Teachers agree: All of the chatter about how bad things are in K-12 schooling in America IS true. We submit to our fellow Americans two (of many) incredibly salient pieces of evidence--The first of which is that most conservative estimates place the United States in the bottom half of the world for literacy rates. 

Another incredible problem which is poorly understood by our leaders is our national teacher shortage crisis, which we cannot even accurately quantify, due to a lack of consistent reporting practices across the nation. But even with the jaw-dropping lack of data about the teacher shortage, we do know that it is impacting rural, urban, and special education students the most.  It crosses ALL party lines, and is equally present in red, blue, and purple states and counties.  In fact, the entire west coast--California, Oregon, AND Washington, are all guilty of some of the most egregious teacher shortage reporting issues.

But, the U.S. Department of Education is not to blame.

It seems reasonable that people should blame them.  And we're not saying that they don't have massive room for improvement, (indeed, this entire petition is our plan to do JUST that), but the reality behind K-12 educational governance in America is far more confusing, bizarre, and shocking than this. In fact, K-12 governance is convoluted, veiled, piecemeal, and left totally in the hands of local elected officials who have no formal training or experience in K-12 public education.

The REAL power in K-12 education lies in the hand of school boards, which are locally elected officials, without formal education or experience, who use their power to hire school district leaders. These district leaders often taught for a very short time, a very long time ago, rendering their expertise out of date, and woefully insufficient.  But MOST importantly, they serve at the pleasure of their school boards, and have given up tenure protection once they left the classroom (in states where tenure is even available).

Moreover, the offices of education at the county, state, and federal level have never been properly invested in to be able to hold our local school districts accountable, so they do not have any infrastructure in place to ensure the quality of our data and the education we provide to our nation's youth.

This bizarre state of affairs means that all of the decision makers in K-12 education are either woefully underqualified or suffer from a horrible conflict of interest--or is often the case--BOTH.

To be clear, the face of the problem is nuanced and complex (so much so, we have created an entire podcast--The Rebel Teachers Rising Podcast-- to explain it), but there is one basic through line which cuts to the bone of it all--teachers do not get to make any of the important decisions about teaching in America. 

But how could this be?

The answer is quite simple--our public school system was established with a noble goal in mind--to provide free public schooling to our nation's youth in order to ensure a healthy democracy.  The trouble is, the profession was intentionally and explicitly created for women in the 1830s, during a time when women could not vote, own property, or sign contracts.  This resulted in a structural flaw in our public schooling in America--the true experts in teaching our nation's youth--our current, veteran K-12 teachers--have no formal positions of leadership over teaching in America.  

We are the only credentialed body of professionals in America with NO national professional governing board.  

We have instead thrown all of the creative work in our profession out into the free market place, and have gotten NOTHING back on our nation's SUBSTANTIAL investments.

Indeed--"Big textbook" makes BILLIONS of dollars every year selling local districts garbage that does not work, which they claim can mitigate teacher shortages.  This is NOT true--and teachers are increasingly side-lined more and more with each passing year.  

The only way forward is to empower the experts who know better, and to form a national professional work force--an association of teachers which can oversee the professional standards and oversight, and step into true leadership roles. 

Why Teacher Leaders?

Besides being the experts, teachers have tenure (where is this available), and are an essential missing piece of the checks and balances over K-12 governance.  We are the only entity inside of this beast which is not beholden to the greed and conflict of interest of the political juggernaut of the current system.

We MUST therefore allow current teachers to lead us out of this dystopian mess, by forming a national professional teacher work force which can go toe to toe with school boards and administrators, and force our leaders to do right by our kids.

This association would set up authentic teacher leader positions with real authority who are paid for their work--by releasing CURRENT teachers from part of their teaching duties to lead site, district, state, and national teaching leadership work with equal power and authority as school boards and administrators.

It will take an act of congress to save our nation from this crisis, and force the politicians who first formed this mess in the 1830s, to finally fix the problems baked into the profession from the beginning.  It may sound like a lot, but we are only asking for the same ability to shape our profession that the American Medical Association, and the American Bar Association grant to their similarly educated workforce.

Teachers are presently the only credentialed work force in the US which does not have a national professional board, staffed by its own current professionals, which sets the standards of practice, and ensures the quality of this essential service we offer our society. 

We aren't saying that we should be the ONLY and FINAL leaders, but we ARE saying that we should at least be given a seat at the table!

The situation is dire, and we need all hands on deck, because the current leaders in K-12 education have gotten very good at superficial, incomplete, or totally absent implementation of educational reforms and requirements, and are allowed free reign to rule at a micro-local level with little to no oversight. They tick boxes, and make things look good on paper, while our nation suffers the consequences of diminishing returns on our substantial financial investment in K-12 schooling. 

Teachers have sacred knowledge which will save the very future of our nation, but we need the power and space to do so.

We know where the work must begin--fixing the bizarre and oppressive manner in which teachers are paid--a fact which has been kept hidden from our politicians who are scrambling and asking all the wrong people why there is such a horrific shortage of talent in our profession. 

This is the score; teachers have to work over two decades, and many are forced to pay for dozens of additional graduate units (which we are required to pay for), to slowly build up to earning their full salary, meaning most teachers in the United States today only earn a fraction of a complete salary. The entire system relies on teacher pay being subsidized by a wealthy spouse, or access to generational wealth. 

We also know that teacher preparation requirements need to be standardized, streamlined, and free. 

We urge everyone to sign this petition which we will bring before the US Congressional Subcommittee for Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, who must author legislation to create this professional body, and fix this mess.

By signing this petition, you are also calling out the greedy hands of NGOs, textbook companies, and other corporations, all making money hand over fist on our tax dollars to provide a service, which can be done better and cheaper by teachers!

This newly formed national teacher association will have a lot of work to do out of the gate to fix this mess, but it's our only hope to preserve the free world--pure and simple, for without immediate substantial reforms, our very ability to effectively self-govern hangs in the balance.   

Additionally, only teachers still in the classroom today have any ability to begin to muddle through what is going on with our children since the pandemic related lockdowns.  We are watching in horror, as K-12 leaders double down on the status quo, while our nation's precious youth--the future leaders of America and the free world--languish and suffer.

Yes, it will take an act of Congress. Yes, it may be a demanding task. But, with the combined efforts of committed teachers, supportive communities, and empathetic lawmakers, we believe we can fix this mess. Together, we must act to preserve the dignity and efficacy of our profession, ensuring a quality education for our future generations which stands ready to engage in our precious and fragile American democracy. Please add your signature to our petition for a transformed and empowered teaching profession.

Say yes, to a national teacher workforce, which is organized under a self-governed body of veteran teachers who have the ability to push back against the waste, greed, and apathy, and fight for our kids and the very future of our nation.

We are standing by, ready to get work to fix this mess.

For more information visit: rebelteachersrising.com