She pledged by the end of her first term to close a pay gap that Harris said currently amounts to teachers making about $13,000 a year less than other college graduates. . . .

Harris’ campaign is citing a study from the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute that found that what’s called the “teacher pay penalty” — the difference in compensation for teachers and comparable public workers — is larger than ever. The Economic Policy Institute study puts the teacher compensation penalty at a record-high 11.1 percent in 2017.

Harris, a U.S. senator from California, plans to release more details of the plan next week, but she said her proposal will amount to the largest federal investment in teacher pay in American history. It was not immediately clear how much money Harris is calling to be diverted to educators’ pay or how the plan will be funded, but she told a packed gymnasium at Texas Southern University that the cost shouldn’t be the question.