New Bill Would Guarantee Teachers a $60,000 Salary

The national average starting salary for educators is $41,770.

It's no secret that American teachers have a tough job. Facing twice as much job-related stress as the average worker, it is no wonder there are more job vacancies among teachers than almost any other industry. The American Teacher Act would attempt to stem the outflow of American educators by increasing the base pay of teaching positions. What's in the bill and will it pass? Read on to find out.

The state of the industry

Since at least 2017, the American education system has had a big problem: too many job openings to fill and too few educators to fill them. The crux of the problem has to do with supply and demand. While the number of job openings for educators have nearly doubled since 2020, the number of hires has stayed relatively constant over that same period.

There are a few big reasons behind the lack of educators in the teaching profession pipeline. First, teaching as a profession simply doesn't have the same prestige it once did. A 2018 study found that, for the first time on record, the majority of Americans did not want their children to become teachers. This could explain why teacher preparation enrollments fell by over 30% in the last 15 years. And of those who complete an educator program, nearly half leave the profession in the first five years.

The COVID-19 pandemic took the teacher crisis from bad to worse. In March 2020, teacher layoffs quadrupled as school districts prepared for a lengthy lockdown. Since the beginning of the pandemic, teachers have quit at a rate approximately two times higher than a decade before. In an industry already facing a lack of workers, more educators are leaving the profession than ever before, while fewer prospective teachers are taking their place.

Read more: How to Retire With $1 Million on a Teacher's Salary

The American Teacher Bill

Introduced in December 2022 by Representative Frederica Wilson (D-FL), the American Teacher Act would attempt to attract new educators in two different ways. First, the bill would raise the minimum wage, positively affecting the personal finances of American teachers. Second, it would launch a national campaign to raise awareness of the teaching profession.

The headline-snatching provision of the American Teacher Act would raise the minimum wage for all full-time K-12 teachers to $60,000 annually. Additionally, the bill would include an inflation adjustment at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The pay floor would be funded by a federal grant made to each state's department of education. Enrollment would not be required, and the state department would need to reapply for funding every four years.

Another provision of the bill calls for a national campaign to show the value of the profession to the American public. The campaign would:

• Raise awareness of the importance of teaching.
• Encourage high school and college students to consider teaching as a profession.
• Diversify the pool of prospective educators.

Will the bill pass?

Shortly after being introduced, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor. Whether the bill will be subject to material changes in committee is yet to be seen, and the actual text of the bill will weigh heavily on the odds of it passing through the House. Beyond the House, the bill would also have to be approved by the Senate, and then signed into law by the president.

As of now, the principle of the bill appears to have support on both sides of the aisle. Democratic President Joe Biden has made broad pledges to offer teachers competitive wages, and Democrats in both the House and Senate are expected to follow suit. Educational reform is being touted by Republicans, too, with Republican governors in at least five states promoting raising the salaries of educators in recent years.

When it comes to filling jobs with qualified teachers, the American education system is at a crisis point. The American Teacher Act seeks to retain talented teachers and inspire the next generation of educators through pay raises and national campaigns. Whether the bill will pass into law, and in what state, is yet to be seen. But for now, American teachers can hope for bipartisan support in the House.