Competitive salaries for teachers “would lower attrition rates and attract fresh talent that would push everyone to do better,” writes Colette Coleman, a former educator in Los Angeles and Indonesia, in a guest essay for The New York Times.

“For many teachers, the extra money would allow them to quit second jobs and give their primary work the attention it needs,” adds Coleman. “It’s past time to match our lofty cross-partisan rhetoric about valuing our children and caring about education.”

Read her full column here.