Media clips

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• CTA campaigns for Prop. 3, renewal of income tax for high earners

  The California Teachers Association called for more funding for public schools and campaigned for Proposition 3 at a Thursday morning news conference.

  The CTA presented a joint report from the Economic Policy Institute, a research organization focused on labor and working-class issues, and the CTA Institute for Teaching. The report compared the amount states spent on education in 2022, compared to their gross domestic product, and concluded that California was in the bottom third in student spending. The state spent 20.3% of its GDP on education that year, according to the study.

  Researchers spoke to educators, school staff, administrators and youth advocacy groups to determine the state’s needs, said Hilary Wething, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

  “The need for greater funding for California public schools is felt across all of those stakeholders that I just mentioned, not just for the teachers facing crowded classrooms and not just from students suffering dilapidated buildings, but also superintendents, staff, and really everyone in between,” Wething said. 

  EdSource August 31, 2026
• He’s one of the workers making the State Fair run

  We don’t have the money for that? The Economic Policy Institute has a nifty new calculator that tells you exactly how much your state’s (or metro’s) taxpayers are paying for the billions of dollars ICE is getting, and what that could pay for instead.

  Iowa Starting Line August 31, 2026
• Chipotle CEO just dumped $1.1 million in stock to cover his tax bill — what it reveals about how executive pay really works

  ​It’s no secret that executives live in a different economic universe than the average worker. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), CEOs earned 281 times more than the “typical worker” as of 2024. While this pay gap has always been present, it has widened dramatically in recent years, up from just 21 times in 1965.​

  The EPI also estimated CEO compensation increased by 1,094% between 1978 and 2024 versus a 26% pay bump for average workers.

  MoneyWise August 31, 2026
• Behind prison walls, Maryland women sew flags for Fort McHenry

  Nationwide, incarcerated workers earn an average of 13 to 52 cents an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But in seven states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas — almost all prison work remains unpaid. The issue is part of a much larger debate over prison labor.

  WYPR August 31, 2026
• How to Check In on Your 401(k) Fees

  Monique Morrissey, a senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a June letter that the proposal would “gut protections for retirement savers” and prioritize maximizing investment returns over balancing risk. She cited a 2025 AARP survey finding most Americans don’t think it’s important to be able to access private market investments or cryptocurrency in their retirement accounts.

  ProPublica August 31, 2026
• Trump Administration Illegally Cut Farmworkers’ Wages, Judge Rules

  In an analysis of the Trump rule, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, projected that the lower pay rates for H-2A workers would have a huge effect on U.S. farmworkers, reducing their annual wages by up to $3 billion a year, or up to 9% of their total wages. 

  The authors noted that the Trump administration also removed an earlier requirement that employers pay H-2A workers’ entire housing costs while they work for them.

  Huffpost August 31, 2026
• Why the dream of ‘having it all’ is finally dead

  The decline in affordability is not from a lack of hustling. According to the Economic Policy Institute, worker productivity has increased 93.2% since 1979, but hourly pay has risen only 33.7%. Instead, factors like high inflation, growing income inequality, political strife, and healthcare expenses have all contributed to making life less affordable for many Americans. Some, like Ange, rely on side gigs and additional income streams to get by.

  Fast Company August 31, 2026
• Canal Street shooting witness Daniel Tirado Pantoja released from ICE custody amid Houston immigration scrutiny

  The Economic Policy Institute estimates Harris County taxpayers’ share of that federal spending exceeds $4.1 billion through the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term. Adding Fort Bend, Galveston and Montgomery counties brings the regional estimate to an additional $1.8 billion.

  Click 2 Houston August 31, 2026
• Trump and Vance Just Gave Maine Democrat Troy Jackson Two Big Gifts

  Public school teachers are still woefully underpaid, earning about a quarter less than comparable college graduates working in other professions. So find the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute in a review of 2025 federal data. The “teacher pay penalty,” as they call this income gap, was an estimated 25.2 percent last year. That’s actually an improvement from 2024, when it hit a record high of 26.9 percent—but a far cry from the early 1990s, when it hovered in the single digits before steadily plunging after the turn of the century. 

  The New Republic August 31, 2026
• “DAY AHEAD” – My Daily Editorial Note

  As schools reopen in more US communities this week, the cost crisis is further squeezing teachers. Just ask any teacher who had to his the store this month for classroom supplies…. The costs add up.

  A new report this morning from the Economic Policy Institute in DC argues there is also a teacher “pay penalty” that’s worsening nationwide. Their report found teacher salaries aren’t growing nearly as fast as wages in other professions. This was a topline finding of the study, “Teachers earned on average 74.8 cents on the dollar in 2025 compared with other college graduates—much less than the relative 93.9 cents on the dollar that teachers earned in 1996.”

  Scott MacFarlane Reports Substack August 31, 2026