Democrats Have Failed Our Public Schools

There is a profound crisis in public education in the United States. For decades, politicians at the state and federal levels have starved public schools of necessary funding. School buildings across the US are falling apart and in need of major repairs. Educators are buying school supplies with their own money. Class sizes have increased dramatically in school districts across the country, negatively affecting student outcomes and increasing educator workload and exhaustion to unsustainable levels. On average, teachers made 26.4% less than other similarly educated professionals in 2022—the lowest level since 1960.

Underfunding schools, and attacks on educators’ and other public school unions, has been a bipartisan policy by both the Republican and the Democratic Parties. These politicians cite budget shortages and lack of revenue, cutting teacher pay and closing schools entirely while cutting taxes on the rich. Taxing wealthy corporations and billionaires, meanwhile, would raise the money necessary to fix many of these urgent issues. 

The crisis in education is only deepening, but inspiring struggles of unionized educators across the country have shown that there is a way forward if we have the right strategies and tactics to win. It’s important that we draw out the lessons of these struggles, because they apply not just to educators, but workers everywhere looking to fight back.

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On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back, hosted by Kshama Sawant and Bia Lacombe.