All public school teachers deserve a $20,000 raise paid by the Federal Government. The Biden/Harris administration promised raises for teachers on the campaign trail. Let’s encourage them to fulfill their promise.

I'm advocating for a permanent $20,000 CPI adjusted raise for all public school teachers paid by the Federal Government. Click here to read my rationale, references, and sign the petition. If you'd like to support my effort, carry out these four steps:

1. Sign my petition here.
2. Copy and paste the content of my petition in an email to Patty Murray, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Here's where you can write her an email: https://www.murray.senate.gov/write-to-patty/
3. Spread the hashtag, #20kraiseforteachers on social media.
4. Share my petition on social media. Here's the url: https://www.change.org/20kraiseforteachers

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In short, here's my logic. My references are in my petition.

1. In 2019, Harris proposed a $13,500 raise for all teachers on the campaign trail. Biden proposed a $60,000 minimum salary for teachers. Though education is mostly funded through state budgets, Congress does have the power to pass a bill to give all public school teachers a $20,000 raise using federal funds. I pegged the amount at $20,000 given increased inflation and attrition during the pandemic.
2. Wages for teachers were 17% lower in 2015 than professionals in other sectors with similar education and experience, compared to 1.8% lower than other professionals in 1994. From 1996 to 2018, wages for teachers did not increase at all when adjusted for inflation, whereas wages for college graduates increased by over 20% in the same time frame.
3. Over 1/3 of schools had difficulties filling teacher vacancies before the pandemic. During the pandemic, there's been a 6.8% decline in the percentage of individuals indicating that they were employed as a teacher, highlighting the existing teacher shortage. This also bodes ill for near and long term staffing issues. With a high percentage of vacancies, student outcomes will be significantly affected. Schools need to be staffed for education to function.
4. Over the last decade there's been a significant decline in the % of prospective teachers enrolled in teacher prep programs, with some years showing close to a 40% decline. This also forecasts future teacher shortages.
5. Teacher pay is one of the top cited reasons, alongside workplace conditions, school climate, and lack of support, for why teachers leave the field. Teacher pay is one of the top reasons why people do not pursue education to start.
6. Though pay is not the reason that many of us teach, supply and demand is part and parcel to any major sector, and supply and demand is a function of price. Increasing teacher pay will not solve all of the problems in education, but understaffed schools significantly harm student outcomes, and higher salaries will drive more talent to the sector. High quality talent will increase the quality of education and reduce attrition. If less people enter education and more people leave, it nearly guarantees that the teacher shortage will intensify, and will adversely affect student achievement.