Voters support higher pay for educators
A recent Associated Press poll found that 78 percent of Americans believe teachers deserve higher pay. And in Other polls show similar support. According to an April 26 NPR report, “(A)n NPR/Ipsos poll shows strong support among Americans for improving teachers' pay and for their right to strike. Just 1 in 4 Americans believe teachers in this country are paid fairly. Nearly two-thirds approve of national teachers' unions, and three-quarters agree teachers have the right to strike. That last figure includes two-thirds of Republicans, three-quarters of independents and nearly 9 in 10 Democrats.” Voters support educators. School administrators at the bargaining table should remember that.
Fair pay for educators is a gender equity issue
On April 26, The New York Times reported, “About three-quarters of American teachers are women. When the modern teachers’ union movement began in Chicago in 1897, it was an explicitly feminist movement with close ties to the suffragists. Teachers are relatively underpaid compared with other skilled workers because historically they have been women. Many policymakers assumed teachers were being supported by higher-earning spouses or other male relatives.” More than 120 years later, we’re still fighting for fair pay and equity with other professionals.
