support for labor continues to be at a generational high. Seventy-five percent of the public believes that teachers are underpaid. And a majority of the public hold a favorable view of their own local educators. Now is our time. Let’s reverse the trends of widening wealth gaps.
Economic justice for educators means providing financial support to the schools that serve all students. Raises for public school educators must reflect our professional status and our contributions to community life. Educators must earn wages that match those with similar educational backgrounds and experience in other fields.
This kind of investment is something that will take political will that must be cultivated in each community with the people who know those communities the best—educators, parents, and people who see how our way of life is intricately intertwined with quality public schools.
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'Educators Are Nation Builders': Sanders Bill Would Ensure Minimum $60K Salary for Public School Teachers
"The situation has become so absurd that the top 15 hedge fund managers on Wall Street make more money in a single year than every kindergarten teacher in America combined."
Mar 09, 2023
Demanding an end to "the international embarrassment" of low teacher pay in the United States, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday introduced legislation to guarantee a minimum salary for public school educators of $60,000 per year, moving to fulfill a pledge he made during his 2020 presidential campaign.
The Vermont Independent senator called on the federal government to take accountability for chronic staffing shortages in school districts across the country, which he said is linked to the fact that "the starting pay for teachers in almost 40% of our nation's school districts is less than $40,000 a year" and that the average weekly wage of a public school teacher has gone up by just $29 in the past 30 years, adjusting for inflation.
More than half of the nation's schools are understaffed, according to the National Center on Education Statistics, and Sanders noted in a fact sheet about his proposal that "hundreds of thousands of public school teachers have to work two or three jobs during the school year to make ends meet." A recent report by the Teacher Salary Project found that 17% of educators work part-time in retail, restaurants, or in the gig economy to supplement their meager incomes.
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called the statistic "simply unacceptable."
"The situation has become so absurd that the top 15 hedge fund managers on Wall Street make more money in a single year than every kindergarten teacher in America combined—over 120,000 teachers," said the senator. "Wages for public school teachers are so low that in 36 states, the average public school teacher with a family of four qualifies for food stamps, public housing, and other government assistance programs. We have got to do better than that."
The Pay Teachers Act of 2023 would significantly increase investments in public education, beyond teacher salaries—tripling Title I-A funding for schools with high percentages of low-income students and funding for rural education programs; providing an additional $1 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education; and investing in grant programs to improve teacher preparation and development, among other investments.
States would be required to establish a "minimum salary for teachers" of at least $60,000 per year, with increases throughout their career, and to ensure teachers are paid "a livable and competitive annual salary" that's comparable to professionals with similar education requirements.
"Educators are nation builders," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 educators. "They have a vital role in educating and caring for our next generation. But they are neither treated nor paid commensurate with that role. Teachers earn nearly 24% less than similarly educated professionals, and when adjusted for inflation, many [earn] less than they were making a decade ago."
"Even with their need to take second jobs, educators spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on supplies, snacks, books, and other items for students," she added. "Chairman Bernie Sanders's bill, the Pay Teachers Act, will help close the pay gap by significantly increasing federal investments in public schools and raising annual teacher salaries."
Co-sponsors of the Pay Teachers Act include Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Alex Padilla of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Peter Welch of Vermont.
Ellen Sherratt, board president of the Teacher Salary Project, applauded the legislation and lawmakers who are"fighting for teacher salary levels that are professional."
Sanders introduced the legislation a month after holding a town hall with labor leaders and teachers from across the country regarding chronic low pay in the field, where educators talked about completing hours of work per week outside of the school day for no extra pay, purchasing snacks for low-income students, and facing barriers to working in schools that have many open teaching positions and have resorted to hiring people without teaching qualifications.
"Students of every color, background, and ZIP code deserve qualified and caring educators who are dedicated and have the resources to uncover the passions and potential of every child," said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA), as Sanders introduced the bill Thursday. "America's schools are facing a five-alarm crisis because of the educator shortages that have been decades in the making and exacerbated by the pandemic. Together, we must recruit large numbers of diverse educators into the profession and retain qualified and experienced educators in our schools to support our students in learning recovery and thriving in today's world. To do that, we must have competitive career-based pay to recruit and retain educators."
"On behalf of the three million members of the National Education Association, I thank Chairman Sanders for introducing the Teacher Pay Act," she added. "We urge senators to support educators and cosponsor this commonsense legislation that invests in our students, educators, and public schools."
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To Address Teacher Shortage Pay Teachers More
And give all educators and their students the resources they need to be successful in the classroom.
Mar 02, 2023
Though states are seeking to reduce the teacher shortage, the problem only seems to be getting worse. Recently, the National Education Association reported that 55 percent of teachers are planning to leave the profession earlier than they planned. This means that, if current trends persist, the gap between the number of working teachers and the number of open positions will widen significantly by 2030. This is where Bernie Sanders, the new Senate Chair of Health, Education, and Labor, comes in.
In late February, Sanders proposed the “Pay Teachers Act,” which would increase the base salary for teachers across the country to $60,000. “In America today,” the senator wrote in a mailer, “the starting pay for teachers in almost 40% of our school districts is less than $40,000 a year. Further, 43% of all teachers in America make less than $60,000 a year.” While some critics of the proposal say that wage increases in education should be handled solely at the state and local level, federal action would provide an immediate response to an entire system in crisis, rather than a slow, patchwork response. Legislation that would improve the starting wages for many teachers, especially early career educators, is much needed and a welcome step to stabilize the educator workforce.
Privatization initiatives—such as voucher and charter expansions, along with legislative efforts meant to intimidate teachers—have made teaching in public schools more difficult.
For the first years of my own teaching career, I made below $40,000. Back then, like many other educators, I had to balance the costs of everyday life with the steep learning curve of a new career. For many educators, the financial, emotional, and professional stressors of the first five years simply become too much. The result has been a staggeringly high percentage of teachers leaving the profession before making it to the half-decade mark. The pandemic and anti-public school political campaigns have undoubtedly made this trend worse.
Pressure from the privatization movement also adds to the crisis by accelerating the departure of public school teachers from the profession. This churn is in line with the movement’s goals, which are to disrupt and destabilize the public education sector, regardless of the human cost. Privatization initiatives—such as voucher and charter expansions, along with legislative efforts meant to intimidate teachers, like proposing jail time for teachers who have the audacity to have books that show the diversity of humanity—have made teaching in public schools more difficult. Undoubtedly, these shifts have contributed to potential teachers deciding on other careers where they will not be demonized for providing a public good.
College students who might be aspiring teachers have taken note of the hostile conditions of the profession as well. Education departments in colleges and universities nationwide have seen student enrollment in their programs drastically dip since the pandemic began. Survey results have found that parents are less likely today to encourage their children to pursue a career in education. This is a problem for schools, both in the near and long term.
With the challenges facing public education, the Pay Teachers Act is a step in the right direction for the nation. But before we can pay teachers, we must make sure that there are teachers who will be ready to enter the classrooms of tomorrow (and today). Increasing the total number of students enrolled in university programs and internships leading to certification must be a focus going forward. And no, we cannot accept lower standards for teacher preparation programs or the use of National Guard members to keep schools open. We can do better—we owe it to our students to do better.
Improving teacher recruitment and retention requires easing barriers for aspiring teachers. It is not uncommon for aspiring educators to take on debt for college classes, which include part-time or full-time internships training side by side with an experienced educator. While internship experiences are an excellent way for new teachers to learn, paying for the training experience on top of transportation, food, rent, and other living expenses is an economic burden. It’s critical that those entering the profession not be saddled with debt that may make a career in teaching out of reach.
Paid internships and residencies can place needed money in the pockets of aspiring teachers and reduce financial friction on the pathway to being a certified educator. Along these lines, legislative action at the state level may aid aspiring teachers with paid internships. Existing loan forgiveness programs may supplement these new measures. Those who want to contribute to the betterment and development of the next generation should not have to be buried by debt.
Reversing the declining ranks of public school teachers will take a concerted effort by federal and state agencies, local school districts, and universities. But most importantly, it will take current and aspiring educators, because without their passion, dedication, and willingness to do the tough heartfelt work communities across the country need at this moment, no amount of policy will make a difference. Let’s do all that we can to encourage and support teachers in this time, including getting behind Sanders’s Pay Teachers Act.
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The Richest Americans Need to Be Taught This Serious Lesson About Teachers
"If we can provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1 percent and large corporations," said Senator Bernie Sanders this week, "please don't tell me that we cannot afford to make sure that every teacher in America is paid at least $60,000 a year."
Feb 17, 2023
How can we measure the work a particular society truly values? Take-home pay can make as good a yardstick as any: The lower an occupation’s compensation, the lower the esteem a society is showing for that occupation.
In the United States, our pay data show, no profession faces a reality that makes this link plainer — and uglier — than teaching.
All sorts of metrics can help us measure the level of our society’s esteem for the teaching profession. Are young people, for instance, interested in becoming teachers? Between 2008 and 2019, teacher ed enrollments in the United States plunged by over a third. Are current teachers feeling valued? Between 2019 and 2022, teacher retirements and resignations rose 40 percent.
But nothing says “esteem” more directly than paychecks, and, by that metric, American society has for years been systematically devaluing the work teachers do. Between 1996 and 2021, the Economic Policy Institute’s Sylvia Allegretto detailed last August, average teacher weekly wages adjusted for inflation rose a miniscule $29. Over the same years, inflation-adjusted weekly wages for other college graduates rose over 15 times faster, up $445.
What has this shortfall in overall compensation and esteem meant for America’s schools? In the current school year, the U.S. Department of Education reports, every single state in the union has reported teacher shortages, with 46 states citing shortages of science teachers and 44 missing math teachers.
Overall, some 36,000 teaching positions nationwide are going vacant, with at least 163,000 additional positions getting “filled” with unqualified teachers. Both these numbers, concludes a study by researchers at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute, represent “conservative estimates of the extent of teacher shortages nationally.”
Some observers of our contemporary education scene are contending, Stanford’s Linda Darling-Hammond noted last month, that the teacher resignations and vacancies we’re experiencing shouldn’t particularly concern us because they appear mostly in certain subjects and parts of the country. But that amounts to arguing, Darling-Hammond observes, that a house isn’t on fire “because only three of its five rooms are burning.”
Our educational house most definitely is burning, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders told a town hall on America’s teacher pay crisis at the U.S. Capitol earlier this week.
“I want the day to come, sooner than later, when we are going to attract the best and brightest young people in our country into teaching,” said Sanders. “I want those young people to be proud of the profession that they have chosen.”
All teachers, the Vermont senator believes, should be earning at least $60,000 a year. Some 43 percent of teachers currently fall short of that mark. In Florida, the average teacher earns less than $50,000, just $49,583.
How do the bargain-basement paychecks that go to teachers compare with compensation for other professions? Not well at all. In Florida, accountants make $76,320 annually, 54 percent more than teachers. And software developers in Florida average $105,200, 112 percent more.
But the most stunning pay contrasts show up when we contrast teacher pay to the compensation of our nation’s most generously rewarded power suits.
“The top 15 hedge fund managers on Wall Street,” notes Senator Sanders, “make more money in a single year than every kindergarten teacher in America — over 120,000 teachers.”
Sanders will soon be introducing legislation, the Pay Teachers Act, to ensure that all teachers make at least $60,000 annually and guarantee significantly higher pay for educators “who have made teaching their profession — working on the job for 10, 20, 30 years.”
Where could the funding for this teacher pay revolution come from? From a tax revolution.
Public schools across the nation have historically relied on the local property taxes that average Americans pay. Property taxes today are still supplying 40 percent of total public education funding. These taxes all fall on the primary source of wealth for average families, the owner-occupied home. But America’s rich hold most of their wealth in financial instruments, a category of wealth that essentially goes untaxed, even after death, since the current federal estate tax asks so little from families sitting on grand fortunes.
Senator Sanders has proposed a fix: a thorough-going reform of the federal estate tax. Rich married couples last year could exempt $23.4 million of their fortunes from all estate tax and pay no more than a 40 percent tax on any dollar of wealth above that. The Sanders legislation — the “For the 99.5 Percent Act” — would lower that estate tax exemption to $7 million per married couple and up the minimal estate tax rate on wealth above that level to 45 percent.
Wealthier estates would face even higher rates, with wealth over $1 billion facing a 65 percent estate tax.
The Sanders legislation also takes aim at current loopholes that lower the rate of estate tax that the families of dead deep pockets actually face. Over his legislation’s first 10 years, Senator Sanders notes, the federal treasury would collect an additional $450 billion in estate tax revenue, “precisely how much the Teacher Pay Act would cost.”
“Let’s be clear,” the senator added at the U.S. Capitol teacher pay town hall Monday. “If we can provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1 percent and large corporations, please don’t tell me that we cannot afford to make sure that every teacher in America is paid at least $60,000 a year.”
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Sanders Says His New Bill to Raise Teacher Pay Could Be Fully Funded by Taxing Rich Estates
"If we can provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1% and large corporations, please don't tell me that we cannot afford to make sure that every teacher in America is paid at least $60,000 a year."
Feb 15, 2023
Sen. Bernie Sanders announced this week that he will soon introduce legislation to set the minimum annual salary for U.S. public school teachers at $60,000, a change the senator said could be fully financed with progressive changes to the estate tax.
At a town hall with educators and union leaders, Sanders called low teacher pay a national "crisis" that has gotten substantially worse during the coronavirus pandemic, which has placed massive additional strain on school staff across the country.
A survey released last year by the National Education Association (NEA) found that 55% of U.S. educators are considering leaving the profession earlier than they had planned, citing pandemic-related stress and burnout as well as inadequate pay.
"In America today, hundreds of thousands of public school teachers are forced to work two or three jobs during the school year. Maybe they are driving an Uber. Maybe they are waiting on tables. Maybe they are parking cars," Sanders said. "In the richest country in the history of the world, we have got to do better than that. It is time to end the international embarrassment of America ranking 29th out of 30 countries in the pay middle school teachers receive."
The Vermont senator, who chairs the upper chamber's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said his Pay Teachers Act would "triple" funding for low-income schools, "ensure all starting teachers across the country are paid at least $60,000 a year," and boost the salaries of those "who have made teaching their profession—working on the job for 10, 20, 30 years."
As Education Week noted Tuesday, the average starting salary for U.S. teachers is less than $42,000 a year. Sanders said during the town hall that "43% of all teachers in America make less than $60,000 a year."
Sanders estimated that his legislation would cost $450 billion over the next decade, exactly how much his proposed estate tax overhaul would raise. The bill, titled the For the 99.5 Percent Act, would impose a 65% top tax rate on estates worth more than $1 billion and reduce the estate tax exemption to $3.5 million, down from around $13 million.
"If we can provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1% and large corporations, please don't tell me that we cannot afford to make sure that every teacher in America is paid at least $60,000 a year," the senator said. "If we can spend close to $900 billion last year on the military, more than the next 11 nations combined, please don't tell me that we cannot make sure that every teacher in America is treated with dignity and respect."
According to recent research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), "teachers are paid less (in weekly wages and total compensation) than their nonteacher college-educated counterparts, and the situation has worsened considerably over time"—a gap that has been dubbed the "teacher pay penalty."
"The average weekly wages of public school teachers (adjusted only for inflation) increased just $29 from 1996 to 2021, from $1,319 to $1,348 (in 2021 dollars)," EPI found. "In contrast, inflation-adjusted weekly wages of other college graduates rose from $1,564 to $2,009 over the same period—a $445 increase."
EPI stressed that "providing teachers with compensation commensurate with that of other similarly educated professionals is not simply a matter of fairness but is necessary to improve educational outcomes and foster future economic stability of workers, their families, and communities across the U.S."—a point Sanders echoed during his town hall address.
"Raising teacher salaries to at least $60,000 a year and ensuring competitive pay for all of our teachers," Sanders argued, "is one of the most important steps we can take to address the teacher shortage in America and to improve the quality of our public school systems."
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