00:00and pensions will come to order for a hearing on an issue of enormous
00:06consequence and I want to thank all of our panelists and guests who are here
00:10with us this morning and during the course of the morning you'll senators
00:17will be coming in and out but I know that this is an issue of interest to
00:22every senator in a moment we will hear directly from educators from across
00:29our country about the enormous effort it takes to provide a quality public
00:36education for every child in our country in my view if we are serious about the
00:43need for a bright and hopeful future for our country we understand that the
00:49children the young people of this country are our future and there is in
00:54fact nothing more nothing more important that we can do than provide a quality
00:58education to all of our young people and yet for decades public school
01:04teachers have been overworked underpaid understaffed and maybe most importantly
01:12underappreciated underappreciated compared to many other occupations our
01:18public school teachers are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety
01:23stress and burnout which was only exacerbated by the pandemic as a result
01:31nearly 8% of teachers leave their profession each and every year double
01:38the rate in countries like Canada and countries around the world according to
01:44the most recent statistics some 300,000 teaching professions nearly 10% of all
01:53teaching professions nationwide have been left vacant or filled by teachers
01:59not fully certified for their assignments in addition teacher turnover
02:05rates are 50% higher in school districts with high poverty rates than districts
02:12that serve wealthiest students so the words the areas where we need the best
02:17teachers the most are the areas where we're seeing the highest turnover
02:23incredibly 44% of public school teachers are now quitting their profession within
02:28five years now why is that why are so many public school teachers people who
02:33came into the profession because of their love of kids and they're wanting
02:37to do the right thing why are they leaving that profession why do we have a
02:42massive shortage of teachers in America well there are many reasons many reasons
02:50but one of them and one of the primary reasons is the extremely low pay
02:57teachers receive according to the statistics that I have seen the average
03:03starting teacher salary in America is less than $45,000 a year nearly 40% of
03:09school districts in our country pay teachers a starting salary of less than
03:15$40,000 incredibly the average public school teacher in America is making
03:21nearly a hundred dollars a week less than she or he did 28 years ago after
03:28adjusting for inflation other words the real salaries of teachers are actually
03:34going down in a just inflation adjusted numbers wages for public school teachers
03:41are so low that in 36 states throughout America the average public school
03:46teacher with a family of four qualifies for food stamps public housing or other
03:52government benefits in America today nearly 20% of public school teachers in
03:57our country are forced to work two or three jobs during the school year maybe
04:03they are driving an uber maybe they are waiting tables maybe they're parking
04:07cars in the richest country in the history of the world seems to me that we
04:13have got to do a lot better than that meanwhile because of lack of resources
04:18and tight school budgets about 80% of public school teachers are forced to
04:24spend their own money on classroom supplies without being reimbursed which
04:30comes out to about 13% of their first monthly paycheck the situation has
04:36become so absurd and this tells us not just about how we feel about education
04:42and teachers but maybe our sense of priorities as a nation the situation has
04:47become so absurd that for one two three four hedge fund managers on Wall Street
04:54made more money last year than every kindergarten teacher in America nearly
05:02120,000 teachers for hedge fund managers more money than 120,000 kindergarten
05:09teachers public school teachers should not be forced to work two or three jobs
05:15just to make ends meet they should not be forced to be on food stamps further
05:24as bad as as everybody in this room knows it's not the teacher that keeps
05:28alone that keeps the classroom going they need support service and as bad as
05:33public school teachers are paid our nation's school custodians food service
05:38workers and other school staff earn even less in America today nearly 40% of
05:43support staff in our public schools earn less than $25,000 a year now it would
05:52seem to me that we want would want as a nation to attract the best and the
05:58brightest people into the enormously important profession of education and if
06:04we're going to do that if we're going to encourage teachers to teach in
06:10underserved communities we're going to improve teacher retention and we're out
06:14and if we're going to improve student academic outcomes then in my view we
06:19need to pay teachers in America decent wages and decent benefits not a very I
06:26think radical or controversial concept and that is why I've introduced the pay
06:32teachers act with nine of my colleagues this Congress this bill would make sure
06:38that no teacher in America is paid less than $60,000 a year it would increase
06:46wages for teachers who have made teaching their profession those who have
06:51been on the job for 10 20 or 30 years it would triple title one funding get money
06:57into those school districts that need it the most it would invest in federal
07:02programs to provide teachers with the training education and preparation they
07:06need to succeed and would benefit every public school district in our country
07:11now here is the good news and it is very good news and that is a result of local
07:17organizing led by public school teachers some states are beginning to do the
07:24right thing in recent years the state of New Mexico has increased teacher pay by
07:29an average of 20% state of Maryland recently became the first state in the
07:35country to require all teachers to be paid a competitive salary that is at
07:40least $60,000 a year by July of 2026 the state of Arkansas recently increased
07:46minimum teacher salaries from 36,000 a year to 50,000 and provided a minimum
07:52$2,000 raise for all teachers during the 23-24 academic year in the state of
07:58Mississippi recently increased teacher pay by 11% raising teacher salaries to
08:04at least 60,000 a year and ensuring competitive pay for all of our teachers
08:08is one of the most important steps we can take to address the teacher shortage
08:13in America and to improve the quality of public education in our country bottom
08:19line as everybody knows the young people are our future and we've got to deal
08:25with the reality that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of
08:29almost any major nation on earth and that we are not attracting because of
08:33inadequate salaries the kinds of people we need into teaching so let me just
08:37conclude by thanking the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of teachers in
08:43this country you are heroes you are heroines you are doing enormously
08:47important work you are saving children's lives every single day and I thank you
08:53very much for what you do senator Cassidy
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