Heinrich Cosponsors RETAIN Act to Improve Teacher Pay & Retention, Address Educator Shortage in New Mexico
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is cosponsoring the Retaining Educators Takes Added Investment Now (RETAIN) Act to address severe nationwide shortages of early childhood and K-12 teachers that disproportionately impact students from low-income backgrounds and students of color. The goal of the RETAIN Act is to provide an incentive to retain, rather than just recruit educators to high-need schools.
“Investing in our educator workforce is also an investment in our children and our future economic competitiveness,” said Heinrich. “I’m proud of the steps New Mexico has taken in recent years to increase salaries for public school teachers and education professionals. But it’s clear we need to do more to confront long-term educator workforce pipeline challenges. That includes providing our educators with the salaries they deserve and creating incentives like these tax credits to encourage more New Mexicans to both pursue and stay in careers that help prepare our children for success.”
The RETAIN Act, led in the Senate by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), creates a fully refundable tax credit for teachers, paraprofessionals, mental health providers, and school leaders in Title I schools and for educators, program providers, and program directors in Head Start, Early Head Start, and Child Care & Development Block Grant funded early childhood education programs.
The tax credit increases as these professionals become more experienced to incentivize retention, using the following schedule:
- For the first year of employment: $5,800
- For the second continuous year of employment: $5,800
- For the third and fourth continuous years of employment: $7,000
- For the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth continuous years of employment: $8,700
- For the tenth continuous year of employment: $11,600
- For the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth continuous years of employment: $8,70
- For the sixteenth continuous year of employment: $7,000
- For the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth continuous years of employment: $5,800.
The RETAIN Act also allows for cost-of-living adjustments in future years using an inflation-based formula and prohibits state and local education agencies from reducing educator salaries or loan forgiveness should this refundable credit be enacted.
Nationwide, between February 2020 and May 2022, at least 300,000 teachers at public elementary and secondary schools left the field. Low pay, school leadership instability, and poor teaching conditions have only made it more difficult for schools in low-income communities to retain experienced, qualified education professionals. On average, teachers are paid 23.5 percent less than other college graduates working in non-teaching fields, and teachers in low-income schools are more underpaid than teachers in more affluent schools.
Teacher pay is largely shaped by local tax revenue, and to receive modest increases, teachers must obtain expensive graduate degrees—adding student loan debt that dwarfs the accompanying pay raise. Further, schools consistently struggle to attract and retain teachers who reflect the diversity of students, particularly with respect to teachers who are Black, Hispanic, or male.
In recent years, New Mexico has made important strides to raise salaries for teachers and other education staff, and made historic investments in early childhood education and support for K-12 students.
Still, according to the most recent New Mexico Educator Vacancy Report from New Mexico State University’s Southwest Outreach Academic Research Evaluation & Policy Center, there were nearly 1,500 educator vacancies in the state—including 751 vacant teaching positions—as of September 2023. According to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), historic educator workforce shortages in New Mexico mean that more than 20,000 students in New Mexico do not have well-trained educators.
The following organizations support the RETAIN Act: American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, AASA - The School Superintendents Association, Advance CTE, All4Ed, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, American School Counselor Association, Association for Career and Technical Education, Association of Illinois Montessori Schools, Chicago Teachers Union, Council of Administrators of Special Education, Deans for Impact, Edifying Teachers, Education Leaders of Color, Educators for Excellence, First Five Years Fund, FourPoint Education Partners, Illinois Education Association-NEA, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Joint National Committee for Languages, KIPP Public Schools, Learning Forward, Montessori Public Policy Initiative, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of School Psychologists, National Council for Languages and International Studies, National Rural Education Association, New Leaders, Service Employees International Union, Teach for America, Teach Plus, Teacher Salary Project, The New Teacher Project, and UnidosUS.
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