If Arizona voters want to pay teachers more, they must expand the sales tax to full penny
As the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, I have traveled around the state three times on my annual We Are Listening Tours.
These tours give fellow Arizonans the opportunity to tell me what’s going right, what’s going wrong and the chance to propose possible solutions for everything pertaining to K-12 education.
No matter what corner of the state I have visited, or whether the people I have spoken to were moderate, liberal, conservative, Republicans, independents or Democrats, the issue of teacher pay raises has overwhelmingly been the No. 1 topic Arizonans believe needs to be addressed.
At its very heart, education only occurs between a student and their teacher and a student and their family. Having the very best teacher in the classroom with our kids is the most effective education reform possible.
There is no doubt that we are facing a teacher shortage crisis here in Arizona. Recently, Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute of Public Policy published a report that detailed the extent of that crisis:
» Arizona annually is losing more teachers than bachelor of education degrees produced by its three state universities;
» 42 percent of Arizona teachers hired in 2013 left the profession within three years;
» Arizona elementary school teacher pay is the lowest in the nation; » High school teacher pay ranks 49th of the 50 states; When adjusted for inflation, elementary school teachers here are paid 11 percent less than in 2001. Arizona secondary teachers are being paid 10 percent less.
It is critical that we attract and retain the most talented teachers to our most important profession. If any business lost 42 percent of its new talent every three years, it would be unsustainable.
That is why I’m advocating for permanently extending and expanding Proposition 301 to a full cent. Expanding Prop. 301 would generate an additional $400 million per year, which would result in an immediate $5,000 pay raise for all teachers and $100 million dollars for maintaining