Legislators celebrate the week of appreciation of teachers 2025 paying tribute to educators who helped them ascend to Congress.
The president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, R-La., Said that his wife and mother-in-law, who were educators, are his favorite teachers. Johnson added that his class teachers on the road positively influenced the “trajectory” of his life.
“I accredit many of those people, in many ways, for being in the position I am now,” Johnson told ABC News.
“Teachers are one of the most poorly paid professions, so we certainly appreciate them,” he said.
The building of the Department of Education in Washington, March 24, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Images
The Monica de la Cruz representative, a Texas Republican, had several teachers who impacted her life, but told ABC News that it was her high school music teacher who recognized her talents.
“Not so much musical talent, but saw the opportunity to sharpen my leadership skills and focused on that and allowed me to grow,” said De la Cruz.
The representative Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Who has worked in the banking industries, finance and insurance, said that his high school math teachers helped him challenge him.
“That were the construction blocks to be moved to finance and university,” Donalds said. “I always appreciate them.”
The first-year representative Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., A new member of the Chamber’s Labor Education and Force Committee, said it is a “great admirer” of the teachers.
He brought a master of his district in Washington to the speech of President Donald Trump to a joint session of the Congress because he said that educators inspire “the next generation.”
Baumgartner representative with Mrs. Stacey Nash, a teacher of Wilbur Creston High School in the fifth district of the state of Washington, who was invited by Baumgartner in the joint discourse of President Trump before Congress.
@Repbaumgartner/x
Baumgartner, who comes from a family of educators, said he does not believe that he would be where he is today without teachers.
“I had nuns who taught me, I went to a small Catholic school in a small rural community, and I remember that they made us cursive [handwriting]I hated, but it was a kind of discipline, that inspiration and that love for the learning you developed, so it was great, “Baumgartner told ABC News.
The leader of the minority of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., praised the masters of the nation and said that “the United States of America has to continue celebrating and raising our public schools, our educators and our ability to ensure that people receive a first level education so that they have a path to the American dream.”
Several members of the Jaffries Caucus are decorated educators, including representative Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., The national teacher of the year 2016. Hayes launched the Caucus of the master of Congress to begin the week of appreciation of teachers 2025.
She said that Caucus aims to provide a dedicated platform so that educators who serve in Congress find common sense solutions to address today’s educational problems, according to a statement from the Hayes office.
But Hayes opposes the efforts of the Trump administration to dismantle the Department of Education. She focuses directly on defending public educators from threats to win the agency and launch Caucus in response to them.
“I think deeply in public education, and I will always advocate not only for students but also for the profession,” said Hayes prior to ABC News.
The president of the representative’s representative, Mike Johnson, speaks during a press conference after a meeting of the Republican Conference of the Chamber at the United States Capitol on May 6, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
In the upper chamber, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Mass’s Democrat., A former teacher, launched the “Save Our School” campaign to investigate attempts to dismantle the Department of Education.
“The federal government has invested in our public schools,” Warren said last month in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
“Remove that from our children so that a handful of billionaires can be even richer is simply ugly, and I will fight it with everything I have.”
Warren suggested that he was working with students, teachers, parents and unions to “sound the alarm” throughout the country. Before politics, Warren was inspired by her second -degree teacher to join the educational ranks.
“Every time someone asked about my future, I kept a little higher and said: ‘I’m going to be a teacher,” Warren recalled. “Guide my whole life.”
In this archive photo of February 21, 2025, representative Jahana Hayes, national teacher of the year 2016 of the year, joins parents, educators, community leaders and elected officials in a demonstration outside the Capitol of the United States to defend public education before the confirmation hearing of the nominated of the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, in Washington, DC.
Paul Morigi/Getty images for the National Education Association, Archive
The dismantling and death of teachers’ preparation programs will finally harm the profession, according to representative Steven Horsford, D-Nev.
Horsford accredited his high school teacher, Mr. Ware, for motivating him to become the first person in his family to achieve higher education.
“He said he saw something in me and that I needed to believe in myself,” Horsford told ABC News.
“Now, to be here in Congress, and achieve some of the things I have been able to achieve, I would not have been able to do it without that education, that investment in myself, obtaining my university degree,” he said.
