To Attract and Keep Good Teachers, Solve for X

Jeff Bezos touched a nerve last week when he argued that taxing billionaires would not solve public education’s problems or meaningfully improve teacher pay. Speaking on CNBC, the Amazon founder said he already pays “billions of dollars in taxes” and pointed out that New York City already spends $44,000 per student per year with underwhelming outcomes. He added, “you could double the taxes I pay and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens, I promise you.” In a post on X, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded, “I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.” Meanwhile Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and California Congressman Ro Khanna have proposed a federally mandated $60,000 starting salary for public school teachers funded by taxing billionaires. Predictably, the debate that followed mostly talked past the real issue, which is not just paying but working conditions. Teachers are not simply saying, “I don’t get paid enough.” They’re saying, “I don’t get paid enough to put up with X.” We need to solve for X. X equals classrooms where chronic disruption and disorder make teaching nearly impossible. X equals the steady expansion of the teacher’s role from instructor to counselor, therapist, social worker, and surrogate parent. X equals the bureaucratic burdens of meetings, paperwork, compliance mandates, and initiative overload. X equals the simple exhaustion of trying to do too many things at once. It’s expecting teachers to solve every social problem that manifests itself inside a schoolhouse door. Sanders and Khanna’s proposal is not a new one. In 2024, I testified before the Senate HELP Committee on the same basic proposal, arguing that “higher pay does not make a hard job easier to perform. It lifts no burden off a teacher’s shoulders, nor does it add hours to a teacher’s day.” That remains unchanged today. Sure, higher salaries might help recruit some teachers into the profession. But unless the conditions of the work itself improve, highe