Senator Kamala Harris of California announced a plan Tuesday to heavily invest federal money into teacher pay, the first policy rollout of her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.

Ms. Harris’s proposal, which was billed as the “largest federal investment in teacher pay in U.S. history,” marks the next step for a campaign that began in February before a crowd of 20,000 supporters.

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In a statement detailing the proposed increase in teacher pay, Ms. Harris said that, under her administration, the Department of Education would create incentivized baselines for teacher salaries that local school districts would have to meet in order to receive certain federal funds.

The average teacher in America would receive a $13,500 pay increase, the campaign said.

“We have got to think about how we can bridge the gap between helplessness and hope,” Ms. Harris said at a campaign rally in Houston on Saturday, where she unveiled early portions of the teacher pay plan. “We don’t need walls. We need bridges. And that’s what we need in the next president of the United States — someone who knows how to build bridges, not walls.”