School starts in a few weeks, and Connecticut is still short more than 2,500 teachers and paraprofessionals.
Advocates and legislators are calling on the federal government to expand student loan forgiveness, provide tax breaks and pay teachers more in an effort to close the gap.
Connecticut Education Association Vice President Joslyn DeLancey said 20 years of attacks on public education have given the profession a bad rap.
“There is no profession that is more joyful, and more rewarding and fulfilling than education,” DeLancey said. “But we are not doing enough to show our upcoming students to show the people in our classrooms that we respect this profession, that it is a noble and awesome profession.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has co-sponsored the Federal Loan Forgiveness for Educators Act. The act would forgive up to $17,500 in student loans for full-time teachers who have worked at least five consecutive years in a low-income elementary or secondary school.
He also wants to give tax breaks to teachers who are spending their own money on their classrooms, as well as pay them higher salaries.
“Even if it won't produce teachers next week, or the week after, we can begin the investment,” Blumenthal said. “And that's exactly what Connecticut and our nation need to do. Invest in teachers, invest in education and in the workforce that is necessary, the skilled professionals to do the job.”
Blumenthal has also proposed a $50 million increase in funding for the federal Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program, which supports future teachers.
He said the legislation has not received bipartisan support yet, but hopes he will be able to appeal to his colleagues across the aisle.
“What I'm going to be saying to my colleagues is, you know, you think you have a tough job being a United States Senator, well, I'll tell you a tough job, being a teacher,” Blumenthal said.
