Most people seem to agree that our teachers are worth much more than they are paid and that if we paid them better they would do better work. What is lacking is a mechanism for paying them better. A federal subsidy for public teachers would go a long way towards helping out. Whether it is implemented as a tax credit or as a guaranteed pay raise depends on what is easiest to apply. I can’t express how dismayed I am that there is talk of cutting pay for teaching and tutoring in California rather than increasing it.
If public teachers received a 20% raise from a federal subsidy across the board and a second 20% raise two years later depending on indications of success of the program, then the pay will become closer to what they should get. (Double what teachers make now would be more like it, actually) Suddenly, teachers will have more reason to stay in their jobs and it will become more competitive. People who are talented, but consider teaching unprofitable will be more likely to enter the ranks, and teachers who are thinking about retiring early will think about staying longer to make more money.
It is often said amongst teachers that we do our jobs because we love teaching and not for the money. It really should be both. The lack of good pay for good teaching is a shame. An infusion of funding and incentive for good teaching pays for itself. Paying just the top teachers more is cheap and it is difficult to gage who should get the bonus pay. Every teaching job should be considered important and worth the pay that it deserves.
Having teachers struggling to get by distracts the teachers from focusing on the students, and having colleges struggling to find enough part time teachers to teach their classes is a fundamental problem.
Some might argue that you don’t solve a problem by throwing money at it. In this case the money will be well spent. Schools already try to help poorly performing teachers do better or move on. Just the spectacle of stating that we value our teachers and are going to pay them better will draw more people to teaching, and we will be less likely to struggle to fill jobs with anyone we can find.
In the effort to bring new generations the knowledge to exceed our current accomplishments, the solution to the problem is simple albeit expensive. Our investment in our children is worth it, though, and in the end, the investment pays for itself many times over.