State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

The Obscure Tax Rule That's Stopping U.S. States From Paying Teachers More

Route Fifty: In Oklahoma, schoolchildren use tattered history books that say George W. Bush is still president, and a third-grade teacher is pan-handling to pay for class supplies. Some Colorado school districts can only afford to hold classes four days a week. One Arizona teacher is paid so little that she works three other part-time jobs to make ends meet.

America may be one of the world’s richest countries, but you wouldn’t know it to look at its public education system: U.S. public school teachers are among the worst-paid in the developed world. And many of the U.S.’s nearly 100,000 public schools have been crippled in recent years by tax cuts that slashed school budgets, cut salaries, and threaten teacher pensions.

Read article