Joe Biden's plan follows broad education proposals unveiled by other top candidates. | Michael Dwyer/AP Photo education Biden rolls out plan to hike teacher pay in low-income schools

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a wide-ranging K-12 and early education plan, targeted to increasing teacher pay, providing universal pre-K and leveling the playing field between rich and poor school districts.

The former vice president aims to close a massive funding gap between majority white and non-white school districts by spending $45 billion on federal grants to low-income districts under the Title I program. That would be nearly triple the current level.


The additional money would first be used to ensure teachers in low-income districts receive “competitive” pay, provide 3- and 4-year-olds with access to preschool and ensure districts put in place “rigorous coursework across all their schools, not just a few.”

School districts would be allowed to use the funds to meet other local priorities after those conditions are met. The plan also says Biden would work with states to provide universal pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

“Everybody’s going to tell you how much they value education,” he said at a town hall meeting with teachers in Houston on Tuesday night. “I’ve got an expression I use: Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I will tell you what you value.”

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Biden, now considered the Democratic field’s front-runner, rolled out his plan during the forum, which is part of an elaborate teachers union endorsement process led by the American Federation of Teachers. He was joined by his wife, Jill Biden, who has spent more than three decades in education.

His rollout follows broad education proposals unveiled by other candidates, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who also called for tripling Title I funding for low-income schools and for setting a minimum starting salary for teachers of $60,000. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) proposed spending $315 billion over 10 years to boost teacher pay, while former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro has called forgiving teachers a tax credit of up to $10,000.

The Biden plan outlines a host of other ideas, including doubling the number of mental health professionals in schools at a cost of $2.5 billion a year, funding for public school infrastructure improvements, fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act within 10 years and school vocational training.

During the forum, he discussed eliminating tax breaks, but didn't specify how that would be applied to financing this plan.

He said he would spend $32 million a year to expand community schools that provide "wraparound support" for students and their families.

Biden also pledges to “defeat the National Rifle Association” to make schools safer by pushing legislation he helped author as a senator in 1994 to ban “assault”-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. The ban expired in 2004.

While taking questions from the crowd, Biden said he's for free community college and against for-profit charter schools, saying "it siphons off money for our public schools, which are already in enough trouble."

When a 10-year-old girl asked him about divisions in this country, he said addressing that is part of the reason he's running for president and then told her: "I'll bet you're as bright as you are good-looking." She told him her favorite subject is journalism so he led her to the back to meet the press corps.

"The reason we are who we are is called a free press," he said, standing behind the girl while putting his hands on her shoulders. "Continuing to denigrate it is dangerous."

AFT president Randi Weingarten introduced Biden as one of the "best friends working people have ever had" in federal office and called him the union's "go-to guy" during the Obama administration, even on occasions when the union disagreed with the administration's positions.

Responding to his plan, National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García said that “as the eyes of the nation turn to the 2020 presidential campaign, the country is hungry to elect a president who will not only do what is in the best interest of public education but also ensure that students have the schools they deserve.”

Biden’s plan makes note of the wave of teacher strikes across the nation, praising teachers who have “heroically” organized walkouts and other actions to “stand up” for pay, benefits and resources for their students.

In addition to increased pay, he pledges to invest $1 billion a year to help teachers earn additional certifications in high-demand areas, such as special education, and pay teachers for additional work, such as serving as mentors. He would help educators pay off student loans by fixing and simplifying the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness program

"How do we increase the professionalization of how you’re treated unless we pay you what you are remotely entitled to?" he asked during the forum.

Biden also calls for improving teacher diversity by supporting more innovative approaches to recruiting teachers of color and building “the best, most innovative schools in the country” in low-income communities and communities of color.

He pledges to provide grants to school districts to create and implement plans to diversify their schools, and he says he would reinstate Obama administration guidance that “supported schools in legally pursuing desegregation strategies and recognized institutions of higher education’s interests in creating diverse student bodies.”

The Trump administration last year rescinded Obama-era guidance on the use of race in college admissions, and nixed documents encouraging schools to increase diversity through approaches such as school zoning.