https://www.huffpost.com/entry/los-angeles-school-district-strike-walkout_n_6419b613e4b0bc5cb6529067

second largest school district.

I love the show Abbott Elementary but all jokes aside, our public schools are a shit show since the pandemic. It was bad before but now its reaching red alert levels with teacher shortages.

a wholesale change. and with some states giving over reaching power to parents, banning books, restricting dialog (girls and periods wtf?), shit's only going to make more people leave the profession.

not to mention the terrible pay they receive. why would a young person go into the field today? passion/calling sounds good but is it worth dealing with parents and fighting to actually teach.

with that said, my cousin wants to teach. she's in school now with another year or so to finish. best of luck shawty.

they teach here in "liberal" WA so it's not as bad as far as some of the stuff you mentioned.

but, they work fucking hard and stay stressed it seems.

I spoke on it last year. She is a lateral entry from higher education. She has taught at UNCC, Temple, Winthrop, Queens College, Coker… to name a few.

Yet.. the school system on Charlotte demanded she get a teaching license.. but they have no idea where to point here to get a license.

all her colleagues make like 35 to 40K because they don’t have a masters. My wife was making 50K due to years of service in higher ed.

A lot of teachers in her position left because the reality is they don’t want to pay them.

My boss even recommended a lawyer to fight it. As soon as the lawyer heard CMS he said.. sorry, can’t do it”

nm

they have a program in virginia where if you have an advanced degree you take a course and get your license.
started to go through the process and even did my little residency at my kids school
the pay wasnt that bad...but all the shit they got to deal with was mind boggling
may still do it but damn...even if you paid me what its worth its still hard

win in a landslide

-60,000 minimum
-triples federal funding for schools with lower income students
-co-sponsored by Warren and Markey
-Backed, at least in theme, by Biden

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3891898-sanders-introduces-bill-to-raise-minimum-teacher-pay-to-60000-a-year/

Sanders introduces bill to raise minimum teacher pay to $60,000 a year

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation on Thursday that would make the minimum pay for public school teachers in the U.S. $60,000 a year, following calls from President Biden to give teachers a raise last month.

The Pay Teachers Act of 2023, co-sponsored by a number of lawmakers including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would provide states with federal funds to establish minimum teacher salaries of at least $60,000 a year. It would also triple the funding of the Title I-A program, which provides funding to schools with a high percentage of students that come from low income backgrounds.

“It is simply unacceptable that, in the richest country in the history of the world, many teachers are having to work two or three extra jobs just to make ends meet,” Sanders said in a statement. “No public school teacher in America should make less than $60,000 a year.”

The bill would also triple funding for rural education programs and prop up programs to diversify the teacher workforce.

The push from Sanders to boost public teacher pay comes after Biden included a call for raises for public educators in his State of the Union address last month.

“Any nation that out-educates is going to out-compete us,” Biden said in the speech. “Let’s give public school teachers a raise.”

Sanders has blasted the pay of public school teachers in the U.S. in the past, and cited rising levels of stress and increasing trends of teachers quitting as the reason why the federal government needed to support them.

The legislative push by Sanders has garnered the support of the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the country.

Lawmakers in the House introduced legislation late last year to increase the minimum wage of teachers in the U.S. to $60,000. The American Teacher Act, sponsored by Reps. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), would encourage states to raise their minimum salaries for teachers through a federal grant program.

As he’s been known to do over the years

Cool of you to root for this sensible bit of legislation intended to buttress the future of our education system. Sanders and his seven co-sponsors assuredly appreciate your support. To help turn that moral support into real action on behalf of working teachers in this country, here's a link to a script for when you call or write your legislators and urge them to support this legislation or its house companion, the American Teachers Act:

https://www.teachersalaryproject.org/take-action-to-pass-the-american-teacher-act-hb-882.html

​The American Teacher Act (H.B. 882) was introduced February 8, 2023 by two teachers in Congress: Representatives Frederica Wilson (D-FL) and Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and 44 other original co-sponsors. The American Teacher Act will award 4-year grants to states that elect to demonstrate their commitment to sustaining a minimum teacher salary of $60,000. It will also provide a separate grant program to award states cost-of-living adjustments where the base teacher salary exceeds $60,000 and invest in a national campaign to expand awareness of the value of teaching and encourage secondary and college students to consider teaching as a career. The full text of the American Teacher Act is available at https://www.teachersalaryproject.org/the-american-teacher-act.html.

The Pay Teachers Act was introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 7 co-sponsors on March 9, 2023. The Act will (1) ensure teachers are paid a minimum salary of $60,000 and a livable and competitive salary throughout their career; (2) increase federal public education investments and ask states and localities to do the same; and (3) invest in a diverse teacher workforce, strengthen the educator pipeline, and support teachers’ career development and advancement. The full text of the Pay Teachers Act is available at https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-legislation-to-address-teacher-pay-crisis-in-america/

A summary and comparison chart of the American Teacher Act and Pay Teachers Act is here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PrjsZXaeHZQ4FMtMXzJn88s2L_6-4cwWDyuJgnrWuXQ/edit#slide=id.g1f47bc282cb_0_0

Please contact your U.S. Representatives and urge them to cosponsor the American Teacher Act (H.B. 882) (see list of current co-sponsors and endorsing organizations below) and contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to cosponsor the Pay Teachers Act (more information forthcoming).

but its amazing how many people hate teachers and education these days. Shit is weird.

half the country is so fucking dumb they are terrified education will leave them even further behind so they hate education.

shit, look at the push against CRT because it tells the ugly history of white folks in America.

to get their hands on the kids first. You know with all those teachings on options and thinking for yourself and facts. Cant have that.

however this time it was the school support worker union (SEIU) strike, and our teacher union honored their strike line and will for 3 days straight this week. that's about 60,000 workers over two unions off the job in a precedent-setting solidarity action impacting like 400,000 student families (of which many SEIU members belong to as heavily black and brown working class).

basically the bus drivers, cafeteria workers, special ed aides, class aides etc that make a school go ordered this militant move and are giving up 3 days pay because the district is harassing members for organizing, among other illegal acts apparently. they make waaay less than us, like 25k a year, have long had no health insurance, prevented from full time hours, and many of them experience housing insecurity and even homelessness.

it's a giant show of force to get the system to do right by them with real compensation (30 percent raise), benefits, etc., without the thuggish acts. this will enhance our negotiating position for our own 20 percent. the new superintendent is from miami and is a slick, branding tool that was implicated in the trayvon martin case apparently.

>basically the bus drivers, cafeteria workers, special ed
>aides, class aides etc that make a school go ordered this
>militant move and are giving up 3 days pay because the
>district is harassing members for organizing, among other
>illegal acts apparently. they make waaay less than us, like
>25k a year, have long had no health insurance, prevented from
>full time hours, and many of them experience housing
>insecurity and even homelessness.


thats a shame. i knew teachers and support staff were underpaid in the general sense that all teachers should be paid more but didnt know it was this bad. its wild cuz a lot of city positions are some of the highest paid in the country (and include annual cost of living increases). especially frustrating considering stuff like the $200m/annually for 'patrol' to stand around on they phones at the metro (shits a disaster).

also a trip that some of the same people talkin about "what about the kids" over a three day absence had 'em home for 2 years during the percy jackson and falling behind in every metric with no real recourse for catchin up. was raised lausd k-12 and only recently found out about the state of the district when starting to look for my own. shit sad.

and after being a art teacher in it have definitely seen how it has come through as an institution and totally failed families. this la times profile of SEIU workers as a whole as well as this strike really educated me on their gross underpayment. https://archive.ph/cPD4x meanwhile the new superintendent makes more than biden and is sitting on a massive reserve supposedly close to $5 billion.

so glad their union is rising up and that we were able to unite, with wide community support like in 2019.