Sanders Warns Absurd Low Pay Fueling Pub. Ed. Teacher Crisis, No.1 Reason Teachers Leave

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✒"We cannot continue to run our public educ. system on the backs of saints and martyrs," an elem. school teacher testified to a Senate committee. Common Dreams, 6.20.24. Ed.
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A pair of public school teachers warned a key Senate committee on Thursday that low educator pay in the US 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 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 ed. 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 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 Phila's 3rd-largest elem. school, Gemayel Keyes, echoed Arthur, noting that low pay and student loan debt have forced him to work a part-time job. The ave. starting teacher salary in the U.S. is $44,530, and nearly 80% of 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. Sanders said that "for decades, public school teachers have been overworked, underpaid, understaffed, and maybe most importantly, underappreciated.

Public school teachers should not be forced to work 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet. They should not be forced to be on food stamps."...

https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-education