American Teacher Act: Key Provisions, Senate Companion, and Odds

The American Teacher Act is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would set a $60,000 minimum annual salary for full-time public school teachers, paid for through federal grants to states. Introduced by Representative Frederica Wilson of Florida and most recently reintroduced on March 12, 2025, as H.R. 2021 with 80 cosponsors, it has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce and has not advanced.¹²

What the Bill Would Do

The core provision is a $60,000 salary floor for full-time public school teachers, indexed to the Consumer Price Index so it rises with inflation in later years. The bill does not impose that floor directly on school districts. Instead, it creates four-year “teacher salary incentive grants” that state education agencies can apply for to raise teacher pay in qualifying schools up to the $60,000 minimum.³

The bill also authorizes a national awareness campaign to raise the profile of teaching, recruit students into the profession, and promote diversity in the workforce.²

How the Grant Money Would Flow

Of the federal money that goes to a participating state, 85 percent must pass through to local school districts, with the remaining 15 percent kept at the state education agency. States are required to prioritize Title I schools and districts serving high-need areas when distributing the funds.³

A maintenance-of-effort clause is meant to prevent states from using federal dollars to replace their own education spending. To keep receiving grant funds, a state has to sustain its commitment to the $60,000 floor.²

Where the Bill Stands

Wilson has introduced the American Teacher Act in multiple sessions of Congress. The 119th Congress version, H.R. 2021, was filed on March 12, 2025, with 80 original cosponsors, all Democrats. Cosponsors have continued to sign on into 2026. It sits in the House Committee on Education and Workforce, where no hearings or markups have been held.¹

Prominent cosponsors include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamie Raskin, Ayanna Pressley, Pramila Jayapal, Rosa DeLauro, James Clyburn, and Ilhan Omar. The bill has not attracted Republican support.²

More than 30 organizations have endorsed the effort, including the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the National PTA, The Education Trust, and the Council for Exceptional Children.⁴⁵

The Senate Companion: The Pay Teachers Act

Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a Senate companion, the Pay Teachers Act (S. 2481), on July 28, 2025. It shares the $60,000 teacher salary floor and was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.⁶

The Senate version goes further in two ways. It sets a minimum of $30 per hour or $45,000 annually for education support staff and paraprofessionals, and it would triple authorized funding for Title I, Rural Education, and Impact Aid programs.⁵ It has not advanced past committee either.

Why Supporters Say It’s Needed

The national average teacher salary for 2023–24 was $72,030, according to the NEA, but state averages vary sharply. California teachers averaged about $101,000, while Mississippi averaged roughly $53,700 and Florida about $54,900.⁷ Adjusted for inflation, teachers earn about 5 percent less than they did a decade ago, and depending on the state they make between 66 and 84 cents for every dollar earned by comparably educated workers in other fields.⁸

The national average starting salary is $46,526, nearly $3,700 below the inflation-adjusted starting pay of the 2008–09 school year. Thirty-seven percent of teachers report difficulty making a living wage, and 40 percent hold more than one job.⁹

Staffing is under similar strain. Roughly 55,000 K–12 teaching positions are unfilled nationwide, and nearly 366,000 teachers in classrooms lack full certification for the subjects they teach. Almost 90 percent of schools report that hiring teachers is a serious concern. Texas alone has more than 8,000 vacant positions and roughly 35,000 classrooms staffed by uncertified teachers; Arizona officials have called their shortage “catastrophic.”¹⁰

What a State-Level Version Has Looked Like

New Mexico is the closest state analog to what the federal bill would do. In 2022, its legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 1, raising the minimum teacher salary by $10,000 in each of the state’s three licensure tiers, setting floors at $50,000, $60,000, and $70,000 based on experience and qualifications. The change amounted to an average base salary increase of 20 percent.¹¹

New Mexico moved from 49th to 21st in average teacher pay over five years, with the state average reaching about $69,700 by 2024–25.⁹ A 2025 bill in the state legislature proposed an additional $5,000 increase per tier.¹²

Odds of Passage

The American Teacher Act would require federal appropriations in a Congress divided over the size of Washington’s role in K–12 education, and it has drawn cosponsors from only one party. It has not advanced past committee in any session in which it has been introduced, and neither has the Senate companion. As of mid-2026, no hearings have been scheduled.¹

1
Congress.gov. H.R. 2021 – American Teacher Act
2
U.S. House of Representatives – Frederica Wilson. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson Reintroduces American Teacher Act With 80 Cosponsors
3
Tennessee Lookout. Teachers Would Get $60K Minimum Salary Under Bill in Congress Making Grants to States
4
U.S. Senate HELP Committee – Democrats. Sanders Introduces Legislation to Address America’s Teacher Pay Crisis
5
Council for Exceptional Children. Pay Teachers Act Reintroduced in Senate With New Section Supporting Paraprofessionals
6
Congress.gov. S. 2481 – Pay Teachers Act
7
National Education Association. Educator Pay and Student Spending – Teacher Rankings
8
National Education Association. Educator Pay and Student Spending – How Does Your State Rank
9
Education Week. Average Teacher Pay Increased Again This Year, Sort Of
10
Community College Daily. Searching for K-12 and Workforce Ready Teachers
11
Office of the Governor of New Mexico. Gov. Lujan Grisham Proposal to Increase Teacher Pay Passes House Unanimously
12
New Mexico Legislature. HB156 LESC Analysis