Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60,000 for public school teachers

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by Picture-unrelated

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called for a minimum salary of $60,000 for public school teachers, capitalizing on the push by President Biden in his State of the Union speech to give public school teachers a raise.

“We should be paying public school teachers a minimum of at least $60,000 a year,” Sanders said at a town hall at the Capitol on Monday night with national teachers union leaders. “I am proud to tell you I will soon be introducing legislation to do just that.”

Sanders’s call for a minimum salary for public school teachers comes after Biden made a pitch for a number of education policies during his State of the Union, including providing increased access to preschool and giving teachers a raise.

“If you want to have the best-educated workforce, let’s finish the job by providing access to preschool for 3- and 4-years-old,” Biden said in the speech. “Let’s give public-school teachers a raise.”

Sanders blasted the pay of public school teachers in the U.S., and cited rising levels of stress and increasing trends of teachers quitting as the reason why the federal government needed to support them.

Sanders was joined by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at the event, who co-signed the idea of raising teacher pay.

“We need higher wages for teachers, for teaching assistants, for early educators, for paraprofessionals,” Markey said. “We have to do something about it. … We don’t have a choice.”

Lawmakers in the House introduced legislation late last year to increase the minimum wage of teachers in the U.S. to $60,000. The American Teacher Act, sponsored by Reps. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), would encourage states to raise their minimum salaries for teachers through a federal grant program.

inkedup1985 on February 15th, 2023 at 01:25 UTC »

It’s baffling to me why teachers, who shape the future of mankind, would be so low on the pay scale.

shadowdra126 on February 14th, 2023 at 23:24 UTC »

I’m a teacher. This is my 6th year teaching and my salary increases every year.

I still don’t make 60k a year…

Edit. I also have a master’s degree…

the_ballmer_peak on February 14th, 2023 at 21:00 UTC »

Thoughts:

As everyone points out, this isn't that much. It's still twice what a lot of teachers are currently making. "Minimum" does not mean "maximum." 60k for an entry level position in a rural area is pretty solid.