Stacey Abrams, as part of her initiative for investing in the future education of Georgia, has revealed a plan to increase teacher salaries in Georgia.
Abrams, a Democrat who is also a proponent of voting rights, announced the plans as she acceptedSunday’s endorsement of the Georgia Association of Educators. She promised to raise the base salary for teachers from the current baseline of about $39,100 to $50,000, and to raise the average teachers’ salary from about $60,500Governor for her first term, $73,500
The financing for the $1.65 billion four year plan would be provided by the Federal Reserve using existing revenue within the state’s budget, Abrams said, without tax raises. The plan would be implemented. would move GeorgiaThe top 10 states with the highest teacher salaries are up from 35th nationally.
“Investing in our students is essential to building One Georgia in which all of us can move up and move forward. But students face an uncertain future — about 3 in 10 Georgia teachers report they are unlikely to remain in the profession five years from now,” she wrote on TwitterSunday. “To invest in students, we must invest in educators.”
The plan goes beyond that of Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, who was elected in 2018, was the previous incumbent governor. that year’s election, announcedA $5,000 increase in teacher salaries compared to his current term. Final raise of $2,000 to round out the plan is set for fiscal year 2023, Kemp announced earlier this year — though, according to some experts, it’s possible that not all teachers will see the $2,000 raise, which Abrams pins on Republican education cuts.
Abrams’ raise is twice that of Kemp. On Sunday, the Democrat said the governor’s raise was an “election year gimmick.” In past months, Abrams has criticizedKemp for cutting nearly $1 billionFrom the state K-12 budget for 2020, and Republicans to cut more than $10 billion in the past 20 years. In contrast, Abrams pledged on Sunday to be the “public education governor.”
“It is important to remember that we aren’t starting from the Cadillac. We are starting from the tricycle,” Abrams said. “Because under Republicans, they took money away from our teachers, they decreased their pay, year-over-year in terms of real dollars.”
President Lisa Morgan, Georgia Association of Educators praised Abrams’s plan, saying that teachers in the state are “underpaid.”
“Adjusted for inflation, our educators are making less now than they did in 1999,” Morgan told reporters. “We have to attract the best and brightest to be educators. This requires that the profession is attractive as an option for a career. It’s not just about salaries. It’s about educators being treated as the professionals they are.”
Kemp is planning on continuing his and the GOP’s attacks on educationIf reelected in April Kemp signedA collection of hateful education-related laws that will limit educators’ ability to teach about race, ban transgender students from participating in school sports, prohibit books that have been challenged or banned by parents. likely includeBooks about Race or LGBTQ topics.
