President Trump’s December 28 executive order expands educational opportunity by providing emergency learning scholarships to disadvantaged K-12 students to access in-person learning. These grants meet an urgent need among low-income, special needs, and minority students who have been disproportionately affected by school closures.

There was a stark difference between public and private schools in how they handled the launch of the school year in mid-August to early September in response to COVID-19. The situation is no different as 2020 comes to a close. Half of all public schools are closed either entirely or partially, as opposed to private schools who scrambled last summer to open on day one of their scheduled school year and haven't looked back.

Before jumping on the increase-teacher-pay bandwagon, several factors influencing teacher pay need to be understood. These include the seniority-based salary calculation system, the nine-month work year, and the higher demand for expertise in technical subjects.

Instead of simply championing higher teacher pay, a more sound approach is to implement financial incentives for teachers who meet performance goals, as is the case in other professional fields. Rather than the traditional seniority salary schedule, teacher pay must be determined by demand, expertise, and, most importantly, how well students learn.