Discussion: Kamala Harris' First Big Campaign Proposal: Raise Teacher Pay By $13.5K

Real question: To what extent does that actually happen? I don’t know.

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Perhaps the following addresses your question.

In direct subsidy of teacher pay. I have a general idea of how it works overall.

An estate tax as she is proposing would be collected in all states.

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Uh, she wasn’t in Dallas. She was in Houston — you know, in HARRIS County.

Thanks for the link. I’ve just looked at it. It’s pretty amazing. Not only is the plan loony (yes, just take a look at how she plans for it to “work”), it also only uses the estate tax (of unstated but assumed increase) for 10% of the promised increase in teacher salaries. The other 90% will come from the states. Really? What planet is she on? What does she think the Republicans will do with that? I can see it now: “Democratic candidate Harris not only wants to raise your federal taxes, she wants to force your state to raise its taxes, too.” Gee, I wonder why she didn’t put that little factual tidbit in her speech. We are cruzin for a bruzin if we follow that path.

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Number 1: The estate tax comes primarily from Blue States, and their money will subsidize Red states. Number 2: she has enormously low balled the amount necessary to reach her goal. I have discussed that below.

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I have come to the point of not really worrying about whether the numbers in democrats’ policy proposals “work”. Republicans have spent generations lying not only about the magnitude but the direction of the changes they’re proposing. Even when they’re in office. Passing appropriations and other bills. Maybe in another generation or two the public discourse may be cleaned up enough that we can worry about the details in a nonpartisan fashion. Maybe.

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It happens to a great extent. Approximately 10 states are net donors to the federal government, i.e.: they pay more in federal taxes than their citizens receive in the form of federal spending and benefits. If one were to look at the two extremes, New Jersey gets $0.74 in federal spending for every $1.00 it pays in federal tax whereas Mississippi gets $2.13. AP Fact Check

The greatest recipients of federal spending are about who you would think, high-poverty, low-tax states such as New Mexico, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, etc.

Thanks but for the second time, to make it clear, I’m asking about any form of federal subsidy of teacher pay. That was the OP’s original complaint but if there is such and to what extent it exists I can’t say and can’t be bothered to investigate. :smile:

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Aha, I lost the nuance of the discussion. AFAIK - it’s nil or close to it. The Dept. of Education’s budget is about $70B and 85% of it goes to higher ed. What local spending there is is focused on programs for low-income students and special needs. There may be some competitive grant programs that indirectly support teacher salaries.

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Thanks, that’s what I’d have guessed. I used to be peripherally involved with education in a couple different jobs and never heard of federal money for teachers. Now, I vaguely recall that New Jersey had a program called “equalization” that was meant to narrow teacher pay gaps from district to district—the result of some court order if memory continues to serve. Don’t know if that’s still true or ever was, just a thing I think I remember.

“improved education will eventually make them a little less red.” That seems to be quite a stretch. And if you phrase that way, they will turn the money down.

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