{"id":1148889,"date":"2023-02-13T12:10:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T17:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/teacher-salaries-become-a-bipartisan-cause-low-pay-a-major-crisis-in-education\/1148889\/"},"modified":"2023-02-13T12:10:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T17:10:31","slug":"teacher-salaries-become-a-bipartisan-cause-low-pay-a-major-crisis-in-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/teacher-salaries-become-a-bipartisan-cause-low-pay-a-major-crisis-in-education\/1148889\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher salaries become a bipartisan cause: Low pay ‘a major crisis in education’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Having met and fallen in love through their careers as special education teachers, Natalia Sandoval and her husband tried to make it work as long as they could. But after a while, they could no longer get by on\u00a0<\/strong>two teacher salaries while raising two sons in Hawaii, not to mention paying back the student loan debt they\u2019d accumulated so they could train to work\u00a0<\/strong>with students with disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortly before the pandemic, Sandoval\u2019s husband Joseph traded in the career he loved for one that would keep their family afloat: as a worker on the docks. It helps pay the bills and may even allow them to buy a house one day, but it\u2019s hardly as rewarding, said Sandoval, who knew from an early age growing up on Oahu that she wanted to be a teacher, specifically in special education.<\/p>\n

“I stay because I really enjoy working with the kids. … And I like supporting the families more than anything because it’s a very difficult world to navigate,” Sandoval said.<\/p>\n

But veteran teachers like her and Joseph are often forced to decide whether the job is worth the sacrifices. “We’re just surviving, not thriving.”<\/p>\n

Overworked, underpaid: <\/strong>The toll of burnout is contributing to teacher shortages nationwide<\/a><\/p>\n

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Teacher pay is again in the news, with both Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders vowing to raise educators\u2019 salaries in their addresses to the nation last Tuesday night<\/a>. Lawmakers in a number of states, both blue and red, have introduced or passed legislation boosting educators\u2019 salaries\u00a0<\/strong>over the past year or so.<\/p>\n

A bill before the U.S. House would incentivize states to raise teacher pay, setting a minimum salary of $60,000. And Sen. Bernie Sanders, the new chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, will soon introduce similar legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raising teacher pay has become an issue of rare bipartisan consensus, suggested Sanders, who shared initial details of his plan exclusively with USA TODAY ahead of a teacher town hall he is hosting with the country’s largest teachers unions Monday evening. Against that backdrop, Sanders says the issue will be one of his top priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the midst of a major crisis in education, and if we are going to have the best educational system in the world \u2013 which we should have, which we must have \u2013 we\u2019re going to have to very much change our attitude toward teachers,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

Schools are becoming hotbeds of political conflict: <\/strong>And that’s especially true in purple districts<\/a><\/p>\n

How much do teachers make?<\/h2>\n

Nationally, the average starting salary for a teacher is less than $42,000, while teachers of all levels of experience make about $61,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those numbers mask significant variation from state to state, however. See this breakdown<\/a> from the NEA to see what teacher salaries look like in your state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition, <\/strong>there are lots of prerequisites <\/a>to becoming a teacher, including a bachelor\u2019s and often master\u2019s degree, student-teaching experience and an exam-based license. Yet compared with similar college-educated workers, teachers make less than 77 cents on the dollar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This “teacher pay penalty” has grown over the decades, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, hitting a new high in 2021<\/a>. In 1996, teachers made close to 92 cents on the dollar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teacher shortages: <\/strong>Some schools are turning to unorthodox solutions<\/a><\/p>\n

Bernie Sanders: $60,000 minimum needed to solve teacher shortages<\/h2>\n

\u201cIf our goal is the best educational system in the world, if our goal is to be able to attract the best and the brightest young people into education, we’re going to have to substantially raise our teacher salary,\u201d Sanders said, pointing to shortages of teachers ravaging some parts of the country. \u201cIn my view, that must be at least a $60,000 a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher shortages: <\/strong>They hurt disadvantaged students the most<\/a><\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019s bill would triple federal funding through estate tax increases targeting the wealthiest Americans. It would pump roughly $450 billion total in new mandatory federal funding into every district, starting with $40 billion in the 2024 fiscal year. Districts would then have to use that money at least in part to raise teachers’ base pay.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A bill<\/a> recently reintroduced<\/a> in the House by Democrats would, through grants, incentivize states and districts to similarly increase teachers\u2019 base salary to $60,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“President Biden said during the State of the Union address, ‘Let’s give public school teachers a raise.’ Republicans and Democrats gave a rousing applause because it is long overdue,” said Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson, a co-sponsor of the bill, in a statement.<\/p>\n

Experts stress better compensation is just part of the solution. “We absolutely need to (raise teacher salaries), but that alone is not enough,” said Tequilla Brownie of The New Teacher Project. “We have to also address the other pieces that go with it, like working conditions, the culture, the way we support teachers.”<\/p>\n

Working extra hours, jobs to pay off student loans<\/h2>\n

Sandoval has received some pay bumps, including a temporary <\/a>$10,000-a-year bonus for Hawaii\u00a0<\/strong>special education teachers designed to alleviate shortages in that and other hard-to-staff areas. She also has after-school gigs as a tutor, and in the past has worked in administrative roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly 1 in 5 teachers have a job outside the school system<\/a>, according to recent federal survey data. That\u2019s on top of spending 52 hours weekly in their teaching position (fewer than half of which they spent actually teaching).\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for that supplemental income, teachers like Sandoval say it\u2019d be difficult to pay their bills and\u00a0<\/strong>pay off student debt. Nearly half of educators took out student loans to pay for college, according to data from the National Education Association, and owe $58,700 on average<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Very few educators have had their loans forgiven through a federal program for people who work in public service<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Student loan forgiveness: <\/strong>With Biden plan in legal limbo, Feds seek changes to rules for another debt relief option<\/a><\/p>\n

States that have raised teacher pay<\/h2>\n

The prospects of federal legislation boosting teacher pay are questionable at best. Many Republicans resist the idea of setting such policies at the federal level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But at the state level, both Democratic and Republican governors have enacted legislation increasing teacher pay. Some examples:<\/p>\n