Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1541528
IDEA Turns 50: Fund It Fully O U R U N I O N C E L E B R A T E S the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) this year. One in seven, or 14%, of California public school students, currently receive disability services under IDEA, same as the percentage nationwide. IDEA was signed into law in 1975 and re-authorized in 1990 and 2004. While Congress committed to covering 40% of IDEA costs, it has never funded more than 17%. As CTA Vice President Leslie Littman (above) says in the video at bit.ly/CTA_IDEA50, the Trump Administration now has Special Education funding on the chopping block. Urge your legislators to support the IDEA Full Funding Act (S. 1277/H.R. 2598) at bit.ly/IDEA_FullFunding. See related story on page 38. Figure shows average weekly wages (2024$) of public school teachers and other college graduate (nonteacher) peers. Source: Economic Policy Institute organizing is key to closing Pay Gap K E Y D E M A N D S O F CTA locals in the "We Can't Wait" campaign, as well as being central in our union's organizing and bargaining campaigns, include closing the teacher pay gap, fully staffed schools and stable education funding. Our fight on all these fronts is critical to the future of public education. A new report shows how the current teacher pay gap has widened and that closing it is essential to attracting and retaining qualified educators and boosting student achievement. The September 2025 report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) also underscores unions' role in securing improved teacher wages: "Public- sector collective bargaining should be upheld and expanded, given the role of unions in advocating for improved job quality and better pay," writes report author Sylvia Allegretto. The report echoes Allegretto's findings in her California-specific report issued earlier this year, "California Teacher Pay: Decades of Falling Behind." Although teachers typically receive better benefits packages than other professionals, they are not sufficiently large to offset the growing wage gap. The report suggests targeted and sustained investments in public education to mitigate the teacher pay penalty as well as funding and support at the local, state and federal levels to improve teacher pay and compensation. The report updates EPI's series that has tracked teacher wages and compensation nationally for two decades. It found that stagnant weekly wages of public school teachers have fallen further behind those of college graduates who chose other careers, resulting in a teacher pay gap that hit a record high in 2024. (see chart above). For the EPI full report, visit epi.org. 11 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 I