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All Teachers Deserve Maternity and Paternity Leave
Final signature count: 5,803
5,803 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Literacy Site
Teachers shouldn't be forced to return to the classroom long before they're ready after having a new child. Take a stand!
Children are our future. In order for them to grow into the leaders of tomorrow, they need to be nurtured and protected today.
The best way to do that is to make sure teachers are mentally and physically healed after having their own children.
More than 75% of teachers are women, with most working during their prime childbearing years1, yet a limited amount of individual school districts and a handful of states provide paid parental leave for teachers2.
In many cases, educators are forced to scrape together their unused sick days, or supplement them with unpaid leave and return to the classroom long before they’re ready3.
As a result teachers have been leaving the profession in droves and children’s education is suffering for it4.
At local and state levels, NEA affiliates with the power to collectively bargain have fought for contracts that include family leave. Unions also have lobbied for state legislation, but there is still no national policy that guarantees access to paid leave for new parents5.
Family leave policies for teachers have increasingly been on the radars of policymakers, who see this as a recruitment and retention tool5. In Delaware, a law gives state workers, including educators, 12 weeks of paid parental leave6. Teachers in New York City are eligible for six weeks of paid parental leave7. Teachers from the Chicago International Charter Schools network won benefits that included one week of paid parental leave, but only after they went on strike8.
While federal laws only guarantee new parents six weeks of unpaid time off9, a social media campaign for #showusyourleave exposed how much time off teachers across the U.S. receive after bringing a new baby into the world10.
Of the 600+ correspondents, 60% said they get no time off outside of any sick or personal days accrued. 30% get between 6-12 weeks off, although most of it is unpaid. And the remaining lucky few (almost all international) get more than 12 weeks off.
Help us take a stand for educators, and support them as they help our children thrive. Sign the petition and ask the U.S. Secretary of Education to mandate 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all teachers.
