Presidential Document2023-10086
National Teacher Appreciation Day and National Teacher Appreciation Week, 2023
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 10, 2023
Signed
May 5, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 90 (Wednesday, May 10, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 10, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 30025-30026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10086]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 90 / Wednesday, May 10, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 30025]]
Proclamation 10572 of May 5, 2023
National Teacher Appreciation Day and National
Teacher Appreciation Week, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
In schools across America, teachers are arriving early
to set up classrooms, spending long hours educating
students, and staying late to prepare tomorrow's lesson
plans. Their devotion to our children embodies the best
of America--ready to serve and eager to see others
thrive. Today and during this week, we celebrate our
Nation's remarkable teachers and early childhood
educators, and we recommit to having their backs, just
as they have ours.
In the words of the First Lady, a lifelong educator,
teaching is a calling--a way to live out the belief
that we can shape our corner of the world, one student
at a time. But shaping that world demands a lot.
Teaching happens inside and outside the classroom. It
often includes spending extra time coaching teams,
supporting student clubs, and helping kids catch up
when they have fallen behind. It means giving young
children the foundational skills for success during a
critical period of their development. It also demands
being endlessly adaptable, like at the height of the
COVID-19 pandemic, when many classes went online and
teachers had to find new ways to keep students engaged
and learning. When Jill and I recently hosted the 2023
National Teacher of the Year ceremony at the White
House, we were deeply inspired again by the dedication,
creativity, and loving strength of our Nation's
educators.
We owe our teachers and early childhood educators so
much. We need to pay them better, improve their working
conditions, and focus on recruitment and retention. My
Administration's American Rescue Plan supported early
childhood programs and helped K-12 schools across the
country re-open, hire more educators, boost salaries,
increase mental health services, and expand afterschool
and summer programs. Thanks to our investments, public
schools across the country have added more than 500,000
educators and staff. Compared with before the pandemic,
the number of school social workers nationwide is up 48
percent, the number of school nurses is up 42 percent,
and the number of school counselors is up 10 percent.
My Fiscal Year 2024 Budget calls for $600 billion to
provide access to high-quality child care and preschool
programs so all families can afford to enroll their
children and so early childhood educators have higher
wages. It would also increase funding for Title I
schools--which serve some of the most disadvantaged
communities in our Nation--to give teachers a raise and
expand their ranks. And it calls on the Congress to
increase salaries for Head Start staff and invest $300
million to help address shortages of special education
teachers across America.
My Administration has worked to fix the Public Service
Loan Forgiveness program--a key step in meeting our
commitment to those who have chosen this vital
profession and other areas of public service. To date,
we have helped over 450,000 public service employees,
including teachers, get nearly $31 billion in student
loan forgiveness. In many cases, educators have had
their entire student debt wiped out.
[[Page 30026]]
Supporting our teachers also demands that we keep them
and their students safe at school. Last year, I signed
the most significant gun safety law in nearly three
decades, which includes enhanced background checks for
individuals under the age of 21 and funding for States
to enact red flag laws that can help keep guns from
people who are a danger to themselves and others. This
law also authorized more than $1 billion to improve
student mental health, enabling schools to hire and
train thousands of new mental health professionals.
Schools should be places to learn, make friends, and
feel the support of a real community. No teacher or
student should have to wonder whether the goodbye hug
they give their loved ones before going to school one
day will be their last.
The greatness of a nation is measured in part by how it
prepares the next generation to succeed. On National
Teacher Appreciation Day and during National Teacher
Appreciation Week, we honor the remarkable educators
entrusted with this responsibility. As I have traveled
the country and met so many of our teachers--and seen
their passion and dedication--I have never been more
confident in the future of America.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 9, 2023,
as National Teacher Appreciation Day and May 7 through
May 13, 2023, as National Teacher Appreciation Week. I
call upon all Americans to recognize the hard work and
dedication of our Nation's teachers and to observe this
day and this week by supporting teachers through
appropriate activities, events, and programs.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand
twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-10086
Filed 5-9-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 10, 2023.
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