Bernie Sanders Leads Senate HELP Committee Hearing On Challenges Facing Public School Teachers

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On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing entitled, “The Immediate and Long-Term Challenges Facing Public School Teachers: Low Pay, Teacher Shortages, and Underfunded Public Schools.”   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00:00and pensions will come to order for a hearing on an issue of enormous

00:00:06consequence and I want to thank all of our panelists and guests who are here

00:00:10with us this morning and during the course of the morning you'll senators

00:00:17will be coming in and out but I know that this is an issue of interest to

00:00:22every senator in a moment we will hear directly from educators from across

00:00:29our country about the enormous effort it takes to provide a quality public

00:00:36education for every child in our country in my view if we are serious about the

00:00:43need for a bright and hopeful future for our country we understand that the

00:00:49children the young people of this country are our future and there is in

00:00:54fact nothing more nothing more important that we can do than provide a quality

00:00:58education to all of our young people and yet for decades public school

00:01:04teachers have been overworked underpaid understaffed and maybe most importantly

00:01:12underappreciated underappreciated compared to many other occupations our

00:01:18public school teachers are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety

00:01:23stress and burnout which was only exacerbated by the pandemic as a result

00:01:31nearly 8% of teachers leave their profession each and every year double

00:01:38the rate in countries like Canada and countries around the world according to

00:01:44the most recent statistics some 300,000 teaching professions nearly 10% of all

00:01:53teaching professions nationwide have been left vacant or filled by teachers

00:01:59not fully certified for their assignments in addition teacher turnover

00:02:05rates are 50% higher in school districts with high poverty rates than districts

00:02:12that serve wealthiest students so the words the areas where we need the best

00:02:17teachers the most are the areas where we're seeing the highest turnover

00:02:23incredibly 44% of public school teachers are now quitting their profession within

00:02:28five years now why is that why are so many public school teachers people who

00:02:33came into the profession because of their love of kids and they're wanting

00:02:37to do the right thing why are they leaving that profession why do we have a

00:02:42massive shortage of teachers in America well there are many reasons many reasons

00:02:50but one of them and one of the primary reasons is the extremely low pay

00:02:57teachers receive according to the statistics that I have seen the average

00:03:03starting teacher salary in America is less than $45,000 a year nearly 40% of

00:03:09school districts in our country pay teachers a starting salary of less than

00:03:15$40,000 incredibly the average public school teacher in America is making

00:03:21nearly a hundred dollars a week less than she or he did 28 years ago after

00:03:28adjusting for inflation other words the real salaries of teachers are actually

00:03:34going down in a just inflation adjusted numbers wages for public school teachers

00:03:41are so low that in 36 states throughout America the average public school

00:03:46teacher with a family of four qualifies for food stamps public housing or other

00:03:52government benefits in America today nearly 20% of public school teachers in

00:03:57our country are forced to work two or three jobs during the school year maybe

00:04:03they are driving an uber maybe they are waiting tables maybe they're parking

00:04:07cars in the richest country in the history of the world seems to me that we

00:04:13have got to do a lot better than that meanwhile because of lack of resources

00:04:18and tight school budgets about 80% of public school teachers are forced to

00:04:24spend their own money on classroom supplies without being reimbursed which

00:04:30comes out to about 13% of their first monthly paycheck the situation has

00:04:36become so absurd and this tells us not just about how we feel about education

00:04:42and teachers but maybe our sense of priorities as a nation the situation has

00:04:47become so absurd that for one two three four hedge fund managers on Wall Street

00:04:54made more money last year than every kindergarten teacher in America nearly

00:05:02120,000 teachers for hedge fund managers more money than 120,000 kindergarten

00:05:09teachers public school teachers should not be forced to work two or three jobs

00:05:15just to make ends meet they should not be forced to be on food stamps further

00:05:24as bad as as everybody in this room knows it's not the teacher that keeps

00:05:28alone that keeps the classroom going they need support service and as bad as

00:05:33public school teachers are paid our nation's school custodians food service

00:05:38workers and other school staff earn even less in America today nearly 40% of

00:05:43support staff in our public schools earn less than $25,000 a year now it would

00:05:52seem to me that we want would want as a nation to attract the best and the

00:05:58brightest people into the enormously important profession of education and if

00:06:04we're going to do that if we're going to encourage teachers to teach in

00:06:10underserved communities we're going to improve teacher retention and we're out

00:06:14and if we're going to improve student academic outcomes then in my view we

00:06:19need to pay teachers in America decent wages and decent benefits not a very I

00:06:26think radical or controversial concept and that is why I've introduced the pay

00:06:32teachers act with nine of my colleagues this Congress this bill would make sure

00:06:38that no teacher in America is paid less than $60,000 a year it would increase

00:06:46wages for teachers who have made teaching their profession those who have

00:06:51been on the job for 10 20 or 30 years it would triple title one funding get money

00:06:57into those school districts that need it the most it would invest in federal

00:07:02programs to provide teachers with the training education and preparation they

00:07:06need to succeed and would benefit every public school district in our country

00:07:11now here is the good news and it is very good news and that is a result of local

00:07:17organizing led by public school teachers some states are beginning to do the

00:07:24right thing in recent years the state of New Mexico has increased teacher pay by

00:07:29an average of 20% state of Maryland recently became the first state in the

00:07:35country to require all teachers to be paid a competitive salary that is at

00:07:40least $60,000 a year by July of 2026 the state of Arkansas recently increased

00:07:46minimum teacher salaries from 36,000 a year to 50,000 and provided a minimum

00:07:52$2,000 raise for all teachers during the 23-24 academic year in the state of

00:07:58Mississippi recently increased teacher pay by 11% raising teacher salaries to

00:08:04at least 60,000 a year and ensuring competitive pay for all of our teachers

00:08:08is one of the most important steps we can take to address the teacher shortage

00:08:13in America and to improve the quality of public education in our country bottom

00:08:19line as everybody knows the young people are our future and we've got to deal

00:08:25with the reality that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of

00:08:29almost any major nation on earth and that we are not attracting because of

00:08:33inadequate salaries the kinds of people we need into teaching so let me just

00:08:37conclude by thanking the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of teachers in

00:08:43this country you are heroes you are heroines you are doing enormously

00:08:47important work you are saving children's lives every single day and I thank you

00:08:53very much for what you do senator Cassidy thank you chair Sanders I to

00:08:59thank the teachers I still remember the names of all my elementary school

00:09:03teachers and they and particularly one who they all I think believed in a guy

00:09:08with a lot of ADD a lung child who couldn't focus who didn't read during

00:09:13the day and so one of us one of them kept me afterwards and drove me home

00:09:17could you imagine that she would drive me home after everybody left because my

00:09:21ADD would not allow me to kind of focus so I just applaud all the teachers you

00:09:26are formative and a child's experience but as we begin to speak about the

00:09:32current state of K through 12 education we have to recognize the world as it is

00:09:38two-thirds of US public school students don't read proficiently in fourth grade

00:09:4540% are essentially non readers almost two-thirds of fourth graders three

00:09:51quarters of eighth graders are below proficient in math less than half of

00:09:57public school parents less than half say their child is definitely prepared

00:10:03academically for the next year a related issue is the rising absenteeism 28% of

00:10:11students missed nearly four weeks of the school year now intuitively but also

00:10:17borne out by research students who miss more than four weeks have difficulty

00:10:23learning to read by third grade think about that these are not middle schoolers

00:10:29or high schoolers skipping out when their parents not watching these are

00:10:34children less than their first second and third grade and they're missing four

00:10:40weeks of school or more and so if you don't learn to read by third grade you

00:10:45don't read to learn after that how do we get here well in many places primary and

00:10:51secondary education is broken schools have lost sight of their core mission of

00:10:56educating children some education leaders prioritize social agendas and

00:11:01progressive ideology over academic progress this negatively impacts

00:11:06children's success it leaves them ill-prepared to enter a competitive

00:11:10workforce now parents parents study show are the most important indicators in

00:11:17educators in their children's life I think I read once that the mother is the

00:11:23most determinative of a child's future in academic success which you know kind

00:11:30of illustrates it's a hand that rocks the cradle that rules the world but

00:11:36unfortunately many parents feel as if they've been forced to be bystanders or

00:11:41even silenced by fear of retaliation from school leaders in 2023 72% of

00:11:48parents considered moving their children to a new school a 35% increase from 2022

00:11:55now I have to point out that it's been more than a year and a half into this

00:11:59Congress and we're just now having our first hearing on K through 12 education

00:12:03we are the committee with jurisdiction over federal K through 12 funding and we

00:12:09have a responsibility to examine this broken system our kids will spend

00:12:13roughly 15,000 hours in school between kindergarten and 12th grade if they are

00:12:19not learning what are they doing I'm not sure throwing more money at the problem

00:12:25is the solution the committee needs to determine root causes concerning the

00:12:32state of public education and how to fix it now one thing that cannot be ignored

00:12:37we are spending more money per child on education than ever before in our

00:12:44nation's history somebody's got a pretty good phone over there but they need to

00:12:51turn it off so if you look here here's spending here's inflation so spending

00:13:02has greatly exceeded inflation but even beginning before the pandemic we saw a

00:13:10decrease in math scores and a decrease in reading scores the reading is fourth

00:13:15grade the math is eighth grade now in 2021 Democrats through a partisan bill

00:13:23gave a hundred and twenty one billion dollars in one time kovat spending with

00:13:29little accountability or requirements for how the money would be used and it

00:13:33begs the question where was it spent some school districts added new faculty

00:13:38positions like assistant principals that have limited impact upon classroom

00:13:43learning there are now more staff collecting paychecks at schools than

00:13:47ever before and yet we see grades falling now let's be clear teachers are

00:13:55important for a child to learn they must have a teacher focused on teaching

00:14:01but there's evidence anecdotal teachers are overwhelmed by policies that prevent

00:14:07them from truly managing classrooms and in some cases ensuring the safety of

00:14:13their students we'll hear more about this from one of our witnesses today now

00:14:17the Democrat solution to this challenge has been to create a federal minimum

00:14:22salary for teachers improving teacher pay is important in fact out of 11

00:14:28states that passed laws this year increasing take-home pay for teachers

00:14:31ten have Republican led legislatures including Louisiana but the federal

00:14:37government dictating how states spend their money does not address the root

00:14:41cause of why teachers are struggling to teach in the classroom more mandates and

00:14:46funding cannot be the only answer we come up with we must examine broken

00:14:50policies that got us here and find solutions to improve this should not be

00:14:55the only hearing Congress has examining education we need to understand

00:14:59shortcomings in K through 12 and commit to resolving them so kids can read and

00:15:03become productive citizens with 11 legislative weeks left it seems we're

00:15:08not going to get to this but the longer we wait the more students suffer we need

00:15:12to be looking at different issues about for example how to address the learning

00:15:15loss and severe mental health issues among adolescents as a result of COVID

00:15:20school closures we need to implement better strategies like the science of

00:15:24reading to address falling literacy rates so children can read properly and

00:15:28do not fall behind we need to begin to scream for dyslexia a condition which

00:15:33affects 20% of children but with undiagnosed condemns the child to

00:15:37underperformance now how we need to address how schools the negative impact

00:15:43of tick-tock and social media on on students and a phone should be in the

00:15:47classroom and what are the cost of making school optional during the

00:15:51pandemic what were those costs as was done by many school districts across the

00:15:56nation by the way the committee also hasn't had a hearing to address our

00:16:00broken higher education system we should be discussing the botched rollout of the

00:16:04free application for federal student aid or FAFSA that delayed millions of

00:16:08students and families from accessing crucial financial aid information

00:16:12without this information students don't know if and how they can afford college

00:16:17and may just decide not to attend we need to address the rising cost of

00:16:22college that is crushing students and families forcing them to take on more

00:16:26loans which may or may not return on their investment and we need to hold

00:16:31universities and the Biden administration accountable for the

00:16:34rising rate of anti-semitism on campuses which have culminated in violence and

00:16:38chaos with the limited time left we have this Congress I urge the chair to

00:16:42prioritize how we can help our students and keep them from falling behind our

00:16:47children our country's future is at stake with that I yield we will now turn

00:16:55to our witnesses and we thank all of them for being here our first witness is

00:16:59mr. John Arthur the 2021 Utah teacher of the year and national teacher of the

00:17:05year finalist he is now entering his 12th year of teaching sixth grade at

00:17:10Meadowlark Elementary a title one school in Salt Lake City Utah

00:17:15mr. Arthur thanks very much for being with us thank you chairman Sanders

00:17:21ranking member Cassidy and distinguished members of the committee if you could

00:17:25talk a little bit closer into the mic please absolutely this is just like

00:17:28being in my classroom thank you I'm grateful for this opportunity to share

00:17:33my love of teaching and insights from my classroom my name is John Arthur as

00:17:37you said and again I am the 2021 Utah teacher of the year a national board

00:17:42certified teacher and a proud member of the National Education Association for

00:17:46the last 11 years I have dedicated my professional life to uplifting and

00:17:50educating the children at Meadowlark Elementary a title one public school in

00:17:54Salt Lake City as we consider the challenges facing public school teachers

00:17:58today there's one statistic that worries me the most the majority of American

00:18:03parents do not want their children to become teachers my mother who was a

00:18:09Korean immigrant was one of those parents Suka Arthur like so many

00:18:12immigrant parents wanted me to grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer when I

00:18:16finally worked up the courage to let my mother know that I was gonna be a public

00:18:20school teacher she asked doctor teacher I said no I'm a elementary school

00:18:26teacher I don't want to read into the record what my mother said after that

00:18:30but she was upset not because she didn't respect teachers quite the opposite in

00:18:35Korea teachers hold a position of high esteem and receive high pay prestige and

00:18:40respect that's what my mom wanted for her son that's what doctors and lawyers

00:18:45receive in the United States and that's what I want for every public school

00:18:48teacher in this country high pay prestige and respect you used to be able

00:18:54to raise a family on a teacher's salary now the only reason I'm able to be a

00:18:58public school teacher is because my wife makes much more money than me I

00:19:02appreciate the attention the chairman brought to this issue through the Pay

00:19:06Teachers Act and the number one reason we have to appreciate when we're talking

00:19:11about root causes like Senator Cassidy mentioned the number one reason teachers

00:19:15leave the profession is the pay the number one reason parents don't want

00:19:18their children to become teachers is the pay so the number one solution to

00:19:22addressing the issues we face must be increasing teacher salaries in teaching

00:19:28prestige is rooted in relationships and professional practices and there is no

00:19:33relationship more important than the ones we build with our students and

00:19:37their families when I became a teacher I knew I wanted to plant deep roots teach

00:19:41in one school and build powerful relationships with parents for the next

00:19:4630 years sometimes when I'm writing really fast I accidentally miswrite

00:19:49parents as partners because that's how I see them I'd like to thank this moment

00:19:55it's like the Oscars here I'd like to thank every parent I've ever partnered

00:19:58with in my classroom we teachers also build communities of our own in my first

00:20:03year of teaching I saw teachers in my district step outside the comfort of

00:20:07their classrooms to advocate and champion the children in mine I was

00:20:12inspired by them and that's why I joined the Salt Lake Education Association the

00:20:16Utah Education Association and the National Education Association because I

00:20:20wanted to be a champion for our public school teachers and children just like

00:20:24them in my second year of teaching I saw teachers delivering lessons and carrying

00:20:28on conversations with kids like conductors in an orchestra and when I

00:20:32found out that they were all National Board certified teachers I said I want

00:20:36that too so I was immediately embraced by a community composed of our country's

00:20:42most accomplished educators I pursued my National Board certification and I

00:20:47learned that no teacher survives in isolation and thrives alone in order to

00:20:53strengthen the teaching profession we have to support and uplift the

00:20:57communities and organizations that make teachers strong teachers are driven by a

00:21:03powerful need to be better for the children we serve that's why we pursue

00:21:07advanced degrees and certifications during my Master of Arts in teaching

00:21:11program I began working with two students one of them had dyslexia and

00:21:14the other one had an emotional disturbance had been identified in that

00:21:18way I realized very quickly that I did not have the tools to support these kids

00:21:23the way they needed to be so I was already I already had one student loan

00:21:27going so I said rack it up and I added a second master's degree program to my

00:21:32caseload to my workload I got a special education master's in education and I I

00:21:39recognize now that in order to increase the level of respect that people have

00:21:44for teachers all we need to do is shine a spotlight on our best and brightest

00:21:48educators elevating the excellence that America's teachers exemplify senators

00:21:54there are teachers in your home states that are right now leading from their

00:21:57classrooms and all you have to do is show the public the wonders that they

00:22:02are and the hearts of even our harshest critics can be moved you remember my

00:22:06mother who did not want me to be a teacher just before she passed away she

00:22:11left me this email she said hi son this is on my I just want to say I am so

00:22:17proud of you as a teacher you're you're a great teacher you're a wonderful son I

00:22:22love you I followed my heart in the teaching and my love for teaching won my

00:22:29mother's heart too we can do this thank you thank you very much

00:22:39our next witness is mr. Jamal keys a special education teacher at Gilbert

00:22:47Sprons Elementary School in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and a graduate of the

00:22:51Philadelphia Federation of Teachers paraprofessional to teacher program

00:22:55mr. keys thank you very much for being with us thank you senator Sanders and

00:23:01the committee for addressing this critical issue my name is Jamal key like

00:23:08this here we go okay my name is Jamal keys and I am an

00:23:13educator and a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and

00:23:17AFT local on behalf of the PFT the AFT and my colleagues again I want to thank

00:23:22you chairman Sanders and the committee for addressing this critical issue I

00:23:26teach middle year special education in the third largest elementary school in

00:23:33Philadelphia I was born and raised in Philadelphia and educated in Philadelphia

00:23:37public schools I'm a product of teachers who molded me into a lifelong learner

00:23:42and have left an indelible mark on my life just last week after 18 years with

00:23:49the School District of Philadelphia I completed my first year as a classroom

00:23:52teacher while this is the third position I've held in my district

00:23:56starting my career as a bus attendant I've spent most of my career in

00:24:00education as a paraprofessional and that's how I stumbled upon what I would

00:24:04find was my calling for the entirety of my 18 year career I've worked in the

00:24:10same school primarily with students who have disabilities and complex needs and

00:24:14I've worked alongside veteran teachers all of whom are now retired those now

00:24:19retired veteran teachers told me that I was meant to be a teacher even when I

00:24:23didn't see it at the time I moved into my career as a paraprofessional the

00:24:29starting salary was $16,000 with the maximum salary of $30,000 per year and

00:24:35it's still pretty much the same for those who for those of you who don't

00:24:39know paraprofessionals work alongside teachers to keep the train on the track

00:24:45so to speak and they're essential for working with students who need

00:24:48additional attention and support so as I began to realize to recognize that I

00:24:53did want to pursue a career as teaching I also started looking into schooling my

00:24:59major concern with going to school was going into debt I ultimately understood

00:25:04that it was a necessary it was necessary to get to where I needed to be in my

00:25:09career I obtained my associate's degree in early childhood education with honors

00:25:13I continue to earn my bachelor's degree in the same area at that time I had the

00:25:18option to obtain my teaching certification while doing my coursework

00:25:22but this also meant that I would have to take an unpaid leave from my job to

00:25:27complete the student teaching component and this was something that I could not

00:25:31afford to do at the same time my union the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers

00:25:36was in the early stages of negotiating our next contract and I used this time

00:25:40to speak with my union leadership about my journey to becoming a teacher and

00:25:43some of the obstacles it was from this meeting that the seeds for the

00:25:47pair of pathways program were planted as our district was facing vacancies my

00:25:52union in the district agreed that the best potential teachers were already

00:25:56hard at work in classrooms serving teachers serving children daily as

00:26:01paraprofessionals and that alleviating barriers would allow access to the

00:26:06teacher pathway the pair of pathways program became part of our contract and

00:26:10eliminated as much of the financial burden as possible ultimately making

00:26:15obtaining a degree cost-free for paraprofessionals in the program was a

00:26:19commitment multi-year commitment for teaching in Philadelphia public schools

00:26:23through the pathways program I entered the teacher residency program which

00:26:27meant I would work for one year under a mentor teacher and a title one school

00:26:31while taking coursework to obtain my master's degree in special education

00:26:34many don't understand that you're not only responsible for content but you

00:26:38also take on many roles in the classroom based on the needs of your students all

00:26:41starting with a salary of around $45,000 teachers are constantly putting

00:26:46money back into the classroom for everything from school supplies the

00:26:51stacks for hungry children and just a school year alone I've spent over a

00:26:55thousand dollars on those things just so that I can be effective at what I do

00:27:00even as a teacher I still have an additional part-time job on top of

00:27:05personal monetary contributions for teachers in special education there's

00:27:09also hours of paperwork that cannot possibly be completed during the work

00:27:12day if we're expected to actually teach and work with our students according to

00:27:18a report in 2023 the PA needs teachers it's stated that there are 2015 teacher

00:27:25vacancies this means that Philadelphia is facing a severe shortage and at the

00:27:30start of the next school year there will be a hundred paraprofessionals who have

00:27:33gone through the pathways program if there's no steady pipeline of teachers

00:27:38coming in from outside of this program things won't change in a profession as a

00:27:42teacher I wake up every day and make a choice to be in an urban educator in a

00:27:46district where many of the school buildings are crumbling from decades of

00:27:49deferred maintenance and have issues with asbestos and where many of my

00:27:52students have the first needs I hope that school districts look at the

00:27:55success of the pathways program and decide to invest in school employees

00:27:59grow your own programs and I also hope that the federal government can make

00:28:03providing funding for those programs a priority and invest in teachers like

00:28:08Senator Sanders pay our teachers at proposes with a starting salary of

00:28:12$60,000 other countries take their education seriously and they value their

00:28:17educators so I hope that you guys in Congress who are the policymakers and

00:28:22shape education in America can do the same thank you for letting me share my

00:28:25experience with the committee today and I appreciate it thank you mr. keys for

00:28:31all that you're doing in your testimony our next witness is dr. William Kerwin

00:28:35the Chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland and the

00:28:39former chair of the Maryland Commission on innovation and excellence in

00:28:42education dr. Kerwin thanks very much for being with us committee members I'm

00:28:50grateful for the opportunity to discuss the recently enacted pre k-12 education

00:28:56reform legislation in Maryland entitled the blueprint for Maryland's future the

00:29:02blueprint is a multi-year comprehensive plan that addresses all aspects of

00:29:07children's education from birth to high school completion including most

00:29:12especially the recruitment retention and compensation of high quality teachers to

00:29:18understand the magnitude and rationale of the changes called for in the

00:29:22blueprint I need to take you back to the fall of 2016 when the governor and

00:29:27General Assembly asked me to chair a 27 member Commission the Commission on

00:29:32innovation and excellence in education the charge of the Commission was bold

00:29:37make recommendations so that Maryland's pre-k through 12 system will perform as

00:29:43well as the top performing school systems in the world the Commission

00:29:47spent three years examining in great depth the elements of several of the

00:29:52world's highest performing school systems including Finland Shanghai China

00:29:57Singapore and Ontario Canada these systems all scored at or near the top on

00:30:03international student assessments and almost all of their students completed a

00:30:08rigorous course of high school study during the Commission's work we

00:30:12discovered a remarkable thing even though the high-performing systems we

00:30:17studied were on three different continents and operated in various

00:30:21economic political and cultural context they all adhered to five basic

00:30:27principles that led to their success first invest in early childhood

00:30:33development and education second prepare compensate and treat teachers like true

00:30:40professionals third develop a fully aligned periodically updated and

00:30:45rigorous k-12 instructional system fourth invest significantly in students

00:30:52needing the most support to be successful and fifth require a high

00:30:58degree of accountability at the school level these principles became the five

00:31:02pillars of the Commission's recommendations our recommendations

00:31:07were sent to the General Assembly incorporated into the blueprint for

00:31:11Maryland's future legislation and enacted in 2021 in my written testimony

00:31:16I briefly described the elements of the five pillars on how they were built

00:31:20through the extensive research we did on high-performing systems internationally

00:31:26given the focus of this hearing I'll restrict my oral comments to the

00:31:30blueprints pillar to high quality teacher recruitment and retention the

00:31:36Commission observed that in every country is studied with high-performing

00:31:41school systems teaching is a well-regarded and well-compensated

00:31:45profession that attracts talent similar to others that high-status professions

00:31:50in these countries their teacher preparation programs are rigorous and

00:31:55certification standards are high moreover teachers are treated as true

00:31:59professionals they are given a significant degree of classroom

00:32:02autonomy and actively engage in research on upgrading curricula and

00:32:08improving pedagogy pillar two of the blueprint is built on the strategies

00:32:12embraced by these high-performing systems Maryland's teacher preparation

00:32:17programs are in the process of upgrading the rigor of their curriculum and the

00:32:21State Department of Education is raising certification standards the blueprints

00:32:26principle for teacher compensation is that as professionals teachers should be

00:32:32compensated at the same level as other professionals requiring similar levels

00:32:38of education such as architects and CPAs based on a comparison of starting

00:32:44salaries in these similar professions as the chairman said the blueprint sets the

00:32:49starting salary for all teachers at $60,000 no later than July 1 2026 we are

00:32:57delighted to see that the pay teachers act independently reached the same

00:33:03conclusion on compensation levels for teachers however the blueprint goes much

00:33:08further in addressing compensation and the work environment for teachers to

00:33:12ensure high quality teachers are incentivized to stay in the classroom

00:33:16the blueprint includes a career ladder for teachers modeled on what we learned

00:33:21from the high-performing systems the career ladder has multiple rungs of

00:33:25advancement and compensation based on a teacher's classroom success with

00:33:29students to be in state to be and stay on the career ladder a teacher must be

00:33:35board certified by the National Board for professional teaching standards there

00:33:40is ample research based evidence that board certification improves a teacher's

00:33:45classroom effectiveness the blueprint provides an annual $10,000 bonus for

00:33:52board certification teachers can also earn an additional $7,000 annually for

00:33:59teaching in schools serving communities with a high concentration of poverty

00:34:03with the blueprint successful teachers could earn six-figure salaries after a

00:34:10half dozen years in the profession a US Department of Ed National Survey showed

00:34:15that Maryland led the nation in the increase of students entering teacher

00:34:19preparation programs an encouraging sign that the blueprint strategies for

00:34:25treating teachers as true professionals are already having an impact

00:34:29Mr. Chairman if you will permit me I'll conclude with this thought as you have

00:34:34noted one of our nation's most significant challenges today is the

00:34:39declining quality of pre-k through 12 education student absenteeism is at an

00:34:44all-time high and teacher shortages are at crisis levels in both states our

00:34:49nation's students do not perform well on international assessments alarm bells

00:34:54should be ringing across the country our nation simply can't sustain its global

00:34:59leadership in the decades to come if our children don't have access to an

00:35:04education at the level presently offered in other advanced countries the

00:35:10blueprints goal is to ensure that Maryland's children receive as good an

00:35:14education as students anywhere else in the world and the state has made a

00:35:18remarkable commitment to achieve that in we hope the blueprint will become a

00:35:22model for other states to emulate our nation's children need and deserve no

00:35:28less thank you very much. Thank you, Senator Cassidy you want to introduce

00:35:36your panelists? It's my privilege to introduce our fourth witness Mr. Robert

00:35:46Pondicio. Mr. Pondicio is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute on

00:35:51their education policy team he left his career in journalism to become a fifth

00:35:55grade teacher at a struggling school in the South Bronx now he's a recognized

00:35:58and respected expert in curriculum teaching and school choice we're

00:36:03thankful to have your perspective today sir please. Thank you, Senator. Chairman

00:36:07Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, and distinguished members of the committee

00:36:10thank you for inviting me to discuss the challenges faced by America's classroom

00:36:14teachers I'm Robert Pondicio a senior fellow in education policy at the

00:36:18American Enterprise Institute it is truly an honor to be here. In 2002 as

00:36:23Senator Cassidy mentioned I left a career in publishing and I took an 80

00:36:27percent pay cut to teach fifth grade in a South Bronx public school I did this

00:36:32willingly even proudly I wasn't thinking about what I would make I was thinking

00:36:37I'd make a difference when I reflect on my days in the classroom and teaching as

00:36:41a profession I don't think about paychecks staffing or per pupil funding I

00:36:46think about the things that get in the way of teachers success teachers are

00:36:51told they must know the why behind every decision we make in the classroom if we

00:36:56expect higher pay to improve student outcomes if that is the why then I fear

00:37:01we'll be disappointed higher pay does not or ease the burden we place on

00:37:05teachers or add hours to their day the problem we seldom discuss is that we

00:37:10have made teaching too hard for mere mortals teaching is the easiest job in

00:37:15the world to do badly it's the hardest job to do well make no mistake America's

00:37:20teachers most of the four million men and women who do it full-time strive to

00:37:24excel this is a struggling school and you will meet people who are trying hard

00:37:28but failing so I'd like to focus on some of the factors behind those

00:37:32failures the factors that lead to teacher frustration and burnout and that

00:37:37higher pay will not change poor teacher preparation deteriorating classroom

00:37:42conditions shoddy curriculum and the quasi therapeutic roles teachers are now

00:37:47expected to play in addition to their core academic roles bluntly we are

00:37:52asking teachers to do too many things for them to do any of them well the US

00:37:58already spends significantly more per student than the OECD average yet

00:38:02student achievement remains static as Senator Cassidy pointed out despite

00:38:06increased spending and staffing a recent Pew Research Center survey found that

00:38:1184% of teachers feel there isn't enough time to complete their work 68% feel

00:38:16their jobs are overwhelming nearly half of new teachers leave the classroom

00:38:22within five years no profession sends its people to work more poorly prepared

00:38:27than education that same Pew poll found that only 36% of teachers feel they have

00:38:32the resources they need and only one-third are satisfied with their

00:38:36training or professional development opportunities the former head of the

00:38:39National Council on teacher quality Kate Walsh criticized the inadequate

00:38:43preparation of teachers she likened it to a hazing ritual and invariably the

00:38:48teachers who struggle the most or in front of the students who can afford it

00:38:51the least when the teacher is unprepared forced to learn on the job and

00:38:56struggling students do not get a do-over they only fall further behind

00:39:01why do good teachers leave primarily it's not the pay student behavior is out

00:39:07of control creating intolerable classroom conditions that drive teachers

00:39:10away a 2022 National Education Association poll showed that nearly half

00:39:16of all teachers plan to quit due to school climate and safety an Ed Week

00:39:21survey last year found over 70% of teachers reported increased disruptive

00:39:26behavior since 2019 a shocking 40% of teachers have faced physical violence

00:39:32from students Louisiana's state superintendent of education Cade Brumley

00:39:37recently advocated for removing habitually disruptive students from

00:39:41classrooms to allow teachers to teach and students to learn that view is

00:39:45refreshing but rare teachers often find themselves blamed for student

00:39:50misbehavior told that more engaging lessons would prevent student

00:39:53disruption another under-discussed issue is curriculum a RAND study found

00:39:58that nearly all teachers in America create or select their own instructional

00:40:02materials spending hours each week that could be better used analyzing student

00:40:06work giving feedback building relationships with students and parents

00:40:10or developing their own expertise social and emotional learning has added another

00:40:14layer of responsibility for teachers who are now expected to act as something

00:40:19like therapists and social workers teachers may be unqualified or unsuited

00:40:23for these responsibilities with potential negative consequences for

00:40:27students the inconvenient fact is that we need four million men and women to

00:40:33staff America's public school classrooms a number that large means that by

00:40:37definition they will be ordinary people not Saints not superstars improving

00:40:42outcomes not a little but by a lot requires making the job doable by the

00:40:47teachers we have not the teachers we wish we had so by all means raise

00:40:52teacher pay but do not assume that it will solve teacher shortages or keep

00:40:56good teachers in the classroom poor training deteriorating classroom

00:41:00conditions shoddy curriculum and spiraling demands have made an already

00:41:04challenging job nearly impossible to do well and sustainably good teachers

00:41:10deserve our thanks our praise and to make a decent living more importantly

00:41:16they deserve the opportunity to make a difference thank you I would like to

00:41:23now introduce our fifth witness miss Nicola Neely miss Neely is the president

00:41:28and founder of parents defending education a national grassroots

00:41:32nonprofit empowering parents to advocate for classrooms that educate she's a

00:41:38leader in the parents right movement and founded speech first a national campus

00:41:42free speech organization I chuckled when I read that you're also the mother of

00:41:46two school-age children I told folks my hair turned gray when my daughters

00:41:49became two teenagers so they look better than I do we're also grateful to have

00:41:55you here with us today to share what parents are concerned about when it

00:41:58comes to their children's education miss Neely chairman Sanders ranking member

00:42:05Cassidy and distinguished members of the committee thank you for inviting me

00:42:08today we are grateful that the committee has finally turned its attention to

00:42:11education America faces a lost generation of students who were

00:42:14negatively impacted by decisions made during the pandemic NAEP scores have

00:42:18shown the proficiency levels and core subjects fell precipitously due to

00:42:21school closures so today's hearing is a bit of a mystery because the issues the

00:42:25parents care about are not the ones that are being discussed today families worry

00:42:29about the quality of their children's education 2023 NAEP scores dropped

00:42:33across the country at all grade levels in Vermont eighth grade math proficiency

00:42:37dropped 11 points down to 27 percent in Pennsylvania it dropped 12 points to 27

00:42:42percent and in Oklahoma it dropped 10 points only 16 percent of children are

00:42:46proficient in math but that's not all in students in America they cannot read in

00:42:51Virginia only 32 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading in

00:42:54Minnesota only 30 percent of eighth graders are and in New Mexico only 18

00:42:58percent of eighth graders are yet districts are eliminating advanced

00:43:02classes in the name of equity claiming that gifted and talented programs are

00:43:05racist if enrollment doesn't mirror community demographics in schools where

00:43:09AP classes have been eliminated parents have watched their children regress to

00:43:12the level of their least able classmate brilliant students are discouraged from

00:43:16getting too far ahead because inequity perpetuates systemic racism hard work

00:43:20objectivity and self-reliance are traits that made the American economy the envy

00:43:24of the world yet now those characteristics are derided as white

00:43:27supremacy kids are in school for approximately seven hours each day but

00:43:31instead of using that time to address learning loss it's spent on identity

00:43:34politics in Lawrence Kansas elementary school students marched to celebrate

00:43:37Black Lives Matter at school week at a school where only 32 percent of children

00:43:41are proficient in math in Appleton Wisconsin teachers were given resources

00:43:45recommending that students do privilege walks in a district for only 38 percent

00:43:48of middle schoolers are proficient in reading and math America's education

00:43:52system is failing the very students it was designed to serve trust between

00:43:56parents and districts has shattered for decades public schools have operated in

00:44:01loco parentis and administrators worked with families in the best interest of

00:44:04students pandemic error closures fractured this bond it's hard to say

00:44:08that districts prioritize learning when groups like the Chicago's Teachers Union

00:44:11asserted that the push to reopen schools was rooted in racism sexism and

00:44:15misogyny and the head of the LA Teachers Union said there is no such thing as

00:44:19learning loss our kids didn't lose anything it's okay that our babies may

00:44:22not have learned their timetables they learned resilience they know the words

00:44:25insurrection and coup but there has been a shift away from partnering with

00:44:29families to working against families consider parental exclusion policies

00:44:33which explicitly state the parents don't have the right to know their child's

00:44:36gender identity at school PDE has identified nearly 1,100 districts around

00:44:40the country with these policies impacting over 11.4 million children

00:44:43although framed as a safety issue school officials are already mandatory

00:44:47reporters if an employee thinks at a school that is the student is in danger

00:44:50they are legally obligated to file a report America spends billions of

00:44:54dollars on mental health perhaps teachers shouldn't tell children that

00:44:57mommy and daddy won't love them if they change genders and that the solution is

00:45:00to lead a double life another area of concern is school safety CDC data shows

00:45:04a rise in drug overdose deaths among adolescents between 2019 and 2021 well

00:45:09another report suggests that 20 to 30 non-fatal overdoses occur for every

00:45:12death in Massachusetts one student's kill list was swept under the rug by the

00:45:16superintendent who called for empathy for the creator of the list while

00:45:20creating an LGBTQIA plus affinity group and anti-bias training for the district

00:45:24frequently parents find out about school-based incidents by a social media

00:45:27or local news not from the schools themselves and following October 7th Jew

00:45:32hatred has swept across K to 12 schools just like on college campuses yet lesson

00:45:36plans about blood libel and swastikas on mirror go ignored this unequal

00:45:39adjudication of civil rights law threatens to undermine not only faith

00:45:42in our education system but the rule of law writ large schools don't have a

00:45:46resource issue they have an allocation issue there's a saying don't tell me

00:45:50where your priorities are show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you

00:45:53what they are education leaders routinely choose to spend money on

00:45:56programs and personnel that don't directly benefit students like Glassbrook

00:45:59Elementary in California where only 15% of students are proficient in math

00:46:03which meant $250,000 on woke kindergarten federal data shows that

00:46:07between 2000 and 2019 the student population grew 7.9 percent and the

00:46:11teacher population grew 8.7 percent yet administrators grew eighty seven point

00:46:16six percent why DEI the Heritage Foundation documented the growth of

00:46:21chief diversity officer positions in K to 12 districts finding that

00:46:24standardized test results show that achievement gaps are growing wider over

00:46:27time in districts with CDOs maybe it's not the lack of money that's the problem

00:46:32but instead how the money is being spent we want our children to stay in

00:46:36classrooms to learn how to read and write not March for climate change we

00:46:40want our children to know how to get the right answer in math class not be told

00:46:44that showing their work is white supremacy we want our children to be

00:46:48safe when we drop them off and we don't want teachers to tell them to keep

00:46:51secrets from mom and dad fixing the American education system is hard which

00:46:55is why it is essential to identify and grapple with the real problems and not

00:46:59pre-election sloganeering thank you

00:47:08thank you to all of the witnesses in one way or another you all touched on

00:47:15issues that go beyond the classroom what's going on in our country so I'd

00:47:22like to start off by asking mr. author and mr. keys and dr. Kerwin what are

00:47:31some of the realities that teachers are experiencing in the classroom how many

00:47:38of our kids are walking into school from dysfunctional families how many kids

00:47:45may be sleeping out in cars how many kids have seen violence in their

00:47:51community and with the trauma that that might bring about how many kids are

00:48:01suffering from emotional disturbances which are acting out in the classroom

00:48:04making the teachers job that much more difficult just also what it what it

00:48:10teaches around the country seeing in the classrooms chairman the answer to

00:48:16your question is too many all of your questions can be summed up by too many

00:48:20of our children are struggling too many of our families are hurting and as you

00:48:25mentioned we and was mentioned by other speakers we are understaffed under

00:48:30resourced and and under prepared to deal with this moment because no one has

00:48:35experienced this moment in history before nobody has learned how to teach

00:48:39during a pandemic in in in our country's history we didn't know what we

00:48:44were doing but we did it anyway and we got it done and every teacher right now

00:48:47who is a in the classroom who taught through the pandemic we're not just

00:48:51teachers anymore we're survivors and as we try to give each other grace as we

00:48:56deal with these large issues and try to figure out how it is that we best come

00:48:59through this I I think that the the strongest show of support that we could

00:49:06make to our classroom teachers and our students and our parents and our

00:49:10families is just to recognize we're doing something unprecedented and as we

00:49:16do that we're gonna fumble we're gonna try but you cannot do something

00:49:20remarkable if you're under-resourced we do need more tools and more means of

00:49:26making this happen he's what our teachers in the classroom in Philadelphia

00:49:30singing their kids kids coming in well fed etc I'll have to agree with much of

00:49:37what mr. author said not only are they coming to school no they're coming to

00:49:43school from traumatic experiences traumatic backgrounds and a lot of a lot

00:49:50of the issue has to do with things that they see in their environment and a lot

00:49:55of what they see in their environment has to do what they see in society

00:50:00things like black lives matter and racism and all those kind of things I

00:50:04spent a year working with high school autistic support students with autism

00:50:10and it just baffled me how aware they were about the political climate and

00:50:18just things that are going on because I normally work with younger kids so some

00:50:25of the questions that they came to me with and some of their concerns were

00:50:28very adult and had to do with racism it had to do with gun laws it had to do

00:50:37with elections there were these things and those things weigh heavily on them

00:50:43okay let me jump to thank you let me jump to dr. Kerwin congratulations for

00:50:48doing what we don't do enough in this country and looked what's working in

00:50:52other countries around the world you mentioned early childhood yes education

00:50:59it's one of the five principles right the general assumption is that in a

00:51:05nation where most working-class people mom and dad are both working what is the

00:51:11quality of early childhood education that allows kids to do well in the first

00:51:14grade in this country right now senator can I tell you what we're doing in

00:51:22Maryland now through the blueprint on this very what did you see I mean what I

00:51:26want to know is our kids mom and dad have to work yes despite some people

00:51:32thought that we're the envy of the world economically 60% of our people living

00:51:36paycheck to paycheck struggling to put bread and food on the table right all

00:51:41right is how a child care system in this country providing well for the kids

00:51:46enabling them to do well as they enter school no it is not what are you doing

00:51:51about it in Maryland well it's a very important component of the blueprint is

00:51:56pillar one of the blueprint and so we've we've done a number of things we've

00:52:01created and expanded centers around the state that work with low-income parents

00:52:10from zero to three on issues of nutrition child rearing child

00:52:18development we've also as part of the blueprint created free full-day high

00:52:26quality preschool for all low-income children and that we've we've seen

00:52:34already received that people taking advantage oh absolutely and we accept

00:52:40the yes they indeed they are and we've seen already in our assessments of at

00:52:45kindergarten level our children ready to learn a significant increase in Maryland

00:52:51because of these preschools you know what has another benefit not just for

00:52:56the children when there is free full-day preschool available parents can work and

00:53:03it has a it has it a benefit for the family beyond just the development of

00:53:09the child that's a very important point senator custody just to make the point

00:53:15because people have spoken about children not being able to being hungry

00:53:19or not having glasses that sort of thing but I will point out that we have a

00:53:24federal programs which provide free lunch and breakfast for high poverty

00:53:29districts and there is the early and periodic screening diagnosis and

00:53:33prevention program part of Medicaid which screens provision I'm not

00:53:39minimizing the challenges but I'd also don't want to ignore that which has

00:53:42already been done and dr. crow and I know you we both know that Maryland has both

00:53:47these programs miss Neely look at that spending is way up relative to inflation

00:53:55oh I should also say I asked unanimous consent to enter into the record a

00:54:00report from the Illinois policy showing that Chicago public school spending has

00:54:04increased 97% while student achievement has dropped by 63% in reading and 78% in

00:54:11math miss Neely look at that how do we begin to restore the trust when folks

00:54:22say we need to spend more money but we see so much more money being spent and

00:54:25yet scores are falling well let's remember that this illustrious body

00:54:30spend 187 billion dollars in the wake of the pandemic to address learning loss in

00:54:34the state of Wisconsin twenty eight point two percent more than one out of

00:54:38every four dollars of Wisconsin s or money was allocated towards new

00:54:41additions or renovations despite that not addressing learning loss when all

00:54:45those bills were passed I think many parents myself included assume that would

00:54:48be to help reopen schools for masks for air purifiers for sanitation that is not

00:54:53what that s or money was spent on it was spent on pet projects it was spent

00:54:56on social emotional learning was done on things like that and in many cases

00:54:59districts did not open children in inner cities were set back years and years and

00:55:04years I mean I remember seeing from Virginia one of the Virginia's Education

00:55:07Association speakers said that the nice thing about this is that everyone went

00:55:11back equally that's not true everyone wasn't set back equally by the pandemic

00:55:15those who were more set back were families that didn't have the time or

00:55:18resources to help their children read to pay for tutors or things like that this

00:55:22hurt this disproportionately hurt low-income students more than anyone

00:55:25else you have more money that has been thrown at schools they can't spend it

00:55:28fast enough all this s or money is running out at the end of the September

00:55:31and yet now we still see teacher shortages let's talk about in Hertford

00:55:35they're about to lay off 300 teachers in San Diego they just laid off 234 and

00:55:39announcing that they're laying off 60 more there are teachers coming out of

00:55:42our ears they're not in the right places right now so we don't have a teacher

00:55:46shortage we have an allocation issue and that is what is hugely concerning

00:55:49particularly when we look at the fact that our children cannot read they are

00:55:52not thriving they are doing very very badly mr. Bundy's you're not in your

00:56:01head yes as she spoke what would you add to her comments as a former teacher now

00:56:08policy advocates I remember my first days in the policy world and it was a

00:56:14surprise to me then and still is how little those of us who think of

00:56:19ourselves as policymakers spend thinking about what kids do all day curriculum

00:56:24instruction school culture perhaps it's because I'm a former teacher those are

00:56:28the that's the focus of my work and I think that is we give insufficient

00:56:32attention to that I would call your attention to a remarkable series of

00:56:38reports over the last couple of years produced by a woman named Emily Hanford

00:56:40of American public media who has documented the frankly appalling way

00:56:46that we teach reading to children in America and it's fascinating because it

00:56:52real it says something about our expert class it says something about teacher

00:56:56training that we know how to do this we've trained teachers badly her reports

00:57:01were called hard words and sold as please it seems as if you were indicting

00:57:06teacher training very much so that universities colleges are doing a poor

00:57:13job of preparing teachers no question classroom no question is there a

00:57:20statistical relationship between some universities and their Department of

00:57:24Education's and poor performance by their graduates in certain school I'm

00:57:28sure there is but I think the perhaps the at the risk of painting with too

00:57:33broad of a brush the the larger problem is that I'm not sure that our colleges

00:57:38of education view it as their job to train teachers in in my written

00:57:43testimony I'm sorry that just strikes me as odd yes it that's correct senator it

00:57:47should strike you as odd in other words they may be more concerned with your

00:57:50professional disposition and with theory as opposed to the practical means of

00:57:57controlling a classroom of curriculum of instruction and in my limited time mr.

00:58:01keys points out that some of the kids do present with emotional disorder etc

00:58:05you point out that teachers are being asked to wear many hats and so therefore

00:58:09distracts them from their primary function but granted that some kids now

00:58:14granted maybe the kids who are from a poorer background what do we do about

00:58:19that kind of set of issues that are there and I don't want to diminish the

00:58:24reality of that senator it's absolutely a fact the question that we seldom ask

00:58:28is why is it or why are we asking what in many cases is the poorest performing

00:58:33institution in a community to do more to be a social services provider to to you

00:58:40know to to provide services beyond their core function in other words are there

00:58:45other other other NGOs are there other organizations in a stressed out

00:58:49community that would be better better suited to be a mental health provider to

00:58:53be a social services provider than asking putting all of this on the back

00:58:56of our school-based clinic with mental health professionals embedded within a

00:58:59school with a high need would be a better alternative than asking teachers

00:59:02to do that that's complicated whether it should be based in the school again the

00:59:06need is real whether you want a low-functioning institution with all

00:59:10respect to be the the service provider and supervise and hold that service

00:59:15accountable is the question to be asked thank you senator Baldwin thank you I

00:59:22want to thank you all for appearing here today and especially to our teachers on

00:59:27the panel you do the essential work of educating our children oftentimes doing

00:59:33whatever it takes to ensure that your students have access to the information

00:59:37and materials that they need to learn but we know that comes at a cost and we

00:59:43need to make more investments in you our nation's educators Wisconsin is facing

00:59:49what our state superintendent of public instruction dr. Jill under Lee has

00:59:54referred to as an education workforce in crisis the Wisconsin Department of

00:59:59Public Instruction recently released their annual report on educator

01:00:03preparation and workforce in our state this year's report found that we have

01:00:08shortcomings including with teacher retention four out of every ten teachers

01:00:13either leave the profession or leave the state in their first six years this

01:00:19shortage of teachers is especially pronounced when it comes to special

01:00:23education teachers seventy-four percent of the schools in Wisconsin state that

01:00:30they have one or more vacancies for a special education educator and more than

01:00:35a third of those schools were not able to find a teacher to fill that vacancy

01:00:42dr. Curran I want to thank you for your testimony educators are the key in

01:00:48school factor for student success and I appreciate your testimonies focus on the

01:00:53need to support and pay them accordingly I want to focus on the fourth pillar of

01:00:59Maryland's plan related to investments in students from low-income families and

01:01:04multilingual learners and students with disabilities last year the House

01:01:11education appropriations bill crafted by the House Republicans would have cut

01:01:17federal education investment by 80% for title 1a that's a program that's

01:01:24intended to provide extra support to schools serving low-income students it

01:01:30also proposed eliminating the 890 million dollar title 3 program that

01:01:36supports multilingual learners and it proposed cutting two billion dollars

01:01:42for the supporting effective instruction state grant program this year their

01:01:49planned cuts to non-defense spending looks likely to produce a bill that does

01:01:54much of the same that I just described them drafting last year so does this

01:01:58sound like the approach of the high-performing systems that the

01:02:02Commission reviewed and what would be the ramifications and can you say

01:02:08something about the government buy-in in those other countries Finland Singapore

01:02:12in Canada for their high-performing systems yes thank you senator Baldwin

01:02:20for that that question as you noted one of the principles that we discovered in

01:02:28these high-performing systems is the investment they make in students with

01:02:35the greatest need and including most especially students coming from low

01:02:40income families and so that's why the blueprint has really focused on what we

01:02:49call community schools we a community school in Maryland is one that is

01:02:54serving 55% or more low-income students and these these schools get

01:03:02significantly extra funding for tutors for after-school academic program

01:03:09programming for summer academic program they have extras health services in the

01:03:15school they have a coordinator who can connect children in those schools with

01:03:20the social services in the in the region and so it's it's our recognition

01:03:27that we need to concentrate resources on on these kids that are growing up in

01:03:34very difficult circumstances and so any kind of reduction in title one funding

01:03:39would just in my mind exacerbate the problems we're facing thank you

01:03:45mr. keys as communities grapple with the shortage of teachers more schools

01:03:51are establishing so-called grow your own programs these programs are often folks

01:03:57focused on either introducing and encouraging high school students to

01:04:01pursue the field of education or providing programs focused on helping

01:04:06individuals already in the profession such as para educators and substitute

01:04:11teachers gaining teachers licenses you have a remarkable story on how you came

01:04:17to the education profession starting as a school bus attendant I understand you

01:04:22worked as a paid teacher resident while earning your teaching credential and

01:04:26master's degree in special education can you explain the paraprofessional to

01:04:32teacher program you participated in and the benefits of these grow your own

01:04:36programs and how the federal government can better support these programs the

01:04:42paraprofessional to teacher program that I was a part of it's called para

01:04:47pathways pretty much what it does is open up the pathway to teach into the

01:04:55paraprofessional staff many of whom like myself have been working in that

01:05:00paraprofessional position for years I was a paraprofessional for 16 years and

01:05:05what it does is it looks at the paraprofessionals based on their level

01:05:13of schooling if you got some credits college credits you start off on this

01:05:18one if you got a bachelor's you start here if you got an associates you start

01:05:22here I went through the residency program because I had my bachelor's and

01:05:26what that did was that put me in a position to work under a mentor teacher

01:05:31for a whole school year meaning I didn't have to do any student teaching I didn't

01:05:35have to have a period of time where I was without pay and to me the benefit of

01:05:41that was I got to learn the ins and outs of the paperwork side of it because

01:05:48when you're working in education and when you work with children every day

01:05:51regardless of if you're certified or not you know how to teach you know how to be

01:05:57there for your students on every level from bus attendant to paraprofessional

01:06:01you work with these kids every day you know what you're doing what that

01:06:06pathways program does is give gives an insight on what it takes to deliver the

01:06:14curriculum what it takes to be effective at the way that you deliver the

01:06:20curriculum what it takes to understanding the for me the special

01:06:25education laws and the ins and outs of what it is to be a special educator it

01:06:32also gives you a kind of inside look on some of the different challenges that

01:06:38you're gonna face when going into the classroom now with that pair of

01:06:44pathways program some of the people who were in the residency portion didn't go

01:06:48through their pathways program there were people coming from corporate

01:06:51America coming from the military because this debt residency program is

01:06:55open to anyone that wants to be a teacher and what I realized and what my

01:07:01school Temple University realized that a lot of the people coming from outside of

01:07:07education they don't have a clue what it's like in the classroom and some of

01:07:14them didn't even make it through the program and some of them made it through

01:07:18the program but once they got in the classroom on their own they didn't make

01:07:23it we have some who quit less than a year in so I think for me the grow your

01:07:30own type of program you have people who have been doing the job you have people

01:07:35who want to do the job the only thing that's holding them back is the

01:07:39financial part I know myself would help me back years from going back to school

01:07:45was the financial aspect of it was going into debt like I said as a as a

01:07:49classroom assistant $16,000 is what you start with 30 is what you end with me

01:07:54looking at that and everything else that I have to do rent food taking care of

01:07:58myself paying for school was like can't do that but with with this program it

01:08:05makes it accessible it makes it something it can happen I mean it's

01:08:13wonderful it's wonderful we got a hundred people who have gone through

01:08:18this program as a fall and more and more are interested every day because they

01:08:23see they see the need for high quality teachers and they see that it's time for

01:08:28them to step up to the plate and be that high quality teacher and also another

01:08:35aspect that a program that hopefully will start to come to fruition is to

01:08:40start recruiting in high school recruiting some of the people who are in

01:08:44high school that may be interested in education having them start as

01:08:48paraprofessionals just so that they know what it's like to be in the classroom

01:08:52environment they know what it's like to teach mr. keys if I could ask you to

01:08:55summarize what you're well over time oh my babe that's my that's my thing and I

01:09:01love this program I let you because I'm really interested in this thank you and

01:09:06thanks to all the witnesses this is a really important topic I think I have

01:09:09some Virginia teachers in the room maybe some from Fairfax they recently had a

01:09:13collective bargaining vote but I applaud you on the title of this hearing as long

01:09:21the piece I'm interested in is his teacher shortages and everything that

01:09:24contributes to them and you've all talked a little bit about that my wife is a

01:09:28member of the Virginia State Board of Education appointed by the governor to

01:09:32oversee k-12 schooling in Virginia she's the last one on the board appointed by

01:09:37a Democratic governor everyone else on the board is appointed by the current

01:09:40Republican governor but I can tell you the one nonpartisan issue they grapple

01:09:44with his teacher shortages all over the Commonwealth all over the Commonwealth

01:09:49particularly in high poverty schools there was a study in UVA out of UVA this

01:09:55spring 80% of all vacant positions were in the 20% of schools with the greatest

01:10:01number of vacancies and those schools tend to be high poverty schools which

01:10:05tend to be either within central cities or in rural Virginia some of the

01:10:09shortages are acute in some areas special ed is a topical area where the

01:10:14shortages are acute but they're generally acute in high poverty schools

01:10:18the students who most need good teachers in the classroom are the students likely

01:10:22to be in schools with high numbers of vacancies and I think you've all done a

01:10:25good job of kind of explaining some of the challenges one thing that was not

01:10:29mentioned that I do think should be mentioned as teachers fears for their

01:10:32own safety some of you touched upon it but no one mentioned gun violence nobody

01:10:37mentioned gun violence teachers do active shooter drills with their kids

01:10:42that wasn't the case when I was in school it wasn't really the case with my

01:10:45kids we're in the rich and public schools it's the norm now and a teacher

01:10:49said to me recently we all do a moment of silence now and I don't know what the

01:10:55kids are thinking about but I know what every adult in a school is thinking

01:10:59about during the moment of silence and it's let today not be the day let today

01:11:05not be the day and that's got to be daunting for teachers and other adults

01:11:10who work in school systems just like it's daunting for parents my kids went

01:11:15to a you know an urban school system probably 90% free and reduced lunch I

01:11:20didn't worry when I dropped them off in the morning about picking them up at the

01:11:25end of the day I didn't worry about it and they they finished school just 15

01:11:29years ago but this is something that parents worrying about now teachers

01:11:33worry about now kids worry about now I was going to ask that question mr. keys

01:11:37about the the pathway program because I think that really is a solution senator

01:11:43Collins and I have a bill called the prep act that looks at grow your own

01:11:46because if somebody has been a paraprofessional in a school system and

01:11:50has demonstrated the ability to compassionately deal with all kinds of

01:11:53students but they don't have the credential yet to be a teacher you know

01:11:57they're gonna be a successful teacher if you can get them to that credential

01:12:00so I'm a big supporter of programs like the one you describe and we do have

01:12:04bipartisan legislation to try to advance that here mr. Arthur I wanted to ask you

01:12:08about a part of your background which was national teacher certification dr.

01:12:12Kerwin talked a little bit about this my experience in Virginia but I'm wondering

01:12:17about the Utah experiences every once in a while in Virginia we would do a one

01:12:22time bonus for people that got national teacher certification but then if the

01:12:26budget was bad next year it would disappear so you wouldn't get a

01:12:29continued salary bump and the person who wanted to get board certified next year

01:12:34wouldn't have that incentive to do it I I think while while teacher salary is

01:12:39something that is primarily a state and local responsibility I think it could at

01:12:44the federal level be a federal thing we're talking about national

01:12:48certification if we wanted a high percentage of our teachers to have

01:12:51national certification that could be something at the federal level that

01:12:54would be smart to incentivize talk a little bit about were you incentivized

01:12:58in Utah to do this did you just take it on because you wanted to do it what was

01:13:02the Utah program under which you became certified and did it increase your

01:13:06salary absolutely senator I receive a stipend every year both from my district

01:13:12in my state when I first went through national board certification I did so

01:13:18just because I wanted to be better for children I was motivated by what I was

01:13:22seeing in the classrooms of national board certified teachers but when

01:13:26someone told me I would get paid more okay all right that's nice I won't have

01:13:29to ask my wife so much for money and and it's not it's not much it's not enough

01:13:35right now to move people into this I get about roughly in Utah about four

01:13:40thousand dollars extra year or every year because I teach in a title one

01:13:44school and I teach in the district that supports that but not all districts do

01:13:48states have different programs for this so if there was a way to make sure that

01:13:52teachers across our country were all incentivized to become the most

01:13:56accomplished educator that they could be the benefits to our children the

01:14:00research shows would be profound and dr. Kerwin again remind me of in the

01:14:04Maryland plan what do you do around board certain national board yes when a

01:14:09teacher becomes board certified they get a an increase in salary of $10,000 and

01:14:15that continues in their salary it is independent of the year that's part of

01:14:20their base as long as they are board certified so when they have to be

01:14:24renewed they they continue and senator Cain it has it's had a very interesting

01:14:30con consequence I just learned today in fact that Maryland led the nation and

01:14:37the number of teachers who got board certified last year Maryland is a small

01:14:43relatively small state six million people but it led the nation more than

01:14:48California more than New York and I think that that that salary increase has

01:14:55been as obviously played a big role in making that happen and and if I could

01:14:59it's a salary increase but it's a salary increase for doing a lot of work that

01:15:04that makes you a better teacher and the salary increase even in your case in

01:15:09Utah where it's somewhat modest it's a sign of respect it's a sign of respect

01:15:13for the profession and so I think that has a number of positives and I am now

01:15:18over time and I'm going to yield to Senator Markey thank you mr. chairman

01:15:22very much and I want to start by highlighting that I am proud of the

01:15:28Boston Public School system for their prioritizing of equity and inclusion for

01:15:35their students they aim to ensure that black and brown students have the same

01:15:39opportunities to achieve and that we address the systemic racism that plagued

01:15:45our schools nationally and they work hard to guarantee that LGBTQ kids are

01:15:52not shamed for their identity I strongly disagree the programs that aim to

01:15:57support and include students based on gender sexuality or race detract from

01:16:03student learning in fact I'm proud that Boston Public Schools look to include

01:16:08and celebrate all children because that is how we guarantee that every student

01:16:14has the opportunity to grow and to learn right now one-third of k-12 public

01:16:24school staff working full-time make less than $25,000 per year less than

01:16:31$25,000 per year one-third of those staff in public schools in our country I

01:16:40received a letter from a paraprofessional named CJ who works with

01:16:45students with autism in the Boston Public School system and is a member of

01:16:51the Boston Teachers Union CJ like far too many paraprofessionals is being

01:16:58forced to choose between the profession he is called to and basic financial

01:17:03security CJ students and their families will suffer if he has to leave the field

01:17:09of education but if CJ can't make rents or care for his elderly mother how can

01:17:16we expect him to stay in the school system we cannot expect school staff to

01:17:23keep our students safe and healthy and learning when they are paid starvation

01:17:27wages we need the pay teachers act and we need a pay paraprofessionals and

01:17:34education support staff act as well mr. keys how did your wages as a

01:17:41paraprofessional impact you and your students my wages as a paraprofessional

01:17:48how they impacted me they impact me because I needed a second job you know I

01:17:54couldn't survive off of just paraprofessional wages at 16,000 I was

01:18:00at the 30,000 when I switched over to teaching even that wasn't enough and a

01:18:06lot of my paraprofessional colleagues they're looking to other districts and

01:18:11they're seeing it there's no real difference in the pay and the things

01:18:16that they deal with they absolutely deserve to make more money paraprofess

01:18:20my paraprofessionals they run the show for me when I can't the last week of

01:18:26school they did everything because I was so swamped with paperwork they deserve

01:18:31to be paid for their paraprofessionals are teachers they're just not certified

01:18:36all of the teachers who I work with they treated me with the same level of

01:18:39respect that they wanted to be given in return so I feel as though there

01:18:45definitely should be fairness in pay when it comes to paraprofessionals

01:18:50they're just like me yeah and my first year out of college I worked for that

01:18:54whole year as a substitute teacher which is not a paraprofessional but I could

01:18:58also see how indispensable they were to making sure that my job did work mr.

01:19:05Arthur as a teacher why is it important to guarantee school buildings are as

01:19:08resilient to climate change as the resilience educators and students

01:19:13demonstrate in the face of intensifying climate crisis I apologize senator can

01:19:20you resay that question yeah what why do we need to ensure that the working

01:19:25the working conditions of teachers but also the studying conditions of students

01:19:30have healthy environments within which they will be working absolutely yeah

01:19:36unhealthy adults adults who are dealing with stress and burnout have a hard time

01:19:43helping to prepare children to be healthy going forward in life our school

01:19:49climates are beautifully determined by the school community in which those

01:19:54people work and I tell you it makes me think this graph I keep looking at it's

01:19:58not just because I teach sixth grade math it's just fascinating to me and I

01:20:01just I swear I have sharpies in my room I change graphs all the time I just wish

01:20:06I could go up to that graph cross out spending and write salaries for school

01:20:10staff and then just like leave it and watch over the next five years what

01:20:15those two colored lines do in terms of student achievement if suddenly you have

01:20:19fully staffed schools with high paid not just teachers but paraprofessionals

01:20:24school counselors and all the other people that are critical in helping to

01:20:28educate and uplift children then you will not only have better school climates

01:20:32you will have better student scores you'll have everything that we're

01:20:35looking for in education thank you yeah so no yeah you're right on the money and

01:20:41it's why it's why I introduced my preparing and retaining all educators to

01:20:48para educators bill to provide grants to schools for the types of pathway

01:20:53programs that allow school staff to grow and to thrive increased wages scholarships

01:20:59for credentialing and further education high quality professional development so

01:21:04it's just essential that every paraprofessional in every state have

01:21:08access to and financial resources for high quality career pathway programs I

01:21:14heard you mr. keys I heard what you were saying I agree with you we just have to

01:21:18focus upon the resources to make sure we get that job done

01:21:22senator Casey mr. chairman thank you very much I want to thank you in the

01:21:27ranking member for having this hearing and I know I'm running late we're all

01:21:30juggling different hearings and engagements today but I wanted to start

01:21:36with mr. keys and I really appreciate the work you're doing in Philly I wanted

01:21:43to focus on what we all would hope every student has the opportunity to experience

01:21:51which is a safe inclusive and supportive learning environment with that goal in

01:21:57mind I'm working to advance bills that will provide schools educators and

01:22:01students with the resources they need to thrive one piece of legislation I've

01:22:07introduced now for a number of years the Safe Schools Improvement Act would

01:22:11require school districts school districts to establish codes of conduct

01:22:16that specifically prohibit bullying and harassment among students which which

01:22:23supports the safety and inclusion of all children another bill I've recently

01:22:29introduced is the showing up for Students Act which will provide

01:22:32additional funding for the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of

01:22:35Education this office's mission is to ensure that all students have equal

01:22:40access to education that all students can learn in a safe and supportive

01:22:44classroom this has become especially urgent in the wake of the anti-semitism

01:22:50that we see on on campuses but it's also important every in every year every

01:22:57era when we have on whether it's a college campus or any other educational

01:23:02environment in instances of racism or anti-semitism or any kind of

01:23:09discrimination the Department of Education is charged with the

01:23:13responsibility to make a determination a very specific evidence-based fact-based

01:23:19determination as to whether or not there is a hostile environment on that

01:23:24campus or on that in that school setting for students that that Office of Civil

01:23:29Rights in no way has the resources that it needs it needs to hire in my judgment

01:23:35hundreds more to carry out its responsibility to complete the

01:23:40investigations they've already undertaken so I'll continue to fight for

01:23:44that funding and anyone who says they care about what's happening on our

01:23:48campuses should support the funding for the Office of Civil Rights so Mr. Keys

01:23:53with that predicate what resources do you need and do you feel that are

01:23:59necessary both as an educator and as a leader to ensure that all students can

01:24:03succeed especially students with disabilities in the district what

01:24:10resources do I need better training more focused training on the specific

01:24:18the specifics to the populations that we work with whether it's autism whether

01:24:24it's a child with multiple disabilities whether it's somebody who needs learning

01:24:27support there needs to be better focused training not just for teachers but for

01:24:32paraprofessional staff as well because 99% of the time we're the ones teachers

01:24:38we're the ones training our staff on how to work with these students now mind you

01:24:43we have to teach we got to maintain paperwork we have to make sure that our

01:24:48kids are happy and healthy and safe there's a lot of things under the

01:24:52umbrella for the salary that we make and most of the times you have teachers who

01:24:58are not very well seasoned and able to effectively train their paraprofessional

01:25:03staff because they've never been trained effectively themselves I was

01:25:08lucky every teacher I worked with had been there 30 29 years so I got that

01:25:13training so what I do is I pass that on to everybody who I cross paths with

01:25:17within my school even down to school climate staff which a lot of

01:25:22those were former paraprofessionals as well so that goes in tandem with what

01:25:28you said about making sure that children are safe and they fit and they're able to

01:25:32access their education and not have to deal with all of the harsh realities of

01:25:38the world that we're dealing with water in that school building I appreciate

01:25:42that and I appreciate your your leadership and the fact that you've

01:25:45served as both a teacher and a paraprofessional I think indicates your

01:25:49experience is significant I wanted to highlight that both the Philadelphia

01:25:55Federal Federation of Teachers and the district recognizes the talent and

01:26:00dedication of their paraprofessionals and they're thinking of ways to

01:26:04creatively address the teacher shortage what what aspects of the paraprofessional

01:26:10to teacher program were most helpful to you and secondly what can the federal

01:26:15government do to encourage the development of these grow your own

01:26:18programs at the local level what was most helpful to me and what's going to

01:26:24be most helpful to my colleagues is eliminating that debt that comes along

01:26:31with going back to school because again when you think about paraprofessionals

01:26:35remember there's some of the lowest paid in education they still have to survive

01:26:39out here in the world while they're trying to get to that next level of

01:26:43their career and even myself I didn't have to pay for this master's degree but

01:26:47I got two other degrees that coming soon I'm gonna have to start paying back so

01:26:53the financial aspect was the most helpful part of it and what kind of

01:26:57scares me about it is there's no guarantee that that money is going to be

01:27:01there in the future you know so I think the federal government can help by

01:27:05ensuring that there's funding for a program such as the parapath ways

01:27:10program to again promote and grow your own because you have the people there

01:27:16you have the teachers there already they just need that last bit of help thank

01:27:21you very much thank you mr. chair and thank you all for being here I'm gonna

01:27:29try and get in three questions so I'm gonna cut off the answers at about 40

01:27:33seconds famous last words dr. Kirwan you talked a little bit about learning

01:27:41things from other countries in Colorado we've worked a lot on creating

01:27:45apprenticeship programs we studied we took a whole group 50 people to

01:27:49Switzerland to study their processes how have you seen other countries use

01:27:56apprenticeships to recruit and and and maintain or retain educators senator

01:28:03Hickenlooper thank you for that question the Commission I chaired studied in

01:28:08great depth these apprenticeship programs and we're so impressed by the

01:28:13impact they're having on the economy in these countries and so we have built

01:28:20that into the blueprint the goal of the blueprint is to get as most kids to

01:28:29call career and college ready by the end of the tenth grade and then they have

01:28:34the option of three pathways one would be advanced placement another would be

01:28:41early college and a third pathway is a career and technical education pathway

01:28:47and and in this in that pathway students would be expected to complete an

01:28:53apprenticeship or some other industry certified credential experiential just

01:28:59based exactly on what we learn from these countries you know not every cop a

01:29:04kid goes needs to go to college there are wonderful jobs out there I got it I

01:29:08agree okay I'm gonna cut you off all right thank you this is the new

01:29:11Hickenlooper at the table mr. keys I think that the experience of the power

01:29:17professional and an educator a teacher is so valuable earlier this year the

01:29:23Walton Family Foundation and Gallup did a poll that showed that 48% of Gen Z

01:29:28middle and high school students feel motivated to go to school that's 48% the

01:29:37rest don't I think it's critical that kids feel inspired and motivated to go

01:29:43to school and whether you're going into an apprenticeship or to your program a

01:29:47four-year program what should we be doing to reach out to students who may

01:29:52be struggling to to find inspiration at the school where they're at how can we

01:29:58reach out to them in the first place to encourage them to consider a future

01:30:01career let's say in teaching when they're struggling in school themselves

01:30:06uh what I would say is give them options show them that it's not why they might

01:30:15be having difficulties now you provide additional supplemental support you give

01:30:20them options on what's next like okay myself I didn't go to college right out

01:30:24of high school I wish that I had someone sit down with me and explain it well you

01:30:30can do this well you can move into a technical school you can do career

01:30:35training there's so many different options out there school is hard it is

01:30:38but when you when you know you have somebody in your corner supporting you

01:30:41it makes a little less hard and it makes it makes you want to push through so to

01:30:48speak and another thing that we could do as far as recruiting those same students

01:30:54into education offering them positions starting off at the lower tiered

01:31:00education positions such as bus attendant and paraprofessional these

01:31:05allow them time to figure out what they want to do and if it's for them like it

01:31:10did for me I like it nice appreciate that thank you and the I want to talk a

01:31:20little bit about early literacy and I think this notion of how do we get the

01:31:27right guidance counselors the right support I think dr. Kirwan you're made

01:31:31that clear that that's a big part of this I look at and I have struggled when

01:31:38I was younger still struggle with dyslexia very very slow reader senator

01:31:43Cassidy and I have both worked on this in various ways I look at the the the

01:31:50recent assessment by the NAP that 33% of fourth graders were reading at grade

01:31:56level that's unacceptable and obviously several points back from where we slipped

01:32:03in the in 2019 from where we were mr. Ponder CEO what does your research

01:32:11experience tell you about why so many people are still struggling and what

01:32:17does the federal government need to do to better prepare teachers students to

01:32:24significantly improve the literacy the bad news is we've struggled to teach

01:32:28reading properly for decades the good news is we have an emerging so-called

01:32:33science of reading movement in this country which I'm encouraged by with a

01:32:39with a caveat if we have the idea that is it loose in the land that it's it's

01:32:44about phonics then then then we will fall short I like to point out that in

01:32:49my South Bronx classroom which was literally the lowest performing school

01:32:53in New York City's lowest performing district where I taught for several

01:32:56years I literally never had a single child who was a non reader they could

01:33:00all decode as we say they could kids could read they struggled with

01:33:05comprehension so I'm optimistic about the science of reading movement it

01:33:10should be encouraged at all levels of government but that's the starting line

01:33:14the decoding and phonics practices get kids to the starting line I am a

01:33:19disciple of a man named Edie Hirsch jr. who's the son of Virginia who and his

01:33:24core knowledge curriculum because that's exactly what my students in the South

01:33:29Bronx were lacking rich content in in history in art and music in literature

01:33:34etc once we get kids to the decoding science the the decoding starting line

01:33:40then it's all that rich vocabulary and content that needs to be encouraged in

01:33:44order for kids to become language proficient appreciate that not over time

01:33:48I apologize the old senator Hickenlooper no no no I was in under the wire there

01:33:54with the question all right let's thank you senator thank you senator Custer do

01:33:59you want to save yours yeah just mr. author said he would love to take this

01:34:02graph which shows spending in schools far exceeding inflation rate get scores

01:34:08going down and change it in which he would look at teacher pay I think you

01:34:14agree with miss Neely she pointed out that there's a lot of money going for

01:34:19things which seem unrelated to instruction and I and in the document

01:34:23which I submitted for adoption it points out that there's a school in Chicago 35

01:34:29students in a building which holds over 900 there's 23 staffers the average cost

01:34:36per student is $68,000 so let's assume there's two teachers there say four it's

01:34:43a lot of money and that the Union will not let them close the huge building for

01:34:48these 35 students and indeed their latest contract wants to add eight more

01:34:52staffers there'll be 33 staffers for 35 students I think that if there's a

01:34:59conclusion from this it is that there is a misallocation of dollars and if you

01:35:03want to raise teacher pay recognizing how much more spending we're doing we

01:35:06have to focus on teachers and not on things which are extraneous I do I think

01:35:17when we look at the issue of education in America and the challenges

01:35:23significant challenges we face it's also important to take a look at how as

01:35:31a nation we feel about our kids are our children a very high priority does

01:35:39anyone really think that as a nation we believe that now if we believe that we

01:35:45would not have nine million children living in poverty we would not have the

01:35:50highest rate of childhood poverty of almost many any nation on earth dr.

01:35:57Kirwan has looked at countries around the world many countries around the

01:36:01world say understand that the most important years of emotional and

01:36:06intellectual development are 0 through 5 that's what we are told by every

01:36:10psychologist who studies the issue and yet we have a child care system which a

01:36:16is unaffordable for millions of working-class families B pays child care

01:36:21workers even worse than we pay public school educators people are working for

01:36:24less than McDonald's doing some of the most important work in the country and

01:36:30yet it's dr. Kerwin mentioned there are countries around the world and perhaps

01:36:34Maryland is beginning to do that and say you know what child care is enormously

01:36:38important if kids are gonna get off to a good start in life open the doors let's

01:36:42have decent paid teachers and let's not worry about the cost of that because

01:36:47we're gonna save money long term if these kids do well in school okay so I

01:36:53think as a nation we do have to ask ourselves a fundamental question about

01:36:57our priorities if for hedge fund managers today at a time when we have

01:37:03massive income wealth inequality in America for hedge company for hedge

01:37:08company executives making more money in every kindergarten teacher in this

01:37:13country maybe there's something wrong with our national priorities this

01:37:17country does not survive unless we have the best education in the world for our

01:37:23kids we're not going to compete economically we're not going to see our

01:37:27kids flourish so I'm always impressed that when it comes to defense spending

01:37:32hey we could spend a trillion dollars a year bills come out of committee twenty

01:37:36to one no debate massive tax breaks to billionaires hey not a problem but maybe

01:37:43to address why it is that we're paying teachers in this country inadequate

01:37:49wages oh my word that's just an impossible task federal government can't

01:37:53get involved in it so I think it's time not only to take a hard look at

01:37:57education in general but to take a look at our national priorities and to take a

01:38:02look at how we treat the children of our country with that this hearing comes to

01:38:08an end any senators who wish to ask additional questions must do so by June

01:38:1327th at 5 p.m. committee stands adjourned thank you

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