I'm a little puzzled. Is there any Democratic candidate for president who has an idea that doesn't involve a massive increase in federal spending?

Kamala Harris isn't one of them. Harris has proposed using federal funds to augment teacher salaries, proposing "the largest federal investment in teacher salaries in the history of the United States." 

Washington Examiner:

"We are a society that pretends to care about education, but not the education of other people's children. And we've got to deal with that," Harris told the crowd of 2,400 people. "We are not paying our teachers their value... That ain't right!"

"So I decided in Harris County today to unveil, to announce, for the first time publicly an initiative of what I'm proposing, which will be the largest federal investment in teacher salaries in the history of the United States," she said. "And I pledge to you that by the end of my first term we will have improved teacher salaries to close the pay gap because right now teachers are making over 10 percent less than other college-educated graduates."

Harris reacted to anticipated criticism over how she intended to finance her plan, saying the question should be what is the return on the investment.

"We have got to think about how we can bridge the gap between helplessness and hope," she said, quoting former President Lyndon Johnson who taught in Texas. "We have got to reject people that don't understand the importance of bridging gaps, and instead of building bridges want to build a wall that is a vanity project."

When asked how much, change the subject. And note that massive increases in federal spending are now referred to as "investments" - as if the cash expropriated from taxpayers to pay for these grandiose schemes were buying stocks or houses or something.

I think teachers should get every dime they're worth. Some are worth more than others - a lot more. Others should be fired for incompetence - just like any other employee who fails to produce. Merit pay for teachers would go a long way toward winnowing out the losers and rewarding the winners. But merit pay is an anathema to teachers unions who profit from keeping bad teachers on school payrolls.

Federal funding for teachers pay is a bad idea on several levels and Harris's idea to institute such a massive program is idiotic.