Teachers work incredibly hard to build the foundation of our country, one student at a time. That's why I've released a plan to give teachers a raise. pic.twitter.com/rFsqD9cKP4
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) March 26, 2019
A great thing about having more than one woman in the presidential primaries is that everyone gets to see the Shine Theory — “I don’t shine if you don’t shine” — in action. Of course competing politicians have always ‘borrowed’ ideas from each other, but the reality of our sexist society is that too often any individual woman’s voice will be ignored unless/until her ideas are repeated by a man. One way women have learned to beat this prejudice is by speaking up to support each other:
Good idea on fixing teacher pay gap from @KamalaHarris https://t.co/lCASPHkF8x
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) March 26, 2019
… The United States is facing a teacher pay crisis. Public school teachers earn 11 percent less than professionals with similar educations. Teachers are more likely than non-teachers to work a second job. In 30 states, average teacher pay is less than the living wage for a family of four…
The “pay gap” between what teachers earn and what people with similar educations earn is creating disastrous consequences. Teachers are leaving their dream jobs because they can’t make ends meet. Bright college graduates are not choosing this path of service because they need to pay their student loans. Rural schools are unable to fill teaching vacancies while urban schools struggle with high rates of turnover…
Under my plan, the federal government will immediately make an investment in every state to provide the first 10 percent of funding needed to close the teacher pay gap. Then we will support states to do their part: For every $1 a state contributes to increasing teacher pay, the federal government will invest $3, until we fully close the teacher pay gap. States will be required to maintain their investment over time, and increase that amount to cover their share of wage inflation…
The plan will also include a multibillion-dollar investment in evidence-based programs that elevate the teaching profession. Half of this funding would be dedicated to historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions, because more than 30 percent of all black teachers, and more than 40 percent of all Hispanic teachers, graduate from those schools.
We will pay for this plan by increasing the estate tax for the top 1 percent of taxpayers and cracking down on loopholes that let the very wealthiest, with estates worth multiple millions or billions of dollars, avoid paying their fair share.
Paying teachers for the full value of their work isn’t just a good strategy to improve education — it’s central to building an economy that works for working people. Research shows that attracting and retaining more great teachers would improve student performance, increase graduation rates and lead to higher future earnings for our kids…
Kamala will get the Teacher’s union endorsement both from the national body and locals. This is going to be a game changer. Of the current educators, 82% are white women https://t.co/PrYPXlGyjF
— Filet Mignon with a nice Chianti (@epitomee) March 27, 2019
2020 Election Thread: Kamala Harris Is Right About Teacher SalariesPost + Comments (64)