Statement by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on the Economic Policy Institute’s Report on the Widening Teacher Pay Gap

WASHINGTON— Statement by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on the Economic Policy Institute’s new report, ‘The Teacher Pay Gap Is Wider Than Ever’:

“This report is a scathing indictment of how this country values educators. It highlights the hypocrisy of paying lip service to the importance of teaching and teachers while simultaneously failing to invest in educators, students and the schools in which they teach and learn.

"When you shortchange educators, you shortchange the students they teach. We need to ensure educators are valued so we can recruit the best and brightest to the classroom. We need to make sure they’re supported and paid like the professionals they are.

"Sadly, America doesn’t pay teachers fairly for the job they do, and politicians who push austerity policies are making the situation worse and worse. Teachers today earn 17 percent less than workers with similar qualifications—skyrocketing from just a 1.8 percent difference in 1994. Even worse, the gap is bigger for more experienced teachers, meaning that the more expertise teachers develop, the less they’re rewarded for it.

“The one bright spot in this report shows that collective bargaining makes a real difference. The wage gap for teachers with a union to back them up at the bargaining table was 6 percentage points less than for those without a union—and while the gap is still too high, it shows that being part of a union makes a real difference for teacher pay.