; and (C) in 28 states, teachers are paid less than 80 cents on the dollar earned by similar college-educated workers in those states. . (2) Many teachers across the country are working multiple jobs and have to rely on public assistance programs just to make ends meet. According to the Southern Regional Education Board, in 36 States, the average teacher salary is low enough that mid-career teachers who are the head of household for a family of 4 qualify for government benefits. According to a University of California, Berkeley study, between 2014 and 2016, 21 percent of elementary and middle school teachers were part of families enrolled in at least one of the following public assistance programs: (A) The Earned Income Tax Credit under section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (B) The Medicaid program. (C) The Children’s Health Insurance program. (D) The supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 ( 7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq. ). (E) The program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families established under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ). (3) One estimate shows that in school year 2020–2021, 17 percent of public school teachers worked multiple jobs during the school year, such as working in restaurants or driving for ride-share platforms. (4) A similar pattern of inflation-adjusted weekly wages can be seen for school paraprofessionals and other instructional staff. The lack of sufficient and competitive wages is even more pronounced in other school staff roles, with many school staff unable to earn a livable wage. The median pay in the 2019–2020 school year was $13 an hour for school food service workers, $16.36 an hour for bus drivers, $15.34 an hour for school building and cleaning workers, and $19.50 an hour for school administrative and support workers. (5) According to the National Education Association, the average starting teacher salary in the United States was $42,845 in the 2021–2022