By Andrew Ujifusa on May 6, 2019 8:23 PM
One of the Democratic senators seeking the presidency had a message Monday for teachers: I’ve got your back, and I’ll help your wallet.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., also stressed that America needs to do a better job of focusing more money and attention on K-12 education, making her comments Monday at a town hall event in Detroit hosted by the American Federation of Teachers.
“Our society pretends to care about education,” but doesn’t actually do a good job of educating many children, Harris said.
Harris made waves in the national education community when in March she proposed giving every teacher a $13,500 raise by the end of her first term if she’s elected. For the average teacher, that would be a pay hike of 23 percent. Harris’ blueprint would use federal dollars to match state efforts, with extra resources going toward those working in high-need schools. (Such schools aren’t defined in her plan). Harris touted that plan Monday as the first federal investment toward closing what some research describes as a pay gap between teachers and other comparable professionals.
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