Remarks on the Importance of Supporting Teachers

At the 44th Annual New York State United Teachers Representative Assembly, Hillary Clinton talked about the importance of ensuring every child has access to quality public education and laid out her plan to support teachers as president.

It's great to be before this representative assembly, to have a chance to talk about the issues affecting public education. Thank you Karen, Madam President, for that introduction. It is great to be here with all of you. I want also to single out someone who came with me tonight, a great champion of so many causes, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter.

You all know she is such a great fighter. ... Her absolute commitment to the issues that matter to us and to your work in America have really put her head and shoulders above anybody else. She's been just a great advocate. And for those of you in Rochester, in her congressional district, please send her back in November!

So it's great to be here in Rochester. It does feel like old times.

As your senator, I visited here probably more than 40 times, worked hand-in-hand with local leaders and businesses and schools to create jobs in clean energy and advanced manufacturing, connected farmers upstate with restaurants downstate, so people in Brooklyn and Queens could eat Red Jacket apples and drink Finger Lakes wine. It was a terrific adventure, and I appreciate Karen welcoming me home. New York took a chance on me back in 2000, and I'll never forget it.

And here today, I want to say from the outset that I'm with you. I will fight for you, I will stand up for you, and together we will do what we must to make sure public education [inaudible].

Like you, I think hard about the questions that we are facing. For example, how can we do better for the millions of children living in poverty in America? This is the first time I'm aware of, historically, that we've had a majority of poor children in our public schools.

How can we do better for the moms and dads working harder and harder every day just to get by?

How can we do better when the jobs of the future will require creativity and ingenuity and collaboration--yet our education system is increasingly focused on test preparation?

I know that our teachers and schools do amazing things for our kids every day. But I also know you can't do it alone. You need your country to have your backs, too.

If I'm fortunate enough to be your president starting January 20, 2017, I will have your backs. You can count on that.

I want every teacher, principal, parent and student to know you will have a partner in the White House. And that goes for everyone who helps our students succeed: teachers' aides, social workers, guidance counselors, school nurses, speech and occupational therapists, everyone who helps our students achieve all that they're capable of.

These issues are not new to me. When I got out of law school I went to work for the Children's Defense Fund. I did it because I was inspired by the woman who started CDF, Marian Wright Edelman, and I did it because I wanted to use my legal education on behalf of kids. And I got off to a fast start: I was sent to Alabama to investigate segregated academies, to make the case against them getting tax-exempt status as they pulled people out of public schools, taking the resources and limiting the books, the shelves off the walls.

When my husband was governor of Arkansas, he asked me to chair a commission to improve education in our state. We obviously knew our schools were in bad shape. In fact one expert said Arkansas had perhaps the worst schools in the country. To me, that sounds like an emergency. So I went to work, had great support from people across the state, held hearings in every county. Thousands of people turned out. We discovered that many schools couldn't even offer the basics, like chemistry or foreign languages--forget about art or music.

So we worked to come up with a plan to get more schools the resources they needed. We fought hard to get it passed by the legislature. And a few years later, that same expert said that Arkansas had raised school standards dramatically, teachers had received desperately needed raises, and that we had done something which was hard to do--which is to change the attitude of a whole state toward the importance of education.

Now, the reason I am telling you this history is because the lesson was clear to me: We've got to come together and fight together to give our schools and teachers the resources you need to succeed. And we've got to convince the whole country once again to support public education.

Every child in this country deserves a world-class education, with good schools and effective, well-supported teachers--no matter what ZIP code they live in. Because when we invest in education, we're investing in our country's future, and in creating a stronger economy for all of us.

I have a plan for how we should strengthen public education. It comes from consultation with AFT and NEA. It boils down to TLC: teaching, learning and community.

I actually think our teachers and students could use a little TLC.

Tonight I want to focus on the "T"--teaching.

We've known for years that nothing in school matters more than an effective teacher. Now America is asking more of our educators than ever before.

You're asked to prepare our kids for a competitive economy, adapt your instruction to meet the diverse needs of your students, stay on top of new technologies and pedagogies, and adjust to a sea of reforms at the local, state and national levels.

We look to you to fill in gaps that we as a country have long neglected--like giving low-income kids, English-language learners, and kids with disabilities the support they need to thrive.

And we ask you to help make right everything from poverty and homelessness, to child health disparities, to the legacy of racial inequities stretching back centuries. These are major, complicated issues--and they should not be dumped on all you, yours alone to bear.

One of my main goals as president will be to launch a national campaign to modernize and elevate the profession of teaching. To reach out to encourage more talented young people to become teachers. To reach out and encourage more talented mid-career professionals to do the same.

As senator, I fought to pass legislation to recruit and train outstanding teachers, including veterans, because I believe there are many dedicated people out there who join your ranks to serve our students well and be good colleagues to you, if given the chance.

Recruiting and retaining effective teachers starts, however, with something very basic: raising teacher pay. I know I don't need to tell any of you, but teachers make nearly 15 percent less than other college graduates in America. That adds up to a lot of money over a career. So if we believe, as I do--and then we give lip service to--that teachers are professionals and that you do something valuable, we should pay you like we really believe it.

We should use other incentives, too--like student debt forgiveness. I supported this as your senator because I don't think it's right that our future educators are finishing college loaded down with debt.

That, combined with low pay, means too many teachers are taking second or even third jobs just to get by and support their families. It shouldn't be that hard to make it as a teacher. That's also why I supported a tax deduction for teachers who spend their own money on classroom supplies--which is pretty much every teacher I know.

And while we're at it--at a time when the majority of teachers are women, we need to stand up and fight for equal pay for women.

It's not just a woman's issue, although of course it is. This is a family issue. You have a mother, wife, sister, daughter, who are in the workforce--the last I checked, there was no discount for being a woman when you checked out at the supermarket. I don't think this happens, where a cashier looks and says, "Well, you're a white woman, so you only have to pay 77 cents to the dollar. Or you're an African American woman, you only have to pay 68 cents on the dollar. Or you're a Latina woman, you only have to pay 58 cents on the dollar."

There is no gender discount, and it's time that we start treating equal pay as [inaudible].

I also support raising the minimum wage nationwide, and I applaud the big step taken under Governor Cuomo's leadership to raise the minimum wage. Now, raising the minimum wage is a big deal in America. There's more work to be done, I grant you that. I can point to California and New York, which have just raised the minimum wage, and be able to say, "We are doing it, so let's do it for everybody."

Let's raise the minimum wage for everybody.

We also have to convince decision makers at every level to respect and help to raise your professional standing in the eyes of your fellow citizens.

You know the research and the comparisons and analysis--in countries like Finland and Singapore that score high in the international rankings, when you look behind the numbers what you find is this, it's so obvious: Their teachers are treated with respect as the professionals that they are. It's actually pretty obvious, isn't it? You treat somebody with respect, you give people the support they need to do this critical job, then you're going to see how the whole system's lifted up.

We've got to do a better job of preparing and supporting teachers. I want all teachers, at every stage of their careers, to know they'll be able to keep learning, keep improving, keep innovating. That goes for administrators, too. As senator, I worked with both UFT and NYSUT, along with AFT and NEA, to pass legislation to train and support not only teachers but principals, so that you have a whole-team concept that would make the difference for lots of students.

And supporting teachers means facing tough issues like over-testing. Many frustrated parents and teachers are saying enough is enough.

Tests should get back to their original purpose--to get information to teachers and parents so we can know how our kids are doing, and work together to help them improve. Let's keep working to find a fair, balanced approach to testing, so our kids learn what they need to compete in a global economy, and you have the tools to help them get there.

Everything that I'm talking about today is pretty straightforward, for those of you that are educators. But I know it can only be done in partnership with you.

So I am asking you to work with me, just as I have worked as your senator. I want your advice. I want your constructive criticism. I want to be held accountable. I want to support you in fighting for your students and your profession.

That goes for the "L" and "C" portions of TLC, too.

L is for learning. Let's build off what works. Let's go where the research and best practices point us.

You know, I have a dear friend who just retired from teaching. And I asked her one time, "What are the biggest differences from the time you started nearly 40 years ago to now that you're retired?" She made two great comments, I thought.

One, she said, "When I started, the children really understood that I was the authority figure. I would stand in front of the class, and, you know, there's the occasional kid that would misbehave, but in general kids were respectful, and understood what their role was and what mine was. Now," she said, "I feel like they all have remote control changers in their heads, and they're just constantly in motion, not really able to sit there and listen and respond in a way that used to just be taken for granted."

The other thing she said is, "It used to be that we would collaborate. Teachers at a school, teachers in the district, principals, all of the professionals, and we would work toward deciding what it is we would try to achieve. And we would very much rely on our own experience and also research to tell us what would work best." She said, "My last ten years of teaching, I just felt like the school district was prey for any fad that came along. [Inaudible].

I said, "Well, what did you do about that?" She said, "Well, I don't know. Maybe, if I'd been a lot younger, I would have really gotten more involved and fought back. What I really did was just lock my door to keep everybody out. [Inaudible], to keep my head clear to actually teach my students."

Now, I really wanted to repeat that to you because that made a lot of sense to me. The kids to some extent have changed, the environments from which they are coming have changed, the pressure on kids has increased--there's no way that I could even relate to some of the challenges that kids bring, both personally, because of their own situation, but more generally, because of living in the virtual world online. And I also respect her perspective that we've got to figure out how best to teach the kids we have, not the kids we used to have. How best to [inaudible].

Let's take what is working, put it to work in every classroom. I want every school district in America to offer programs in computer science and coding. But in order to do that, we have to set that goal. We have to be able to have a school that is wireable or has wireless to be able to do it. I have a lot of schools in New York that are 80, 100 years old, and that's a hard challenge to me. We have to do more to make sure we've got all of the resources--not just the teaching, but the equipment, and involve experts who should be part of the process.

We know that there will be created more than a million jobs in computer science over the next 10 years. I want young people in New York and across America to be able to compete for those jobs. That starts in our classrooms.

And you know better than any that learning begins at the very start of a child's life. This is a passion of mine. If we don't invest in early child education and universal pre-kindergarten, we are making more jobs harder and we are really [inaudible] a lot of our kids.

We're making some progress now in preschool and universal pre-k. I'm proud that in New York City we now have universal preschool. But this should be spread throughout the state--and it should be in every state. And every child should have the chance to develop his or her talents in those first five years of live. You know, 80 percent of your brain is physically formed by the age of three.

So we need to help preschoolers get pre-literacy and pre-math skills, so they can then be prepared for the work that starts in kindergarten and first, second, and third grade. Right now, in New York, low-income children come to kindergarten nearly a year behind in their language and math skills. That makes it harder to catch up. That's why we need to find programs that work. I started a statewide program back in Arkansas to teach parents how to be their children's first teachers. I convened the first ever White House Conference on Early Childhood Development when I was first lady.

And when I left the State Department, I launched a national campaign called "Too Small to Fail," to try to close the word gap and help children at every income level get a strong start on their language development. So we know that investing in preschool is not only good for individual kids' education, it's good for our economy.

And finally, we can't forget the "C" in TLC--community.

As important as teachers are--as important as the jobs you do happens to be--you need the support of the communities you serve. That comes down to all of us. There's been way too much finger-pointing and scapegoating in public education. And blaming teachers for everything you could imagine.

I believe the real problem is that communities, states, and our country aren't stepping up to work with you, to do everything they can to help every child succeed in school.

So we've made progress here in New York over the past 10 years. Students have improved in reading and math. We still have a ways to go, as you know, to get everybody up to proficiency in these subjects--but we're making progress.

And a big part of the reason why it's so challenging is because more students are living in poverty, more kids are coming from households that are struggling. More kids are facing really difficult situations at home--they're coming to school hungry, or after spending a night in a homeless shelter. They have the weight of the world on their little shoulders. And we need to do better. We can't just turn around and tell you to do better, we need to do better.

I do not believe that more testing will solve homelessness, or poverty, or [inaudible].

So we're going to do this together. We're going to tackle all these problems as one country--one American community. And I will be there with you every step of the way. I told both the AFT and the NEA during their endorsement process that I wanted them at every table where education was discussed.

[Inaudible] the front lines of education, information that I can only get from teachers and educators who are there. A lot of teachers tell me we should go back to the concept of community schools--bring in more non-profit organizations into the schools, make sure we have nurses in the schools, social workers in the schools.

Look, a lot of this is based on income inequality. You're from a well-off family, you get good mental health services, you have the chance to take piano lessons or join a soccer team or be in a play. Those experiences have been stripped out of the budgets of so many schools, and those were often the way where kids find themselves, learning [inaudible].

So we've got a lot to talk about. But I just want to mention, briefly, that there are real differences among those of us who are running. And it's important to really follow it. Lots of folks don't even talk about education. In fact, I'm not even sure, in all the debates we've had, I've been asked one question about public education. I may be wrong about that, but I don't think I have.

And what I want you to focus on--and tell your friends, your neighbors--is that we have a political fight on our hands. There's no doubt in my mind that any of the Republicans would be a disaster for public education.

Ted Cruz says he wants to abolish the Department of Education. Donald Trump says he'd largely eliminate it, but maybe he'd leave some "tentacles out there," whatever that means. They want to slash and burn the public education infrastructure that millions of families rely on. And they not only want to undermine--they want to destroy unions.

I wish I could say that was unusual or unique to them, but that is the current Republican party's priority. That's why they attack teachers at every turn. You've got to remember, before he dropped out, Chris Christie was so proud of the fact that he [inaudible].

What I really, really resent about this is not only that it hurts you and your colleagues--it's that it hurts our kids. That sends a message, going back to my friend's story, that people in positions of power and influence don't respect teachers. So how do we expect kids to respect teachers?

Here's the bottom line--you know it, I know it: Our students deserve better. We've got to invest in our teachers if we're going to give our kids a world-class education.

I am the product of great public schools--and great teachers. I think about them all the time. In first grade, Miss Taylor read us all Winnie the Pooh. In fifth grade, Mrs. Krause taught us about Sputnik, and literally convinced us that President Eisenhower was watching to see if we did math and science. In sixth grade, Miss King drilled us in grammar--she had all of these poems that she used to use to tell us about nouns and verbs. I still remember them.

And in high school, my teachers challenged me. They really pushed me hard. They helped me understand the world I lived in and what I might be able to do to make a difference.

That's what my teachers did, and that's what you do--spark a student's love for learning and change the course of his or her life.

I want all our kids to have those experiences and opportunities--no matter where they live or how they start out.

My little granddaughter will be starting preschool in the not-too-distant future. I hope she loves school like her mom and I did. I want that for every little girl and boy in America. I know you do too.

So, let's be resolved that we're going to change the politics and the attitudes of people in this country--at all levels--towards teaching and towards education. We're going to work for better schools, more resources, more support for educators. I will be the president who helps you get that support. I will make that promise, that [inaudible], we will reconfigure federal spending so that those reflect the promises, made years ago, they intended for.

Title I was to help equalize spending, so that we must lift up the poorest schools and the poorest children. In the 1970s, I worked with the Children's Defense Fund to gather the evidence to make it possible to pass a law that gave kids with disabilities the chance to win the lottery, in their eyes, because they would get to go to school--something they were not able to do before.

But we made a promise--that the federal government would pay 40 percent of special education--the most we've ever paid is 17 percent. Which is one of the reasons why budgets are being cut all the time, and many programs are being [inaudible].

Because--I know you've got work to do tonight, but I love talking to you tonight about all of this--because I am so convinced we're going to make a big difference together. I can't do it without you. I need your help in the NY primary on April 19. If all goes well and I'm the nominee, no matter who the Republicans nominate, I'm really looking forward to debating either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

Mr. Trump, tell me again about how you're going to build this wall and make the Mexicans pay for it. Tell me again why you think it's a good idea for Japan and South Korea to develop nuclear weapons. I mean, it's going to be good.

But I want you to just leave with this thought: I will get up every day trying to think about what I can do that day to get every child in this country the chance ... I believe that that's how we'll make sure all of our kids get the chance to make the most of their God-given potential. And I cannot even imagine how I would go about doing that without having you as my partners--without working with you, without supporting you, without making the changes that we know are needed for some "TLC".

So, as I leave you tonight, please know that I am convinced--I am confident--that together we will not only save public education, but we will improve it, and the entire country will have to see it for themselves. Thank you all very much.

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