Why public school teachers need paid family and medical leave

Jahdziah St. Julien wrote for Hechinger Report about the differences in access to paid family leave for teachers across the United States:

The Biden administration is expected to call for paid family and medical leave in its next major plan aimed at supporting families and revitalizing an economy devastated by the pandemic. It must not leave public school teachers behind.

Before the pandemic, many teachers did not have access to paid leave. A large number had to piece together a handful of paid sick days and unpaid leave in order to take time off to recover from childbirth, bond with a new infant, tend to an ailing family member or care for themselves.

For teachers who did have paid leave, access to the benefit was a result of good luck — they were in the right place, with the right employer, at the right time. Still, even when paid leave was available, some teachers didn’t know that they were eligible, fully understand their rights to the benefit or know how to claim it.