State Policy
We believe that in order to influence their state’s education policies, teachers must be in the rooms with policymakers engaged in conversations about their students’ and their own lived experiences, their challenges, and the solutions.
2023-2024 Policy Impact Highlights
Arkansas
Teach Plus championed higher educator salaries to improve teacher retention and applauded when Arkansas boosted the minimum teacher salary, requiring all teachers receive a raise for the 2023-2024 school year and bumping pay for those who take on additional responsibilities. As the state prioritizes early literacy, Teach Plus teacher leaders continue to advocate for educators to be trained in the science of reading. Teach Plus teacher leaders also continue to focus on students’ social-emotional wellbeing, including access to coaches who can provide in-school support for students and mental health training for teachers.
“We are encouraged by plans to expand access to early childhood education, improve literacy for struggling students, move Arkansas to the top five in the nation for beginning teacher salaries and offer much-needed benefits and opportunities for teachers, such as training on crisis response and mental health awareness.”
Stacey McAdoo
Teach Plus Arkansas Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus Arkansas.
California
Teach Plus celebrated when Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills, one that ensures California’s teachers of English learners have the resources and data they need to serve their students and the other that requires that students learn using high-quality, culturally relevant instructional materials. Teach Plus teacher leaders have kept a drumbeat of advocacy for the policies that provide students with access to educational materials that are inclusive of all learners. Teach Plus also focused its efforts on ensuring that teachers across the state have the right tools to shape and refine their practice, providing recommendations to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and raising their voice on the issue. The revised California Standards for the Teaching Profession, a guide that teachers use to develop their practice and that Teach Plus teacher leaders have advocated for since the commission first began reviewing standards in 2019, reflect many of Teach Plus’s recommendations including the need for teacher development and a thoughtful rollout.
“A notable shift in the new standards is recognizing that all teachers, regardless of subject-specific credential areas, are teachers of literacy skills. This shift, combined with explicit references to support the needs of all learners, including multilingual learners and learners with exceptional needs, throughout the standards will greatly increase educational equity.”
Sarah Lillis
Teach Plus California Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus California.
Colorado
Gov. Jared Polis signed into law Colorado’s Teacher Degree Apprenticeship Program, which Teach Plus teacher leaders advocated for and helped write. The program provides more ways into the teaching profession by providing financial support for aspiring educators during apprenticeships. Teacher candidates will receive on-the-job training from master teachers in their schools and local school districts in rural areas will “grow their own” teachers to help alleviate teacher shortages, thanks to provisions in the law that Teach Plus Colorado helped write. Teacher leaders also celebrated when Gov. Polis’ signed the School Mental Health Assessment bill into law, ensuring students in the state receive free mental health services to help them thrive.
“Colorado students need excellent educators no matter their pathways into teaching. Through the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship Program, aspiring educators will be paid for their apprenticeships while they pursue an undergraduate degree and licensure exams prior to becoming a classroom teacher This means more entry points into the profession in our state, especially in districts that have struggled to recruit and retain a diverse teaching force.”
Mark Sass
Teach Plus Colorado Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus Colorado.
Illinois
Teach Plus teacher leaders played a pivotal role in the passage of the Racism-Free Schools Act, leading a three-year campaign to enact this legislation in partnership with more than 30 organizations. The law, which includes every provision put forward by Teach Plus, requires districts to have explicit student and staff policies, procedures, training, and protections against racial harassment in their schools. The legislation also calls for a state-level data system to better track the impact harassment and discrimination have on students and teachers.
“When it comes to racial harassment, words are not enough. A concrete and meaningful policy response is needed to change behavior in our schools.”
Madeline Wood
2022-2023 Teach Plus Illinois Senior Policy Fellow and music teacher at United Junior High and United High School in Monmouth, Illinois
Teach Plus advocated for full-day kindergarten, which became a law in Illinois in 2023, and would go into effect in 2027, and parity in pay for early childhood educators (ECE) based on years of experience and levels of education. The ECE salary adjustments to boost educators recruitment and retention would provide a livable wage for those who teach the youngest students. Teach Plus is also advocating for paid student teaching, which would help grow the ECE educator pipeline in the state.
Joshua Kaufmann
Senior Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus Illinois.
Indiana
Teach Plus teacher leaders applauded in 2023 when Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law legislation requiring school districts to adopt curriculum aligned to the science of reading, with $60 million in state funding earmarked for teacher training in evidence-based literacy instruction. Teach Plus teacher leaders testified before the legislature and kept a drumroll of advocacy to ensure the use of science of reading strategies statewide and especially for Indiana’s most vulnerable populations.
“As a state, we have made a significant investment in moving our students toward literacy proficiency via the science of reading and it is imperative we continue to create intentional policy and structure to set our schools, teachers, and students up for success in its implementation.”
Rachel Hathaway
Teach Plus Indiana Executive Director
Teach Plus also advocated for increased funding for teacher scholarship programs, including two available to aspiring teachers from minority groups. Millions of dollars have been injected into the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship, which provides high-achieving high school and college students interested in pursuing a career in education the opportunity to earn up to $40,000 in exchange for teaching in Indiana for five years. Most recently, Fellows informed the creation of bill language to define literacy coach roles in code and successfully advocated for passage of the bill. Fellows also testified in support of establishing early interventions for struggling readers as the state continues to move toward full implementation of the science of reading.
Learn more about Teach Plus Indiana.
Massachusetts
Teach Plus celebrated when Governor Maura Healey proposed a five-year investment in Literacy Launch: Reading Success from Age 3 through Grade 3, aimed at improving Commonwealth students’ reading and writing skills. The investment includes $30 million for the first year and totals more than $150 million through 2029. Teach Plus teacher leaders testified and wrote op-eds to advocate for policymakers to make significant investments in literacy, resulting in the Literacy Launch. This initiative will provide educators in the state with the science of reading professional development, technical support, and coaching s and the districts with the necessary resources to purchase evidence-based curriculum.
“Massachusetts is currently facing a literacy crisis that will only continue to get worse if we do not work together to ensure our educators have the tools, resources, and support they need in order to deliver effective evidence-based literacy instruction. Today, less than half of all Massachusetts students in grades 3-8 are reading at proficiency, with outcomes being especially concerning for underserved students. I call upon our legislators and leaders to ensure all of the proposed investments are passed so that we can make Massachusetts number one in literacy for all students—not just some.”
Chris Marino
Teach Plus Massachusetts Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus Massachusetts.
Michigan
Teach Plus teacher leaders celebrated when the Michigan Senate voted in 2024 that all reading instruction should be based in science of reading with a particular emphasis on supporting students with dyslexia. The legislation requires school districts to screen all K-3 students for characteristics of dyslexia and difficulty decoding language and puts in place systems of support for students with difficulties reading.
“The need to act is clear. In 2022, Michigan 4th grade students received the lowest reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 30 years. Through this bill package, students and teachers will have the support they need through screening, evidence-based interventions, and teacher training, all grounded in the science of reading.”
Ben Locke
Teach Plus Michigan Executive Director
Teach Plus teacher leaders also applauded when the Opportunity Index became law in June 2023. Through the index, more money is flowing to Michigan’s “at risk” students including English learners, students from low-income backgrounds, those in rural and geographically isolated areas, and children in special education. The $24.3 billion school aid budget prioritizes investments in Michigan’s K-12 schools, starting with the largest ever per-pupil allocation at $9,608 a student. Teach Plus took part in a coalition effort which included social media, op-eds, coalition letters, and meetings with legislators. Teach Plus are now advocating to increase the funds flowing through the Opportunity Index to these students in the next year’s budget.
Learn more about Teach Plus Michigan.
Mississippi
Teach Plus scored a victory in winter 2023 when the Mississippi State Board of Education approved a performance-based licensure pathway. It paves the way for 5th-8th grade teachers in tested subject areas to earn a 5-year license after three years of teaching and demonstrate effectiveness through observations and student achievement growth. For two years, teacher leaders conducted interviews, surveys, and focus groups, as well as wrote a memo recommending the alternative route into the profession.
“When it comes to licensure, current and aspiring educators in Mississippi know that we need to maintain a high, relevant bar for entering the profession using multiple pathways. That is what’s necessary to ensure that every student in the Magnolia State has an excellent teacher. I applaud the State Board for recognizing that great teachers come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and for implementing a policy change that closely aligns with that focus.”
Sanford Johnson
Teach Plus Mississippi Executive Director
In the Spring of 2024, Teach Plus Mississippi teacher leaders launched a comprehensive advocacy campaign in support of The Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education (INSPIRE) Act, new legislation that includes “weights” to allocate additional funding to students who face unique barriers to learning and need additional staff, instructional materials, or other resources to be successful.
Learn more about Teach Plus Mississippi.
New Mexico
Teach Plus celebrated a victory when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the School Board Training bill into law in Spring 2024, following several years of their advocacy efforts. This legislation mandates that school board members undergo increased training hours that align directly to their duties so that they are effective in their roles. It also requires webcasting and archival of meetings, thus ensuring that decisions are made in the public eye and the process is more transparent.
“Having school board members who are adequately trained in school finance and budget, policies and procedures, and curriculum will better serve the districts they were elected to. We want our children to be top performers in the classroom, and it needs to start at the top with school board members setting the example and getting adequately trained.”
Gabrielle Begay
2023-2024 Teach Plus New Mexico Alumni Fellow and Cobre Consolidated School District School Board president
Hope Morales
New Mexico Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus New Mexico.
Pennsylvania
Teach Plus has played an integral role in reshaping Pennsylvania’s school funding system over the past several years, including securing over $2 billion in new state education funding over the past three years, including $325 for a new program that accelerated resources to the 100 most underfunded districts. Teach Plus also worked with partners to influence Pennsylvania’s Basic Education Funding Commission to propose $7 billion in new funding over the next seven years, with underfunded districts set to receive the most. The proposal came after the courts deemed the state’s school funding system unconstitutional. Teach Plus staff and teacher leaders testified before the commission, submitted written comments and testimony, helped plan and lead rallies and press conferences, and published op-eds. Gov. Josh Shapiro adopted the commission’s first-year numbers in his 2024-2025 budget proposal, and Teach Plus is now working with partners and legislators to ensure the full seven-year plan is enacted into legislation in 2024
Teach Plus teacher leaders in Pennsylvania have also passed multiple bills to address Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage crisis, including legislation that creates a new high school pathway into teaching, improves data collection on the diversity of the workforce and the number of teacher vacancies, and creates a $10 million student teacher stipend program. To expand, strengthen, and diversify the state’s teaching profession, Teach Plus Pennsylvania leads the #PANeedsTeachers coalition and works closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Department of Labor and Industry. Teach Plus also successfully advocated for updated teacher certification requirements in Pennsylvania to ensure teachers are trained in the science of reading and culturally relevant and sustaining education.
“As I testified before the commission, if we want to see improved student achievement, economic growth, and a strong workforce in Pennsylvania, investing in adequate and equitable educational opportunities for all Pennsylvania’s students is the best investment we as taxpayers can make. We’re encouraged that the commission adopted our recommendations to make adequacy an explicit goal of our funding system, and that they agreed that school funding increases must be paired with additional investments in rebuilding our teacher pipeline and workforce in order to be effective.”
Laura Boyce
Teach Plus Pennsylvania Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus Pennsylvania.
Texas
In 2023, Teach Plus Texas teacher leaders’ efforts led to the adoption of high quality instructional materials and the infusion of more than $500 million to ensure all students have access to rigorous and on-grade-level instructional materials. These materials and the resources that accompany them will relieve teachers of curriculum development responsibilities and allow them to focus on classroom instruction. Their advocacy works also brought about more widespread tutoring and other academic support for students who need it most.
“This victory streamlines what materials flow into our schools, benefitting both teachers and students. Our teacher leaders scored big, expanding equitable student opportunities that will shape successful futures.”
Kevin Malonson
Teach Plus Texas Executive Director
Learn more about Teach Plus Texas.
