WASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to teacher walkouts across the country, congressional Democrats on Tuesday proposed raising teachers’ salaries by canceling the tax cut for the nation’s top 1 percent of earners.
The Republican-controlled Congress was unlikely to support the idea of giving states and school districts $50 billion over a decade to fund the teacher raises at the expense of dismantling the hard-won tax bill.
But the proposal gives Democrats an issue they can use ahead of the November midterm elections. Teachers have won widespread support, even in conservative areas, as they complain about low pay.
At a congressional hearing Tuesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos agreed that teachers are underpaid, but offered few concrete suggestions to boost their income.
“Teachers of America, we Democrats hear you loud and clear,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference. “Put simply, instead of giving a tax cut to the richest of Americans, we should give a pay raise to teachers in this country who our students depend on to succeed.”
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the head of the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union, said many teachers were forced to work several jobs in order to make ends meet.
“We are here to serve America’s children and we also want to be able to raise our own families,” she said.
DeVos told the House Committee on Education and Workforce, “I think they should be better compensated and I think they should be treated as professionals.”
But she defended budget cuts that affect teacher training and support programs, saying, “Tough decisions were made as to where to recommend resources be focused.” She also called for “flexibilities in other funding streams,” but offered no specific details.
So this is how the AP is wired for republicans. An editor could just as easily have headlined this as Democrats Propose Nationwide Funding for Teachers, but that would be “partisan”.
Unfortunate when education is actually our biggest long term national security issue. Very stupid.
Eff you, DeVos. Just eff you.
Well I’m sure she’s also offering “thoughts and prayers.” And she has learned her some lingo so there’s that milestone she’s passed.
DeVos is a Christian Reconstructionist. She doesn’t believe that the US should have a system of public education. So, if teachers are being ill-treated by the tax code, that’s just fine with her since they/we are illegitimate.
Her views are abhorrent, but she runs with a very ugly crowd. Public educators, students and parents and guardians will be eating their dirt for at least 4 years…probably longer because DeVos inflicting real harm on public schools.