DES MOINES, Iowa — Discussions continue on the American Teacher Act, a proposed bill that would set the national minimum wage for teachers to $60,000 per year.
Florida Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson is putting forth the bill, which would fund the increased minimum wage mainly from federal grant money.
Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association spoke with News 8's Jonathan Fong on the bill. His association represents teachers across Iowa, including some in the Quad Cities area.
Beranek said the higher wages would help remove strain on teachers who are barely getting by.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit group that looks at national economic policies, 16.3% of educators have two jobs during the school year.
"The 16.3% represents that educators are not able to meet the demands being placed on them through economic hardships and raising inflation," Beranek said. "A program like this from the federal government would be incredibly important."
Beranek added that other recent measures, like the 3% increase to Iowa's education spending that Gov. Kim Reynolds recently signed are not sufficient enough to keep up with inflation and competition in the education field.
"Continually underfunding our public schools has had and will continue to have negative consequences," he said.
Beranek also said a wage like this important, as teachers have many responsibilities.
"Educators no longer have the responsibility of just teaching children," Beranek said. "Our educators have to make sure that our students are fed, that their mental health issues are being addressed... We keep asking our employees to solve more and more problems, and we need to step back and analyze that as well because we're not providing them with the resources and help to meet all the demands that are being placed on our teachers.
The American Teacher Act would also invest in a national campaign to promote the value of teaching and encourage college students to consider teaching as a career.
The bill still needs to be considered by committees before being voted on by the House and Senate.
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