Teachers call for higher pay in hearing

WASHINGTON DC (NewsNation) — Teachers visited the Capitol on Thursday to testify at a committee hearing focused in teacher shortage and other challenges that plague basic education.

One of the teachers in attendance, Germayel Keyes, began his career in special education 18 years ago and earned $16,000 a year as a starting salary as a paraprofessional or classroom assistant.

“I needed a second job,” Keyes told lawmakers. “I couldn’t survive on paraprofessional wages alone.”

However, despite earning his teaching certification two years ago, Keyes said, he still works an additional part-time job to make ends meet.

Teachers “take on many roles in the classroom based on student needs, all starting with a salary of about $45,000,” he said.

“Teachers are constantly returning money to the classroom for everything from school supplies to snacks for hungry children,” Keyes also said. “This school year alone, I spent over a thousand dollars on these things just so I can be effective at what I do.”

John Arthur, an elementary school teacher in Holladay, Utah, told lawmakers Thursday that he, too, has felt the financial crisis.

“It used to be possible to raise a family on a teacher’s salary,” he said. “Now the only reason I can be a public school teacher is because my wife makes a lot more money than I do.”

The teachers were invited by Senate Democrats to testify on Thursday.

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying approve legislation this would increase starting teacher salaries to a minimum of $60,000 nationwide. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who chairs the Senate Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee, joined a group of Democrats to introduce the Teacher Pay Act.

“If we want to encourage teachers to teach in underserved communities, if we want to improve teacher retention and morale, and if we want to improve student academic outcomes, then, in my opinion, we need to pay teachers in America decent wages and decent benefits ,” Sanders said in Thursday’s hearing.

According to data from the National Education Association and the National Center for Education Statisticsthe national average for starting teacher salaries is about $45,000 annually.

O Learning Policy Institute estimates that more than 300,000 teaching positions were vacant or filled by people not fully qualified for the position from 2020 to 2023.

Republicans like Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., argue that raising teacher pay to that kind of national minimum won’t necessarily improve student outcomes and that lawmakers should examine how schools are spending their funds.

“I’m not sure throwing more money at the problem is the solution,” Cassidy said. “The committee needs to determine the root causes regarding the state of public education and how to fix it.”

Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow on education policy at the American Enterprise Institute who was asked to testify at Thursday’s hearing by Senate Republicans, echoed that concern.

“By all means, raise teacher salaries, but don’t assume it will solve the teacher shortage or keep good teachers in the classroom,” said Pondiscio, a former fifth-grade teacher in New York City. “Poor training, deteriorating classroom conditions, poor-quality curriculum and increasing demands have made an already challenging job almost impossible to do well and sustainably.”

“Bluntly, we are asking teachers to do too many things for them to do any one of them well,” Pondiscio said.

Keyes also raised this point to lawmakers, citing the many duties, including “hours of paperwork,” that teachers must take on in addition to instruction.

“If there isn’t a steady stream of teachers coming in…things aren’t going to change in the profession,” he said.