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 recent 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 off11.

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.

More on this issue:

1. Rachel M. Cohen, Rethinking Schools (2022), "Teachers and the Struggle for Paid Family Leave."
2. National Conference of State Legislatures (29 April 2022), "State Family and Medical Leave Laws."
3. Madeline Will, EducationWeek (1 April 2019), "With No Paid Parental Leave, Many Teachers Return to Class Before They’re Ready."
4. Jessica Dickler, CNBC (1 March 2021), "More teachers plan to quit as Covid stress overwhelms educators."
5. Mary Ellen Flannery (21 October 2021), "Paid Family Leave for Educators: Now, Please!"
6. Office of the Governor, Delaware.gov (30 June 2018), "Governor Carney Signs 12-Week Paid Parental Leave Into Law."
7. Brenda Iasevoli, EducationWeek (21 June 2018), "After a Long Fought Battle, New York City Teachers to Get Paid Parental Leave."
8. Chicago International Charter School (18 February 2019), "Chicago International Charter School (CICS) released the following statement on the end of the strike at four Civitas campuses."
9. Ellen Francis, Helier Cheung, Miriam Berger, The Washington Post (11 November 2021), "How does the U.S. compare to other countries on paid parental leave? Americans get 0 weeks. Estonians get more than 80."
10. Nikki Katz, We Are Teachers (23 November 2021), "Teachers Share How Much Paid Parental Leave They Receive."