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A bill filed in the U.S. Senate would guarantee all public schoolteachers across the U.S. a minimum salary of at least $60,000 dollars a year.

The Pay Teachers Act, sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would also triple funding allocated to schools for children from low-income families to more than $36 billion a year. Sanders said public schools need more support, not less.

"We should not be creating a two-tier education system in America," Sanders argued. "One in which we have private schools for the rich and well-connected, and then we have severely underfunded public schools for low-income, working-class, and disabled kids."

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The bill was part of an American Federation of Teachers Town Hall meeting featuring Sanders and Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass. It also included teachers from around the country, including from New Mexico, to talk about low teacher salaries. According to the federation, more than one-third of U.S. teachers make less than $60,000 and many first-year teachers start at under $40,000.

Billie Helean, president of the Rio Rancho School Employees Union and a first grade teacher, said underpaying teachers often pulls them away from fully concentrating on their students.

"It's a fundamental injustice that the very people we entrust with our children's education and well-being are often paid so little that they have to work second or third jobs just to keep their heads above water," Helean contended.

Helean acknowledged New Mexico recently adopted a new program to change the base pay for teachers and allows them to make considerably better salaries as they advance in their careers. She believes it will ultimately improve public schools and give New Mexico students a better education.

"These moves in New Mexico aren't just a political talking point. They're a real investment in the people who work in our schools," Helean emphasized. "It shows that when we value our school employees financially, we value them wholly. And it ripples out to improved education and a healthier school environment for our kids."