DFER Applauds Congressional Democrats’ Plan to Boost Teachers’ Salaries
NEW YORK, NY – Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) National President Shavar Jeffries today released the following statement on the Congressional Democrats’ plan to increase salaries for teachers:
“Democrats for Education Reform applauds Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for announcing their plan today to take the tax cuts Republicans gave away last year to the top 1% of all earners and instead use them for salary supports to attract and retain a qualified and diverse teaching force to our nation’s public schools.
This is the kind of high-level investment the public wants to see in our nation’s schools and in our nation’s teachers. The proposal reflects the high esteem in which voters hold our nation’s educators and prioritizes precious funding for policies that will benefit all Americans – not just teachers but students, parents, and a much wider swath of taxpayers – over schemes like the Republican tax bill that award the lion’s share of benefits to an elite group of the most extremely wealthy Americans.
We also hope that, as the details of this bill are fleshed out, care is taken to get highly qualified and ethnically diverse teachers to the schools, subjects, and specialty areas where they are most needed:
- We need extra pay to attract great teachers to schools in urban and rural areas that have a hard time staffing them.
- We need salaries that are competitive with the private sector for those professionals with knowledge and expertise in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
- We need to use salaries to address shortages of teachers with special skills needed to serve students with disabilities and English Language Learners.
- We need to fund the salaries of beginning teachers who take a year of internship or residency so we know they are maximally prepared before they head up their own classroom.
The public is willing to invest substantially in public education if it feels like it is getting a good return on its investment. We can’t think of any large investment with a better potential return, than one that gets the kinds of teachers we all want for the students that need them most.”
###
CONTACT: Ashley Johnson; ashleyj@dfer.org