05/06/2026
Most of us can name a teacher who changed our lives. A teacher who noticed something in us before we saw it in ourselves. A teacher who stayed patient, pushed us harder, made us feel safe, or helped us believe that our questions mattered.
That kind of care does not stop when students leave the classroom. Across the country, public school teachers are still showing up for students in the middle of funding fights, book bans, culture war attacks, staff shortages, and political campaigns designed to weaken public education.
This Teacher Appreciation Week, we are honoring educators by standing up for what they need to keep doing the work students depend on. Teachers deserve respect, fair pay, strong unions, fully funded classrooms, and a real voice in the decisions that shape their schools and their students’ futures.
That is why Public School Strong is joining educators, families, and communities across the country in turning appreciation into action. We are thanking the teachers who made a difference in our lives and making it clear that public school educators deserve support all year long.
Teachers are doing far more than teaching lessons. They are creating welcoming classrooms, supporting students through crises, mentoring young people, organizing for better schools, and fighting to make sure every child has a real chance to thrive.
But too many politicians praise teachers in public while refusing to pay them what they are worth, refusing to fully fund their schools, and refusing to listen when educators tell the truth about what students need. That hypocrisy has to be called out.
Real appreciation means standing with teachers at the bargaining table, at school board meetings, in statehouses, in Congress, and at the ballot box. It means defending collective bargaining, rejecting privatization schemes, and demanding budgets that put students and educators ahead of billionaires and corporations.
This week is a chance to flood our communities with a simple message that we see our teachers, we value their work, and we are ready to fight alongside them for the public schools every child deserves.
Let’s thank our teachers by fighting for the schools they and their students deserve.
-The Public School Strong team
