Stacey Abrams has proposed raising teacher base pay in Georgia from $39,000 to $50,000. We’ll leave aside the political ramifications for a moment and talk about why this idea is a truly smart one for improving education in the state.
To begin with, Abrams has shown that she understands clearly that a pay scale that grows closer and closer to poverty level each year is not going to attract the best and brightest to teaching. Sappy commercials with appeals to dedication aside, teachers need to be able to do more than just feed their families, they should actually get rewarded for carrying out one of the most vital of civic functions: developing future citizens.
This proposal also constitutes an investment in educational equity across the state. One of the largest drivers of low educational achievement in the US is unequal funding. High poverty schools almost inevitably score lower in achievement than wealthy one. It’s always necessary to point out that this doesn’t mean that poor kids are dumb, it means that they start out with disadvantages which are multiplied by lack of resources in poor school systems. One of the consequences of this lack of resources is that teachers are not attracted to poor school systems, and outside the suburban doughnuts around Georgia’s cities, most rural systems are poor. Metro systems tend to pay fairly substantial supplements above the state minimum. Rural systems generally cannot, mainly due to low tax bases. Teachers in rural Georgia might work most of their careers to reach the $50,000 salary level, if they do at all. Sure, a Jaime Escalante can inspire low SES students to achieve, but that guy was so rare that they made a movie about him. Expecting every teacher to be a “Stand and Deliver” hero is like expecting every doctor to be Jonas Salk. It won’t close the gap between Jeff Davis County in South Georgia and Gwinnett County in Metro Atlanta, but it can’t hurt.
Finally, this proposal does something about the growing teacher shortage in the state. College students won’t be attracted to education by one-time bonuses such as those proposed by Republican Brian Kemp; they won’t get them while they’re training. To his (slight) credit, Gov. Kemp has also included a $2000 pay raise for teachers this year, but that will already be eaten up by the commute most teachers make to work. Granted, an $11,000 raise still cannot compete with the salaries that talented students in STEM and business majors can command at graduation, but it can help to make the teaching profession less of a sacrifice for those who are called to enter it.
Abrams’ proposal should just be the beginning, but it shows a willingness to think big and long term. That attitude about education in Georgia and in the US is much-needed.
You can help Abrams carry out her promise by contributing here.