A+ Advocates launched in 2024, but the idea was formed many years prior. At PrincipalsConnect, our focus is on Principals. Their vision drives our programming, and one of the issues Principals continued to talk about was the large amount of student debt their educators experienced after college. Take-home pay for new teachers is very modest, and we know once educators pay their bills, loans and purchase weekly necessities, like groceries and gas, there’s not much left in their check. We formed a small group of advocates and decided to do something about it. After gathering a focus group of Kansas City educators and school staff, two areas were identified as high priority needs: affordable housing and decreasing loan debt.