Americans overwhelmingly believe teachers don’t make enough money, and half say they’d support paying higher taxes to give educators a raise.
The findings of the new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research come amid recent teacher strikes and other protests over low pay, tough classroom conditions, and the amount of money allocated to public schools in several Republican-led states.
In 2016-17, the average salary for a public school teacher was $58,950, down slightly from the previous year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Overall, 78 percent of Americans said that’s not enough.
Slightly more than half of Americans—52 percent—also approve of teachers leaving the classroom to strike in their search for higher pay.
