Study after study, both in the US and Europe, show that the socioeconomic status of students has a tangible negative effect on their standardized test scores. With approximately 90% of the students in DOE being on Free or reduced lunch, our student populations are definitely in a low socioeconomic status. This is why President Rector and GFT have constantly been advocating raising wages to national levels. We supported raising the minimum wage. We supported Living wage bills so that people who work for companies that receive Government job subsidies, in the form of tax breaks, earn a living wage ($13.40+ per hour), and we have worked to raise the wages of all public employees. We are the only progressive organization on Guam working to lift the standard of living for all of our families which would lift the scores of our students as well.