From left to right: Taylor Spieker (Montana), Tess Carlson (California), Keisha Harris (Louisiana), Melina Recio (Texas), Fran Lazette (Michigan), Steve Dull (Indiana), Elizabeth Maxcey (Mississippi), Jevons Liu (Maryland), Renee Atkinson (South Carolina), Lorelei Jackson (Colorado), Jordan Vogel (North Carolina), Cara Maxwell (Arkansas), Sharon Collins (New York), Emma Muth (Nevada), and Calvin Epps (Illinois)
Washington, D.C., May 19, 2026—Sixteen Teach Plus National Teacher Policy Cabinet (NTPC) members from regions across the country came together on Capitol Hill for three days to meet with legislators from 17 states and elevate avenues to strengthen the teacher workforce and create opportunities for students.
“There is no better advocate for education legislation and funding than a teacher leader who can create a bridge between the federal landscape and the realities of the classroom,” said Kira Orange Jones, CEO. “By bringing the National Teacher Policy Cabinet to Capitol Hill, we are ensuring that the professionals who best understand the challenges facing our school systems are the ones driving conversations about how to catalyze progress.”
The teacher leaders met with 61 House and Senate offices, including staff members from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Teachers also had the opportunity to meet with staff from House and Senate leadership offices, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin.
The NTPC, a nonpartisan cabinet of classroom educators informing federal Teach Plus policy, champions legislation that advances student opportunity and elevates state innovations, including the Strengthening Educator Workforce Data bill. Read Teach Plus’s Congressional Priorities here.
“I had a very exciting and impactful day on Capitol Hill speaking with members of the Illinois Congressional delegation: Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Eric Sorensen. We discussed innovative teaching practices and the need for increased federal investment in public education,” said Cabinet Member Calvin Epps, who teaches in Chicago.
During their meetings, Cabinet members urged lawmakers to modernize the teaching profession by investing in innovative workforce approaches, specifically advocating for strategic staffing models and high-quality instructional materials. By scaling these proven solutions federally, the NTPC emphasized that Congress can simultaneously address the national teacher shortage and accelerate student achievement.
“The NTPC Hill Week provided a powerful platform to bring our classroom expertise directly to lawmakers. These impactful conversations are essential for shaping policy that genuinely improves teacher working conditions and student learning outcomes,” said Cabinet Member Reneé Atkinson, who is the 2024 South Carolina Teacher of the Year.
NTPC General Members in Washington, D.C., were:
- Arkansas – Cara Maxwell, pre-kindergarten teacher
- Illinois – Calvin Epps, high school special education mathematics instructor
- Louisiana – Keisha Harris, 7th-grade mathematics teacher
- Maryland – Jevons Liu, high school mathematics and special education teacher
- Mississippi – Elizabeth Maxcey, high school special education teacher
- New York – Sharon Collins, high school mathematics teacher
- North Carolina – Jordan Vogel, K-12 special education teacher
- Oregon – Carolyn Breedlove, K-5 special education teacher leader
- South Carolina – Reneé Atkinson, high school English language arts teacher
NTPC Senior Members in Washington, D.C., were:
- Montana – Taylor Spieker, high school multilingual educator
NTPC Executive Members in Washington, D.C., were:
- California – Tess Carlson, high school science teacher
- Colorado – Lorelei Jackson, K-8 special education specialist
- Indiana – Steve Dull, high school mathematics teacher
- Michigan – Frances Lazette, Teach Plus Teacher in Residence and middle school U.S. history and French teacher
- Nevada – Emma Muth, second-grade teacher
- Texas – Melina Recio, 10th and 11th grade pre-AP English II and AP Language and Composition teacher
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: to act boldly and create the conditions where every student can imagine their future—and experience an education that delivers the opportunity to realize it. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning for students.
