Sanders introduces bill to raise minimum teacher pay to $60,000 a year

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation on Thursday that would make the minimum pay for public school teachers in the U.S. $60,000 a year, following calls from President Biden to give teachers a raise last month.

The Pay Teachers Act of 2023, co-sponsored by a number of lawmakers including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would provide states with federal funds to establish minimum teacher salaries of at least $60,000 a year. It would also triple the funding of the Title I-A program, which provides funding to schools with a high percentage of students that come from low income backgrounds.

“It is simply unacceptable that, in the richest country in the history of the world, many teachers are having to work two or three extra jobs just to make ends meet,” Sanders said in a statement. “No public school teacher in America should make less than $60,000 a year.”

The bill would also triple funding for rural education programs and prop up programs to diversify the teacher workforce.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/sanders-introduces-bill-to-raise-minimum-teacher-pay-to-60-000-a-year/ar-AA18pYRe

[The Mouth]

1. It should be tied to the pay of the highest paid coach or administrator in that state

And be no lower than 50 percent for the lowest paid full time teacher or 25 percent for lowest paid part time.

No administrator should make more than any teacher, nor should the ratio of non-teachers be more than one tenth of that to the people actually in front of students.

[MichMan]

14. Jim Harbaugh makes nearly $8 million a year coaching University of Michigan

Teachers should be paid $4 million a year ?

[The Mouth]

19. So a coach is more important than a teacher?

Any primary school teacher gives far more value to this country, this world, than someone who just helps people chase a ball better.a

[MichMan]

20. Just where will the money come from to pay every teacher $4 million like you propose ?

Don't see how I can pay $100K property taxes every year out of my SS check.

LeBron James makes $45 million per year. A teacher is surely more important than someone who plays with a basketball; so, why not pay teachers at least $45 million a year too ?

[The Mouth]

21. Because this is about public tax dollars

Anyone who doesn't think it disgusting that a coach makes so much more than a teacher seems to have pretty odd priorities.

Pay the damned coach 2x what the teachers get paid and use the rest of that money to pay teachers better.

[MichMan]

22. College coaches aren't paid out of tax dollars; they are paid from revenues from the athletic dept.

Their salaries are not my concern as a taxpayer.

I am concerned as a taxpayer by all the bloated benefits and severance packages that are given to state government employees. Never understood why people that quit to take another job are awarded tens of thousands of dollars in severance agreements.

[The Mouth]

23. School administrators, too

Amazing how the ratio of administrators to teachers has increased over time.

[lapucelle]

2. This bill?

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/882/text?s=1&r=1

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. That's a house bill not Senate

Edit: Love you sig!

[lapucelle]

9. I know it's a House bill. It was introduced in the last Congress

and died in committee.

It was reintroduced in February. Is Sanders' bill a Senate version of this bill? Is the text of the Senate version available?

[DENVERPOPS]

6. I agree that Public School Teachers

pay should be increased to a level that is more in line with their duties, and the quality of the job they each individually perform.............

To be fair, I have always been of the opinion that that should also consider the ACTUAL time a public teacher spends working during the year. I have known over the years a number of teachers that have said they love having three months (plus) off duty, and are willing to work for a little less for that freedom.

The majority of teachers I have known, are devoted to their teaching and do an incredible job.......As with any group of workers, there are also a bunch who are not doing even a mediocre job.........it seems there should be some way of eliminating the ones that are not good, and replace them with teachers that are good.....The same can be said of Public School administrators.......

And the teachers should not have to deal with an entire political party that feels the Public School systems should all go away permanently........

[hippywife]

7. Okay, then...

To be fair, I have always been of the opinion that that should also consider the ACTUAL time a public teacher spends working during the year. I have known over the years a number of teachers that have said they love having three months (plus) off duty, and are willing to work for a little less for that freedom.

Let's make sure they get paid for all the hours they put in outside the classroom, as well, sitting at home, up until all hours grading papers and tests, planning lessons, dealing with parents, etc., and make sure they never have to spend another penny on supplies for their classes.

They may not work during the summer, at least not all of them (many do side gigs bc of the low salaries paid), but the months when school is in, their days hardly end when the last bell rings.

If someone is not pulling their weight, then that's up to the individual school/district to handle, so needs to be addressed there, but has no bearing on legislating minimum salary for the profession as a whole.

[DENVERPOPS]

10. You bring up many valid points

It is a seriously confusing and complex situation. There are many many issues that I could argue either way, like some of the ones you presented.....or others that I could present......

For the most part, I believe that basically most good teachers are underpaid for the quality performance of teaching they accomplish.

Our public education system, k-12 leaves a lot of room for improvement, especially in poor, disadvantaged areas of major cities.

I have watched the public education system up close and personal my entire life, and many of these inequities are talked about, over and over again from decade to decade and generation to generation. And yet, every year, the overall quality of education in the public schools continues to decline. When I became an adult, I took the time to call up several of the outstanding teachers I had in the DPS and I told them what a profound effect they had on my life. Both when I had them, and now that I am an adult. They were all impressed and appreciative that I would call them and share that with them........

[CRK7376]

4. Of course I am retiring from teaching at the end of June....

Fat chance teachers will get that kid of pay raise...but it sure would be nice....

[Jerry2144]

8. It should be adjusted for cost of living, too

60K in New York City or San Fran is nothing like 60k per year in Bend, OR.

[calimary]

11. Yeah, no kidding!

[modrepub]

12. Sanders Did This?!?

oh...my bad. It's Sen Bernie Sanders...for a split second I thought this was referring to AR Gov Sara Huckabee Sanders.

She had so many school things she was doing lately. I thought she may have done this one too.

[former9thward]

13. The federal government can't set salaries for teachers.

Sanders knows this.

[MichMan]

15. He said the Federal government would be paying it

[SharonClark]

18. Another subsidy for red states who don't want

to support public school teachers or public schools? Some red states would find a way to use it to support Christi-fascist schools.
No thanks, Bernie.

[MichMan]

24. Aren't teacher salaries determined by local districts, and not state wide?

[melm00se]

26. It depends on the state

In NC, there is a state base pay and then the locality, if they choose, add in a local supplement.

For example:

State base pay is
https://www.dpi.nc.gov/media/15242/download?attachment?attachment

In Wake County, the country supplement ranges from $643.24 to $1,309.98 per month (based upon years of service).

[AwakeAtLast]

16. It's taken me 25 years to GET to 60K

And I had to move to a different state as well!

[Igel]

17. That's a common complaint.

I know a teacher that's got 25 years' seniority making $7k/year more than newbies.

Why?

Each year the starting/base pay for a new teacher increases by 1-3%, and her pay increases by 1-3%. The details matter: In no year is her increase less than the base pay, but the state/district bills it as a great thing.

Then last year they really bumped new teacher pay up by 5-6%, and the additive differences shrank.

Worse yet? The new teachers treat it like a 7-3 job and rely on the older teachers to feed them lessons and materials. Older teachers put in time tutoring and revising.

Or, even worse, the older teachers wind up with 2, 3, 4, 5 preps. (Last year one teacher had 8, for a 6-class school day; last year I had 5, two new classes, two new in one room at the same time as an old prep, plus one where I depended on my team for air, and another that started the year before COVID and given the declining quality of students has required revision every year--first year too hard, second year COVID, then hybrid, then drop, then this year--where students are willing to fail as long as I don't take away their phones ... priorities, TikTok rules ... say TikTok rules.)

[MichMan]

27. Wouldn't it be in the state or local interest to cut the teacher pay substantially ?

Thus making the Federal government responsible for funding the difference, and therefore taking a good amount of the salaries off the state budget.

If the teachers are already making $60k, the feds won't be supplementing it. If they cut that down to $30k, the teachers will still get the same amount, but it only costs the states half as much as it did.

Of course, If the pay is already higher than $60k, it doesn't affect them at all either way.

[Bucky]

28. Yes, unintended consequences abound when feds intervene in state matters

You have to attach requirements and provisions any federal money because of that. No pay cuts, no deferments, no privatization through voucher programs... The devil is always in the details.

[zanana1]

29. Nothing will be done about teachers salaries unless there's a national strike.

If every teacher walks off the job, it'll only take a week.