Our country must make a direct investment in the very people who have the future of our society in their hands — K-12 public school teachers.

Bo Roberts is a Nashville-based marketing consultant. He may be reached at bo@roberts strategies.com. Thanks to recent Belmont University graduate Emily Vo for her research on this project.
Dear madam first lady:

I am writing to you, really, as the nation’s first teacher.

I have a proposal/recommendation that I sincerely believe would have a dramatic influence on your esteemed profession, not to mention your devotion and passion for the field.

As influenced by my 12th-grade English teacher, Clarice Bunch, a mentor and an inspiration, I am going to do my best here to keep it simple. My idea is born of Congress’ bipartisan act, agreed to and signed by a Republican president, to provide $2.6 trillion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its disastrous economic impact.

Bo Roberts
Specifically, my idea is about the portion of that bill that appropriated a $600 per week add-on for those who were eligible to receive unemployment insurance payments. I fully supported that program. In 11 weeks, some 25.6 million Americans received more than $230 billion in payments. I thought, Wow! This country truly understands how to address an unprecedented crisis in an extraordinary way.

As the pandemic grew into a tragedy of a magnitude beyond what could have possibly been envisioned, America took decisive action again and again. I kept wondering what we could do to acknowledge a need we have collectively attempted in every way possible to avoid throughout our history. The answer? Make a direct investment in the very people who have the future of our society in their hands — K-12 public school teachers.

Experts, consultants, and congressional and administration staff regularly devise plans and programs, tests and measurements, etc., though I dare say that none of them would consider working for what an average teacher earns in the U.S. Do we value the teaching profession that is at the core, the heart and soul of what happens to our children and grandchildren? Clearly not enough.

Jill Biden, the teacher in the White House, along with new Education Secretary Miguel Cardona go back to school in a public push to show districts that have yet to transition back to in-person learning that it can be done safely. (March 3)
$600 per month per teacher

So here’s my proposal for consideration: Let’s invest $600 a month (not a week) in our teachers across the board, no strings attached, direct to their bank accounts. The average salary for a U.S. teacher is $61,730. A $7,200 payment would amount to an 11.6% increase. Because the average starting salary is just $38,617, the add-on would be 18.6% — potentially enough to change an 18-year-old’s mind about becoming a teacher when entering college, or maybe keep an experienced teacher in the profession.

(Reminder to me from Mrs. Bunch: Keep it simple.)

Let teachers know we value them

And possibly just as important, our country would be sending a direct message to teachers: You are valued.

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The cost to do that is about $23 billion. Yes, that’s a mighty big sum. Less than 1% of just the money in the first bill referenced above, or a little more than it would cost to build two aircraft carriers (yes, we all love aircraft carriers). Stated another way, the money it took to fund those 11 weeks of payments would pay for 10 years of the $7,200 annual raises for teachers.

Now, madam first teacher, I know you and your family have a lot on your plate; that might be the understatement of the year! However, I can’t stop believing that something so simple would serve as a deep inspiration for the current and future generations of your fellow teachers.

First lady Jill Biden waves as she looks at the monitor the teacher is using for online teaching during a tour at Samuel Smith Elementary School in Burlington, N,J., on March 15, 2021.
Some disclaimers: I am not nor have I ever been a teacher. I am a small-business owner who has no direct or indirect ties to the profession. I do have a son and daughter-in-law who have just retired as public school teachers.

Before finalizing my thoughts on this, I talked to a few honored teachers I knew would be straight with me. They unanimously supported the idea while saying that I was a little crazy to invest time pursuing it. But here we are. I trust that you will have the opportunity to read this and make your own judgment. I did write this in advance of your husband’s first speech before Congress and his reveal of the details of the American Families Plan, which is a wonderful, bold investment in our future. I am not asking this as an add-on, but as negotiations move forward it could possibly be squeezed into the educational considerations.

The power of a good teacher

I keep thinking about Mrs. Bunch, a diminutive, exquisitely dressed lady who could strike fear and silence in a room of students by just tapping her foot. She also taught my dad. He told me how he had experienced that same fear many decades earlier. Our mutual respect for Mrs. Bunch endured far beyond the years in which she was our teacher. I know she would be exceptionally pleased that a teacher became America’s first lady.

God bless you and your family. And say thanks from me to a member of your family who always says “God bless our troops.” as a veteran, I feel valued.

Bo Roberts is a Nashville-based marketing consultant. He may be reached at bo@roberts strategies.com. Thanks to recent Belmont University graduate Emily Vo for her research on this project.