Please attribute the following statement to IEA President Karl Goeke:
鈥�The U.S. Department of Education has quietly removed the 鈥減rofessional鈥� designation from careers like teaching, social work, nursing, and therapy. This should concern every educator,听parent听and community member. These are the very people who hold our classrooms, our听students听and our communities听together. And now听they鈥檙e听being labeled 鈥渘on-professional.鈥澨�
鈥�What this means听is听the federal government is limiting access to low-cost graduate student loans for these careers,听forcing听our educators,听nurses听and therapists听to go to private lenders听with听higher interest rates and听less听transparency.听听Graduate degrees not only听allow them听to become better at their jobs, which has a direct impact on the quality of听our听students鈥� education,听but those degrees听also allow听for听higher salaries听and professional growth.听
鈥�All of this听makes听advancing听in these professions harder and more expensive at a time when听we鈥檙e听already facing severe听teacher听and education-professional shortages.听
鈥�Ultimately, this听decision makes听it much harder, especially for people in marginalized communities, to improve their practice or increase their compensation, forcing them to leave the classroom.听听
鈥�Classifying teachers and others as non-professional diminishes their听knowledge听and hard work, as well as their dedication to their careers.听听
鈥�It鈥檚听also telling that many of these professions are female听dominated.听Nearly 80 percent听of teachers are women.听Nearly 90 percent听of nurses are women. About 85 percent of social workers are women and 75 percent of therapists.听This decision by the federal government disproportionately affects women’s access to education and career advancement.听
鈥�Contact your congressional representatives and tell them to undo the damage they caused by creating these loan limits in H.R. 1,听also known as听the听鈥渟o-called鈥澨齜ig, beautiful bill, and restore the professional designation.鈥�
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The 135,000 member 黑料视频 (IEA-NEA) is the state鈥檚 largest union. IEA represents Pre K-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
