Teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky have launched massive strikes in order to increase their salaries. In this episode we take a look at teacher pay in the United States and why the current state of affairs is so bad for those in the teaching profession.

We start with a history of teacher pay in the US and the sources of public school funding and how a US Supreme Court case in the 70s dramatically impacted how schools are funded. We then dive into the budget compromises that have been made since the 2008 Recession and how cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy lead to some pretty poor results for public education.

Teacher pay is a problem with difficult solutions, and touches on some of the larger issues with current tax policy. Should we cut taxes to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of schools? Or should public education be of primary importance for the United States?

Some interesting graphs from our research:

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