The Teacher's Burden

Not enough time, not enough resources, and not enough help.

Teachers have an incredible mission that they are shouldering. They are responsible for nurturing and preparing the next generation of people that will contribute and lead to this country. They not only have to prepare them for the world so that they can support themselves, but they also have to consider how to make these students healthy in a social and productive manner as well. Despite the enormity of this task, teachers do not have enough time to fulfill all the responsibilities that are given to them. Many don't have the resources they need to improve the conditions of their classrooms and their own work. Even if the technologies exist, there may not be avenues to learn how to use them properly.

Funding has not kept pace with what classrooms need.

Nationally, per-pupil spending has been rising in dollar terms — but that is not the same as keeping pace with what independent researchers say schools actually need, or with the value of the dollars states used to put in. Over the last decade, more and more states have quietly asked their schools to do more with a shrinking share of the pie.

And that slow erosion is now colliding with sudden shocks: the expiration of pandemic-era relief funding, and a 2025 federal funding freeze that sent superintendents scrambling with almost no notice.

Then came a funding freeze.

In July 2025, the federal government froze $6.8B in already-approved K-12 funding. In a survey of 628 superintendents across 43 states, 74% expected to cut academic services like tutoring and literacy coaching, 50% expected to lay off teachers or staff, and 83% planned to cut the professional development that would help teachers use new tools, including AI, well. Most of the freeze was later released — but the disruption it caused to school budgets was real.

53-hour work weeks.

Teachers in the United States average approximately 53 hours of work per week. Direct student instruction accounts for about half of this overall time, while the rest is dedicated to prep work, grading, and administrative tasks. These are essential for producing a high-quality learning environment, but combined, this work often exceed the time spent in instruction. The conflict between necessity and bandwidth is driving teacher burnout across the country. Many feel that they are under-compensated and under-appreciated for the amount of work that goes into teaching their students.

Teachers know how crucial their work is even if they are spending overtime every week but some of the work is more tedious than others. It's not just about the time that it takes but how frustrating the work actually is. For many of these areas AI offers a way to transform it, either by accelerating the process, automating certain aspects, or transforming the way teachers go about the process entirely. These improvements not only have the potential to improve the quality of teacher work by reducing the cognitive burden but also free more time for the teacher to engage in interpersonal relationships and instruction with the students.

Getting the Time Back.

Transform.

As an intelligent tool, AI can make your work more personal for both you and your students. AI can generate material at an incredible rate, so execution is, in many cases, no longer a barrier. This means teachers can spend time on ideation and experimentation instead. Teachers can create materials and activities that suit their personalities and match the needs and interests of their students. It can take mere minutes to redesign an entire set of material specifically for one classroom.

Reclaim.

For the non-creative work, AI can serve as a hyper-productive administrative assistant. Quantitative grading, parent-teacher communication, and reporting requirements can be completed in a fraction of the time, giving teachers back their bandwidth and energy.

For teachers who already use AI on a weekly basis, they report saving an average of 5.9 hours every week, which adds up to about six weeks per year in reclaim time.

While the hours of the week will not change, the administrative work surrounding your teaching can be reduced, allowing you to invest the reclaimed time into the work only you can perform: connecting directly with your students in the classroom.