Republican Senator Wonders How Inner City Teachers ‘Got Degrees’

In a Thursday interview with Donald Trump Jr., Senator Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, questioned if inner city teachers knew how to read and write, adding that he didn’t “know how they got degrees.”

The senator made the comments on Trump Jr.’s podcast, Triggered, as part of a long-ranging conversation the two had about the GOP’s 2024 presidential options, the FBI and his former career as a football coach.

“The COVID really brought it out how bad our schools are, and how bad our teachers are in the inner city,” Tuberville told Trump Jr. “Most of them in the inner cities, I don’t know how they got degrees to be honest with you. I don’t know whether they can read and write. They want a raise and less time to work, less time in school. We ruined work ethic in this country.”

The pair also discussed the continued blocking of some 196 Department of Defense (DOD) military appointments, according to figures recently announced by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who announced the DOD would implement multiple new policies intended to fill gaps in reproductive care for service members and their families. Tuberville has been blamed by Austin for putting a hold on nominations, with the senator maintaining that he would continue his stance “unless the secretary rescinds or suspends his newly implemented policy facilitating taxpayer-funded abortions for the military and their family members.”

Steven Stafford, spokesperson for the senator, told Newsweek via email on Friday that Tuberville—a strong school choice advocate—was specifically referring to Baltimore due to 23 city schools recently reporting zero proficiency in math, according to local news station WBFF.

Stafford gave other examples that fit Tuberville’s critiques, including Chicago being home to 55 schools not having a single student proficient in math, and 33 schools without a single student proficient in reading, which was reported by Fox News earlier this year. Stafford also mentioned how four out of five Washington D.C. students are not proficient in math, with two-thirds not being proficient in reading and writing, Axios reported last year.

“The list goes on,” Stafford said. “Coach is far from the first person to criticize inner city schools, and the critics know that. Can the critics really say our current education system is successful? As coach said in the interview, one of the reasons he ran for office was because of his compassion for kids trapped in failing schools. As a coach and a mentor unlocking opportunity for young people for 40 years, he watched a marked decline in our education system and found it deeply alarming.”

Amy Marlowe, executive director of the Alabama Education Association (AEA), told Newsweek via phone that Tuberville’s comments on Thursday were a “cheap political soundbite,” and that she and other educators expected more from him considering his own background in football and working with youth.

“It’s really disheartening and unbelievable to know that Senator Tuberville feels that way about the hard-workingmen and women in Alabama schools,” Marlowe said. “We’ve always been encouraged and hopeful that we could have a working relationship with him, considering his work with young people throughout his coaching career. But to hear that these are his thoughts about men and women teaching in Alabama schools is regretful. It’s very disappointing.”

She also questioned whether the senator is privy to what happened in his own state, based on his pandemic-related comments. Marlowe pointed out that statewide educators worked with the governor’s office and state health officials, becoming the first state in the country to go back to in-person instruction.

“It’s discouraging to think that at a time when we’re having fewer and fewer young people go into one of the most needed professions in the country, that one of our national leaders is going on record with his private thoughts about the profession. They’re not private anymore,” Marlowe added.

Teachers in the United States make a median annual salary of just over $61,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor statistics in 2021. The average public school teacher salary, according to Salary.com, is $56,483 as of May 1, 2023, with a range falling between $47,169 and $68,884, which is dependent on factors including education, certifications and years of tenure.

Meanwhile, Zip Recruiter estimates that as of last Friday the average inner city teacher in the U.S. makes $49,235 a year—or $23.67 an hour, equivalent to $946 per week or $4,102 per month. The highest annual inner city teacher salary by state is Wyoming at $51,911 per year, according to the recruiter website, and North Carolina at the bottom at $35,640. Alabama inner city teacher salaries are about $45,182.

A December 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) showed that about 96 percent of all public K–12 teachers have at least a four-year college degree, while about 56 percent had advanced degrees. Previously existing national teacher shortages were heavily exacerbated by the pandemic, further impacting educators who had already been worried about poor compensation and stress levels.

“Senator Tuberville’s smearing of teachers, teaching and knowledge is not new, but this cacophony of stereotypical, dehumanizing tropes is a new low,” American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten told Newsweek via email on Friday. “He could only wish to possess the skills and knowledge that educators have, whether they work in urban Birmingham or urban Brooklyn. They are dedicated to their craft, dedicated to meeting students’ needs, and paid far too little to put up with these specious insults. In fact, they earn 23.5 percent less than their colleagues in the private sector. The question I have is why would a coach who made millions off young people’s talents insult his colleagues simply to curry favor with another politician?”

A national survey of American teachers conducted by the National Education Association (NEA) and released in February 2022 found that 55 percent of educators were considering leaving the profession sooner due to COVID-19.

In addition, Tuberville was maligned by some in his own state in 2020, when he quit his job as Auburn University’s head football coach and still made about $5 million even though he broke contract, AL.com reported.