Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** Sep 12, 2023
For Teachers, It's 'All Work and No Pay'

The well-being of many U.S. public school teachers appears to have improved since the start of the pandemic. However, teachers in some states are still leaving their jobs at higher rates than before COVID-19 hit.

RAND researchers recently conducted a survey to learn more about what might be driving America's educators out of the classroom. Here's what they found:
- Sixty-six percent of U.S. teachers say their base salary is inadequate. That's compared with 39 percent of U.S. working adults.
- On average, teachers want $17,000 more per year to feel that their pay is adequate. This equates roughly to a 27 percent raise--comparable to the estimated gap in pay between teachers and other similarly college-educated workers.
- During the school year, teachers worked more hours per week, on average, than all working adults (53 hours compared with 46).
- Low salary and long working hours were the top-ranked reasons why teachers said they were considering leaving their jobs.
- Compared with white teachers, Black teachers reported working more hours per week and were less satisfied with their base salary. Black teachers were also more likely than white teachers to consider leaving their jobs.

Addressing these issues is important. When teachers leave their jobs, student achievement can suffer, and the cost of replacing teachers can be high. To increase teacher pay and improve working conditions, state policymakers could begin by setting a minimum pay for starting salaries, and district leaders could expand opportunities for extra pay for additional school-related activities.

Read more: [link removed]


How Food Insecurity and Wildfire Risk Are Connected

Last month's wildfires in Maui highlight the link between food insecurity and wildfire prevention, says RAND's Lena Easton-Calabria. A significant decrease in the amount of active farming and ranching land has contributed to the fragility of the island's food supply. This shift has also increased wildfire risk by propelling the unchecked growth of invasive, fire-prone grasses. There are many ways to address this. For example, agroforestry systems, which combine the planting of trees and shrubs with crop and animal farming systems, have proven to be resilient against wildfires. Read more: [link removed]


Are the U.S. and Israel on Parallel Paths?

Deep social and political divisions. Increasingly hostile rhetoric. The prominent role of religious beliefs in politics. According to RAND's Brian Michael Jenkins, these and other trends show how the United States and Israel may be on similar paths. And while the two countries also share a deep sense of foreboding about society heading for civil war, Jenkins says this is unlikely. However, one cannot rule out the real prospect of political violence.

Read more: [link removed]


** RAND Recommends
- Is enough being done to protect humanity from the potential risk of a nuclear war, another deadly pandemic, or AI without guardrails? RAND president and CEO Jason Matheny tackles this question on The Rachman Review, a Financial Times podcast.
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- North Korea's Kim Jong-un appears to be on his way to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Although both leaders oppose the current rules-based international order, their countries' immediate security concerns are quite different, RAND's Naoko Aoki told Bloomberg.
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- The Associated Press interviewed RAND experts Edward Geist and Scott Boston about the uranium-based ammunition the United States is sending to Ukraine.
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** Events
Why Don’t Food-Insecure Veterans Enroll in SNAP? Insights from New RAND Research, Government, and Veteran Organizations
Thursday, September 21, 2023 (Online)
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Navigating Science- and Technology-Focused Postsecondary Options in the Pittsburgh Region
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 (Online)
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Policy Lab: Building the U.S. Workforce Through Stackable Credentials
Thursday, September 28, 2023 (Online)
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Balancing the Needs of Requesting and Producing Parties: Getting E-Discovery Right
Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3-4, 2023 (Arlington, VA)
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** Correction: Last Thursday's newsletter misstated the authors of a recent study on the effects of police officers in schools. The authors are Lucy Sorensen, Montserrat Avila-Acosta, John Engberg, and Shawn Bushway.


** About RAND
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.

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