Release

“CBS MORNINGS” EXCLUSIVE: FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN ON GETTING TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS THE PAY THEY DESERVE: “IT STARTS AT THE TOP”

Jill Biden and Nation’s Top Educators Discuss Teaching During COVID Pandemic: “We Should Just Be Fighting the Virus, Not One Another”

CBS MORNINGS co-host Gayle King spoke with the first lady, Jill Biden, and the National Teacher of the Year finalists and winners for an exclusive interview on education during the pandemic.

Watch Part 1 here: https://cbsn.ws/3vsfr8z

Twitter link: https://bit.ly/3DRi1If

Watch Part 2 here: https://cbsn.ws/3pcN3pT

Twitter link: https://bit.ly/3DVWApu

Excerpts:

- Jill Biden on teachers receiving more pay: “I think Joe is saying, ‘We have to pay our teachers more.’ And we’re getting more money to the schools. I don’t know whether you’ve gotten the money from the American Rescue Plan or whether you felt its impacts yet. But Joe has always, that’s one of the things he ran on. And he knows, I mean, because I’m an educator and he saw, you know, the hours that I put in, just like all these teachers. And then the states, the governors and the state legislators. I mean, they have to give more money to teachers. I mean, it’s just the bottom line.”

- 2020 National Teacher of the Year Tabatha Rosproy on teachers opting to leave because of pay and compensation: “This is news from the ground level, is that compensation is not fair for our educators. Some of our districts have said, ‘We’ve frozen salaries this year, but here’s a $200 COVID-bonus,’ right, for working through hazardous work conditions. The emotional labor, the physical labor, the amount of extra work and things we have to learn have not been fairly compensated. And our states have not always come through with funding. I think they’re trying really hard.”

- John Arthur on being a teacher: “It’s not only dangerous in terms of our health. It’s a little bit precarious due to the political situation we find ourselves in, where you have folks showing up at school board meetings very upset. And as a teacher and as a parent myself and as just a member of my community, I feel all these mixed emotions because I see folks who are upset. I just want to embrace them and say, ‘We’re all in this together.’”

- Jill Biden on talking to the president about the problems teachers face: “I think I go home every single day and tell him about my students, about teachers, about what we’re facing in our classrooms, and the thing I love about Joe is he listens. He has listened. And look at the American Rescue Plan. And look at all the money he gave to schools and for social development and mental health, things that are really important to teachers.”

Follow CBS MORNINGS on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

* * *

Press Contacts:

Samantha Graham

 

GrahamS@cbsnews.com

Tucker Hart

 

HartT@cbsnews.com