As American teachers return to work for the 2019-2020 school year, they will see some improvements in their profession since last year. But teachers still face obstacles of underfunding, low pay and even having to cover the cost of school supplies for their students.
Last year, the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teacher’s union with 1.7 million members, issued a report entitled “A Decade of Neglect,” detailing states' disinvestment in public education. Their findings showed about half of states had reduced funding since the 2008 recession, and three-quarters of states effectively paid their teachers lower salaries when adjusted for inflation.
Teachers in West Virginia successfully won concessions from a 2018 strike but struck again in February when state Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to divert funding to privately managed charter schools. Teachers in that state hadn’t seen a pay increase between 2014 and 2018, despite teacher earnings in the state ranking near the bottom nationally.
Teachers went on strike in states with Republican dominated legislatures like Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma. In the near decade between the 2008 recession and the teacher strikes in these states, state legislatures had decreased funding following the implementation of tax cuts and diversion of money to charter schools.
The most significant strike over the past year may have been the Los Angeles teacher’s strike, due to the number of teachers striking and the number of students affected. More than 30,000 L.A. teachers and support staff went on a six-day strike in January 2019, which ended with the city’s school system agreeing to most of the strikers' demands.
Those demands included not just salary but other areas of education funding as well, such as a reduction in class size. Some teachers complained of classes with more than 40 students. The teachers also won concessions from school officials to include more school counselors and nurses, resources many of the system’s poorest children lack outside of school.
“Slowly but surely, state legislatures are realizing that underfunding public schools is far too risky a bet. But we still have a long way to go before we ensure every kid in this country gets an education regardless of geography, demography or ability,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Despite the concessions made to teachers in the last school year, several obstacles still remain in place for the historically low-paid profession. Average salary for American teachers is about $60,000 per year but varies by state.. Starting salaries in many states are much lower, however, which is a factor in the shortage of teachers nationwide.
Numerous studies have shown a highly effective teacher is the most significant factor for student learning and achievement among school related causes. However, in order to remain highly effective, teachers typically have to purchase student school supplies out of their own pockets; one survey showed that 96 percent of teachers bought supplies for their own students.
“There is no other job I know where the workers subsidize what should be a cost borne by an employer as a necessary ingredient of the job,” said Weingarten.
The school districts with the highest levels of poverty face the greatest teacher shortages, districts disproportionately black and Hispanic. Last year’s strikes brought to the forefront that many of the nation’s children go to school without their basic medical, psychological and nutritional needs being met. This despite the fact that it has been more than 60 years since the Supreme Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that schools segregated by race are inherently unconstitutional.
As part of the recent rise of populism seen in local, state and federal elections, some states and local communities have begun to turn the tide by providing more funding for public education. New Mexico passed legislation this year to grant $450 million in additional funding, with more than $100 million going to at-risk students. In Florida, which saw the biggest disinvestment in public education since the Great Recession, 20 school districts have seen an increase in funding following voter approved property tax increases.
Upcoming elections later this year, and into 2020, will determine whether states continue to fund public education more or revert back to the practices of the last decade. In November, Louisiana voters will go to the polls to select state legislators and a governor. Louisiana instituted a pay raise for its teachers and support staff, the first in over a decade. The state also allocated an additional $40 million in funding. Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat in the solidly Republican Deep South and a proponent of increased pay for teachers and increase funding for public education, faces Republican challengers.
There are also gubernatorial elections this year in neighboring Mississippi, which sits near the bottom in per pupil spending in the nation, and Kentucky. Both Mississippi and Kentucky have Republican incumbents but political observers will be watching this off-year election to see how Democratic candidates perform in these conservative states, which could be an early indicator of election results in 2020.
