Pay Teachers Act Reintroduced in Senate; New Section Supports Paraprofessionals

On Thursday, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) re-introduced the Pay Teachers Act, which would require states to increase minimum teacher salaries to $60,000 annually. New to the bill is the inclusion of the Pay Paraeducators and Education Support Staff Act, a bill championed by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), which would increase the pay of paraprofessionals and education support personnel to at least $30 hourly or a $45,000 annual salary. In remarks about his portion of the bill, Markey lamented that one in five paraprofessionals rely on food banks, and most cannot afford to send their own kids to college, a reality that must change. 

In addition to the salary provisions, the Pay Teachers Act triples the authorization of funding for key federal education programs including Title I, Rural Education, and Impact Aid, as well as sizable increases to federal programs that support the educator pipeline, including Personnel Preparation within IDEA Part D, the Teacher Quality Partnership, and Hawkins Centers of Excellence. CEC has endorsed both the Pay Teachers Act and the Pay Paraeducators and Education Support Staff Act.

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