WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), John Larson (D-CT), and Mark Takano (D-CA) introduced legislation that would boost teacher compensation by putting tax money back in their pockets and help diversify the teaching workforce. The bill, called the Respect, Advancement, and Increasing Support for Educators (RAISE) Act, would provide educators with a minimum of $1000 in refundable tax credits and as much as $15,000.
Currently, public elementary and secondary teachers earn about 20 percent less than similarly educated professions. Based on a worldwide comparison, the average salary gap between teachers and others with comparable educational backgrounds is greater in the U.S. than in any other OECD country with available data.
Early childhood educators fare far worse, with a national median wage of $11.65 an hour, well below the national living wage threshold. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every state in the nation reported shortages of teachers in high-need subjects like science, math, special education, and English language development. Additionally, low income and students of color are the least likely to have access to a stable educator workforce, with nearly 50 percent higher teacher turnover rates in high-poverty schools.
Through refundable tax credits, the RAISE Act will help...
NEWS Spurred by netizens, a domestic investigation found that the company’s listed overseas production address was linked to an unrelated Australian auto shop. A top-selling Chinese health suppleme...