In the News

There’s No Excuse for Low Teacher Pay

Lisette Partelow argues why schools need to stop using teachers' altruism to justify low salaries.

Nearly a year ago I wrote a post for this blog entitled “Teachers Need a Raise.” The piece clearly hit a nerve, as I still get asked about it to this day. Yet I too often hear a response that I consider to be a rather insidious rationale for keeping teacher pay at the status quo: “Teachers aren’t in it for the money.”

It’s no secret that you won’t get rich on a teacher’s salary, but that doesn’t mean that teachers should struggle to afford a middle-class life or find themselves eligible for public assistance.

The above excerpt was originally published in U.S. News & World Report. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Lisette Partelow

Senior Fellow