Arizona Lawmakers Pass Teacher Raises But Budget Falls Short of Teacher Demands
Source: Think Progress
- Arizona teachers to receive raises, but their demands were far from met. Many teachers wanted more.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a portion of the budget bill that helps fund teacher raises on Thursday morning, after House lawmakers debated the bill into the early morning hours. Teachers watched the session all of Wednesday night and camped out outside the Capitol building.
Teachers will get an average raise of 9 percent and then 5 percent for the next two years. Teachers also won $400 million in education funding to partially make up for recession-era cuts, according to the Associated Press. Although the raises were lower than what teachers wanted, they are an improvement over the 1 percent raises Ducey originally proposed.
Thursday is the sixth day teachers have been out of school. Although teachers said they would end the walkout on Wednesday if the budget passed, the session stretched into the night and morning, which meant many large school districts closed school on Thursday.
Striking teachers' demands had included a 20 percent raise, no new tax cuts until per pupil funding reaches the national average, competitive pay for educational support staff, and restoration of education funding to 2008 levels. Lawmakers have slashed education funding in the state since the Great Recession. State funding per student fell by 36.6 percent between 2008 and 2015, more than any other state. Teachers have also left the state for smaller class sizes and higher salaries.
On Thursday, House Democrats voted against the K-12 budget bill, which addressed teachers' pay, because they said it didn't go far enough to fund schools and pay raises, according to the Arizona Republic. Teachers watching the session reportedly approved of their vote by making jazz hands. In a Facebook video on the Arizona Educators United page, which belongs to organizers of the walkout, kindergarten teacher Kelley Fisher assured teachers they were voting to support teachers. "Their voting no has nothing to do with not wanting to give us a raise," she said. "It has everything to do with this budget not taking care of our students."
Democrats offered a number of amendments that were supported by teachers, such as limiting classroom size to 25 students and setting a maximum student-to-counselor ratio. Another amendment widened the definition of a teacher to include librarians and counselors. All of the Democrats' amendments failed. ~ Continued..
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-lawmakers-pass-teacher-raises-but-budget-falls-short-of-teacher-demands-6a6086153f8b/
