I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2021
To provide grants to State educational agencies to support State efforts
to increase teacher salaries, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH10, 2025
Ms. W
ILSONof Florida (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWN,
Mr. C
ARBAJAL, Mr. CARSON, Ms. CASTORof Florida, Mr. CASTEN, Mrs.
C
HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr.
C
LEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr.
C
UELLAR, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, Ms.
D
ELAURO, Mr. DELUZIO, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANSof
Pennsylvania, Mrs. F
OUSHEE, Mr. FROST, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr.
G
REENof Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. NORTON, Ms. HOYLE
of Oregon, Mr. J
ACKSONof Illinois, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSONof Geor-
gia, Ms. K
AMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr.
L
ANDSMAN, Mr. LIEU, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr.
M
CGOVERN, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOOREof
Wisconsin, Mr. M
OSKOWITZ, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr.
N
ORCROSS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PEREZ, Ms. PINGREE,
Mr. P
OCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROSS, Ms.
S
ALINAS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Ms. SE-
WELL, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. SORENSEN, Ms. STEVENS, Mrs. SYKES, Mr.
T
AKANO, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Ms.
T
OKUDA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, and Mr.
F
ITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To provide grants to State educational agencies to support
State efforts to increase teacher salaries, and for other
purposes.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Teacher 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Teachers are the backbone of our nation, 8
from the first bell to the last bell, they act as care-9
givers, counselors, role models, advocates, and cheer-10
leaders, helping children achieve their greatest po-11
tential. 12
(2) What is more, teacher shortages are among 13
the most pressing threats to education access today, 14
with districts across the country forced to radically 15
adjust school offerings to respond to turnover and 16
prolonged vacancies. Every day, stories surface of 17
schools shortening their weeks, canceling courses, in-18
creasing student-teacher ratios, and placing under-19
prepared or temporary substitute staff in core in-20
structional roles. Such adjustments disrupt learning, 21
take a sustained toll on teacher morale, and harm 22
student achievement. 23
(3) The teacher wage penalty, characterizing 24
lower weekly wages and overall compensation for 25
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teachers compared to college-educated peers in other 1
professions, hit an all-time high of 23.5 percent in 2
2021 and continues to demonstrate significant, ad-3
verse impacts on teacher recruitment and retention. 4
According to a recent report by the Teacher Salary 5
Project, over 90 percent of teachers believe low sal-6
ary contributes to shortages in their communities 7
and over 45 percent believe their salary is insuffi-8
cient for medium and long-term career sustain-9
ability. 10
(4) Significant numbers of teachers report 11
maintaining multiple jobs to make ends meet or 12
being able to work in their profession only through 13
the support of a partner’s higher-paying job. This 14
instability is worse for teachers of color who are 15
more likely to work in under-resourced schools. As 16
a result, high-poverty communities face a com-17
pounded burden. 18
(5) In August of 2022, the White House issued 19
a fact sheet renewing attention to the weak teacher 20
pipeline and calling upon legislators to use federal, 21
state, and local resources to strengthen teaching ca-22
reer pathways and ensure competitive, livable wages. 23
This statement accompanies efforts by twenty-five 24
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states to propose and enact legislation addressing 1
teacher compensation since January 2021. 2
(6) To restore stability in our schools and se-3
cure equitable access to high-quality education, we 4
must raise awareness surrounding the value of 5
teaching as a profession and provide compensation 6
that reflects this value. 7
SEC. 3. GRANTS TO SUPPORT STATE EFFORTS TO IN-8
CREASE TEACHER SALARIES. 9
(a) T
EACHERSALARYINCENTIVEGRANTS.— 10
(1) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this section is 11
to ensure that each teacher who is employed full- 12
time at a qualifying school in a State earns an an-13
nual salary for any year of employment of not less 14
than $60,000 (adjusted for inflation). 15
(2) G
RANTS FOR MINIMUM SALARY THRESH -16
OLD.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—From amounts made 18
available to carry out this section, the Secretary 19
of Education shall award 4-year grants to State 20
educational agencies. 21
(B) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to re-22
ceive such a grant, the State educational agency 23
shall submit an application to the Secretary at 24
such time, in such manner, and containing such 25
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information as the Secretary may require, in-1
cluding— 2
(i) the plan required under subpara-3
graph (C); and 4
(ii) the assurances required under 5
subparagraph (D). 6
(C) S
USTAINABILITY PLAN .—The Sec-7
retary shall require a State educational agency 8
submitting an application under subparagraph 9
(B) to provide a plan that demonstrates how, 10
following the conclusion of the 4-year grant pe-11
riod, such agency will continue to maintain and 12
adjust the annual base minimum salary in ac-13
cordance with subsection (b). 14
(D) R
EQUIRED ASSURANCES .—The Sec-15
retary shall require a State educational agency 16
submitting an application under subparagraph 17
(B) to provide an assurance in such application 18
that— 19
(i) if necessary to achieve the purpose 20
of this section, the State will enact and en-21
force legislation to establish a statewide 22
teacher salary schedule or otherwise to es-23
tablish minimum teacher salary require-24
ments; 25
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(ii) each teacher described in para-1
graph (1) will be compensated on a salary 2
basis at an annual rate per school year 3
that is not less than the salary threshold 4
described in subsection (b); 5
(iii) each teacher who is employed 6
part-time at a qualifying school in a State 7
will be compensated on a salary basis at an 8
annual rate per school year that is not less 9
than the salary threshold described in sub-10
section (b), proportionately reduced in ac-11
cordance with the number of hours worked 12
by such teacher; 13
(iv) priority will be given to local edu-14
cational agencies in accordance with sub-15
paragraph (E)(ii); and 16
(v) the State educational agency will, 17
upon request by the Secretary, carry out 18
the compliance demonstration in accord-19
ance with subsection (c)(3). 20
(E) S
UBGRANTS.— 21
(i) I
N GENERAL.—A State educational 22
agency awarded a grant under this section 23
shall use not less than 85 percent of the 24
grant funds to award subgrants to local 25
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educational agencies to carry out the pur-1
pose of this section. 2
(ii) P
RIORITY.—The State educational 3
agency, in allocating funds to local edu-4
cational agencies under this section, shall 5
give priority to local educational agen-6
cies— 7
(I) serving greater numbers or 8
percentages of elementary or sec-9
ondary schools receiving funds under 10
title I of the Elementary and Sec-11
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 12
U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); or 13
(II) with respect to which all of 14
the schools served by the local edu-15
cational agency are designated with a 16
locale code of 41, 42, or 43, as deter-17
mined by the Secretary. 18
(b) S
ALARYTHRESHOLD.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—For school year 2026–2027, 20
the base minimum salary dollar amount shall be 21
$60,000. 22
(2) I
NFLATION ADJUSTMENT .—For school year 23
2026–2027 and each succeeding school year, the dol-24
lar amount referred to in paragraph (1) shall be 25
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deemed to refer to the dollar amount calculated 1
under this subsection for the preceding school year, 2
increased by a percentage equal to the annual per-3
centage increase in the Consumer Price Index for All 4
Urban Consumers published by the Department of 5
Labor for the most recent calendar year. 6
(3) N
O SALARY LIMIT.—The base minimum sal-7
ary dollar amount may be greater than the dollar 8
amount described in paragraphs (1) or (2). 9
(c) S
UPPLEMENT, NOTSUPPLANT.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Grant funds received under 11
this section shall be used to supplement and not 12
supplant other Federal, State, and local public funds 13
that would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be 14
made available for teacher base salaries. 15
(2) M
AINTENANCE OF EFFORT .—A State edu-16
cational agency or local educational agency shall not 17
reduce or adjust any teacher pay or State teacher 18
loan forgiveness program due to the eligibility of 19
teachers within the jurisdiction of such agency for 20
pay supplementation under this section. 21
(3) C
OMPLIANCE DEMONSTRATION TO SEC -22
RETARY.—Each State educational agency and local 23
educational agency, upon request by the Secretary, 24
shall demonstrate that the methodology used to allo-25
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cate teacher pay and State teacher loan forgiveness 1
(if applicable) to teachers and qualifying schools en-2
sures that each such teacher and school receives the 3
same State and local funds for teacher compensation 4
it would receive if this Act had not been enacted. 5
SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR ADJUSTMENT OF TEACHER SALARIES. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—From amounts made available to 7
carry out this section, the Secretary of Education shall 8
award grants to eligible State educational agencies to pro-9
vide, in accordance with subsection (c), cost-of-living ad-10
justments to the annual base salary of such State and the 11
annual salary of each teacher who is employed full-time 12
at a qualifying school in such State. 13
(b) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive such a 14
grant, the State educational agency shall submit an appli-15
cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 16
containing such information as the Secretary may require, 17
including the demonstration required under subsection 18
(d)(2). 19
(c) A
DJUSTMENT.—The annual base salary of the 20
State and the annual salary of each teacher described in 21
subsection (a) shall be increased by a percentage equal to 22
the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price 23
Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Depart-24
ment of Labor for the most recent calendar year. 25
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(d) ELIGIBLESTATEDEFINED.—In this section, the 1
term ‘‘eligible State’’ means a State— 2
(1) with an annual base salary of not less than 3
$60,000 for teachers who are employed full-time at 4
a qualifying school; and 5
(2) that demonstrates in the application sub-6
mitted under subsection (b) that, due to inflation, 7
such State is unable to adjust such base salary or 8
the annual salaries of such teachers for cost-of-liv-9
ing. 10
SEC. 5. ENHANCED AWARENESS OF THE VALUE OF TEACH-11
ING PROFESSION. 12
The Secretary may reserve not more than 4 percent 13
of the funds appropriated under section 8 to carry out a 14
national campaign— 15
(1) to increase awareness about the importance 16
of teachers and the value of the teaching profession; 17
(2) to encourage secondary school and college 18
students to consider teaching as a professional ca-19
reer; and 20
(3) to diversify the pool of individuals who enter 21
the teaching profession. 22
SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 23
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter or oth-24
erwise affect the rights, remedies, and procedures afforded 25
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to school or local educational agency employees under Fed-1
eral, State, or local laws (including applicable regulations, 2
court orders, or requirements that local educational agen-3
cies negotiate or meet and confer in good faith) or under 4
the terms of collective bargaining agreements, memoranda 5
of understanding, or other agreements between such em-6
ployers and their employees. 7
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 8
In this Act: 9
(1) ESEA
DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘elemen-10
tary school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 11
school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State edu-12
cational agency’’ have the meanings given such 13
terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec-14
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 15
(2) Q
UALIFYING SCHOOL .—The term ‘‘quali-16
fying school’’ means, with respect to any school year, 17
a public elementary school or a public secondary 18
school. 19
(3) T
EACHER.—The term ‘‘teacher’’ means an 20
individual who— 21
(A) is a teacher of record who provides di-22
rect classroom teaching (or classroom-type 23
teaching in a nonclassroom setting) in a quali-24
fying school for not less than the normal or 25
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statutory number of hours of work for a full- 1
time or part-time teacher over a complete 2
school year (as determined by the State in 3
which the school is located); 4
(B) meets the applicable requirements for 5
State certification or licensure, as applicable, in 6
the State in which such school is located and in 7
the subject area in which the individual is the 8
teacher of record; and 9
(C) possesses skills and knowledge needed 10
for effective classroom practice, including with 11
respect to demonstrating the ability to improve 12
student learning. 13
(4) T
EACHER OF RECORD .—The term ‘‘teacher 14
of record’’ means a teacher who has— 15
(A) been assigned the responsibility for 16
specified pupils’ learning in a grade, subject, or 17
course as reflected on the school’s official 18
record of attendance; 19
(B) learned and developed extensive teach-20
ing and basic classroom management skills; and 21
(C) demonstrated the ability to plan and 22
deliver instruction to students from different 23
cultural backgrounds and with different learn-24
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ing styles and to assess and support student 1
learning. 2
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 3
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 4
this Act such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 5
2026 through 2030. 6
Æ
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