HR 2021
American Teacher Act
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Bill overview
The American Teacher Act aims to improve teacher compensation by providing grants to states to establish a minimum annual salary of $60,000 for public school teachers (adjusted for inflation). It also authorizes a national campaign to promote the value of the teaching profession and encourage more people to consider teaching as a career. Furthermore, the bill provides additional grants for cost-of-living adjustments to teacher salaries, with priority given to districts serving high-poverty communities.
Key provisions
- Provides grants to states to establish a minimum annual teacher salary of $60,000 (adjusted for inflation).
- Authorizes a national campaign to promote the teaching profession and increase recruitment.
- Offers grants for cost-of-living adjustments to teacher salaries.
- Prioritizes subgrants to local educational agencies serving high-poverty schools.
- Requires states to develop a plan to maintain minimum salary levels after grant funding ends.
- Specifies that grant funds should supplement, not supplant, existing public funds for teacher salaries.
- Defines ‘qualifying school’ and ‘teacher of record’ for grant eligibility.
- Establishes a process for compliance demonstration to ensure equitable funding.
Who is affected
- Public school teachers
- State educational agencies
- Local educational agencies
- Students
- School administrators
Notable changes
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
Cosponsors
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 2021
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To provide grants to State educational agencies to support State efforts to increase teacher salaries, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the American Teacher Act
.
Congress finds the following:
What is more, teacher shortages are among the most pressing threats to education access today, with districts across the country forced to radically adjust school offerings to respond to turnover and prolonged vacancies. Every day, stories surface of schools shortening their weeks, canceling courses, increasing student-teacher ratios, and placing underprepared or temporary substitute staff in core instructional roles. Such adjustments disrupt learning, take a sustained toll on teacher morale, and harm student achievement.
The teacher wage penalty, characterizing lower weekly wages and overall compensation for teachers compared to college-educated peers in other professions, hit an all-time high of 23.5 percent in 2021 and continues to demonstrate significant, adverse impacts on teacher recruitment and retention. According to a recent report by the Teacher Salary Project, over 90 percent of teachers believe low salary contributes to shortages in their communities and over 45 percent believe their salary is insufficient for medium and long-term career sustainability.
Significant numbers of teachers report maintaining multiple jobs to make ends meet or being able to work in their profession only through the support of a partner’s higher-paying job. This instability is worse for teachers of color who are more likely to work in under-resourced schools. As a result, high-poverty communities face a compounded burden.
In August of 2022, the White House issued a fact sheet renewing attention to the weak teacher pipeline and calling upon legislators to use federal, state, and local resources to strengthen teaching career pathways and ensure competitive, livable wages. This statement accompanies efforts by twenty-five states to propose and enact legislation addressing teacher compensation since January 2021.
To restore stability in our schools and secure equitable access to high-quality education, we must raise awareness surrounding the value of teaching as a profession and provide compensation that reflects this value.
The purpose of this section is to ensure that each teacher who is employed full-time at a qualifying school in a State earns an annual salary for any year of employment of not less than $60,000 (adjusted for inflation).
From amounts made available to carry out this section, the Secretary of Education shall award 4-year grants to State educational agencies.
To be eligible to receive such a grant, the State educational agency shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including—
the plan required under subparagraph (C); and
the assurances required under subparagraph (D).
priority will be given to local educational agencies in accordance with subparagraph (E)(ii); and
the State educational agency will, upon request by the Secretary, carry out the compliance demonstration in accordance with subsection (c)(3).
For school year 2026–2027, the base minimum salary dollar amount shall be $60,000.
The base minimum salary dollar amount may be greater than the dollar amount described in paragraphs (1) or (2).
A State educational agency or local educational agency shall not reduce or adjust any teacher pay or State teacher loan forgiveness program due to the eligibility of teachers within the jurisdiction of such agency for pay supplementation under this section.
Each State educational agency and local educational agency, upon request by the Secretary, shall demonstrate that the methodology used to allocate teacher pay and State teacher loan forgiveness (if applicable) to teachers and qualifying schools ensures that each such teacher and school receives the same State and local funds for teacher compensation it would receive if this Act had not been enacted.
To be eligible to receive such a grant, the State educational agency shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including the demonstration required under subsection (d)(2).
In this section, the term eligible State means a State—
that demonstrates in the application submitted under subsection (b) that, due to inflation, such State is unable to adjust such base salary or the annual salaries of such teachers for cost-of-living.
The Secretary may reserve not more than 4 percent of the funds appropriated under section 8 to carry out a national campaign—
to increase awareness about the importance of teachers and the value of the teaching profession;
to encourage secondary school and college students to consider teaching as a professional career; and
to diversify the pool of individuals who enter the teaching profession.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter or otherwise affect the rights, remedies, and procedures afforded to school or local educational agency employees under Federal, State, or local laws (including applicable regulations, court orders, or requirements that local educational agencies negotiate or meet and confer in good faith) or under the terms of collective bargaining agreements, memoranda of understanding, or other agreements between such employers and their employees.
In this Act:
been assigned the responsibility for specified pupils’ learning in a grade, subject, or course as reflected on the school’s official record of attendance;
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.