May 12, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), John Larson (D-CT), and Mark Takano (D-CA) reintroduced the bicameral Respect, Advancement, and Increasing Support for Educators (RAISE) Act, legislation that would boost teacher compensation by putting tax money back in their pockets and help diversify the teaching workforce. The bill 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 24 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 public health crisis, nearly every state in the nation reported shortages of teachers in high-need subjects like science, math, special education, and English language development. Students of color and students from families experiencing low-incomes are the least likely to have access to a stable educator workforce, with nearly 50 percent higher teacher turnover rates in high poverty schools and 70% higher...
For the past several months, a coordinated digital campaign has targeted community archivists in Bangladesh who document and preserve audiovisual material related to the July 2024 Student-People’s...