Deal in sight?
Teachers say historic walkout may end Thursday
Arizona teachers will return to class Thursday if the Legislature passes the budget by then, organizers announced Tuesday evening, marking the end to the largest walkout in modern American history.
Noah Karvelis, organizer with the Arizona Educators United group, and Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, urged the state’s educators to return to schools once the budget is passed.
The Legislature appears to be on track to vote today.
Arizona’s teacher walkout will have lasted five school days. On the first day of the walkout, nearly 110 Arizona school districts and charter schools closed their schools, impacting more than 850,000 students. More than 50,000 educators and supporters marched and
rallied at the state Capitol.
As of Tuesday, more than 768,000 students — more than two-thirds of the state’s 1.1 million public-school students — remained out of school due to closures.
Earlier Tuesday, organizers had touted the impact of the grassroots, teacherled #RedForEd movement that erupted from a wave of teacher frustration just eight weeks ago.
Rebecca Garelli, an Arizona Educators United organizer and Phoenix teacher, told members in a Facebook video that the #RedForEd movement should be credited for “creating the largest increase in school funding since the recession.”
Garelli and Stephanie Parra, lobbyist for the Arizona Education Association, in their 3:30 p.m. Facebook video to the private Arizona Educators United page said the educator activism movement pressured state leaders to extend Proposition 301.
Legislation extending the soon-toexpire sales-tax measure, which accounts for $680 million annually in education funding, sat idle until lawmakers fast-tracked it days after hundreds of teachers staged a sick-out at the Capitol.
Garelli said that while Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposal to give teachers 20 percent pay raises by 2020 and boost school funding by $100 million falls short of the demands organizers laid out in late March, it marked a significant improvement from what the governor had previously proposed.
Just days before the announcement of his #20by2020 announcement, Ducey publicly appeared to stick to his January proposal to give teachers the second half of a promised 2 percent stipend.
“It’s a huge deal,” Garelli said. “#RedForEd has made some waves. We’ve done an excellent job of getting more funds for K-12 education. The #RedForEd movement created the largest increase in school funding since the recession. Just think about that.”
Several school districts that had remained closed in response to the walkout had begun announcing Tuesday afternoon that they planned to reopen Thursday. This included three of the state’s 10 largest districts: Chandler Unified School District, Gilbert Public Schools and Phoenix Union High School District.
Educators and protesters at the Capitol
“#RedForEd has made some waves. We’ve done an excellent job of getting more funds for K-12 education. The #RedForEd movement created the largest increase in school funding since the recession. Just think about that.”
Rebecca Garelli Arizona Educators United organizer
on Tuesday — day four of Arizona’s #RedForEd teacher walkout — said they plan to stay late into the night as state lawmakers discuss budget-proposal details.
Thousands of educators showed up at the Capitol again as Arizona Educators United organizers announced that the walkout will stretch through at least today.
Monday evening, legislators introduced budget bills. Tuesday, they held public hearings on the bills. Voting was expected today.
Much of the Legislature’s budget mirrors the plan put forth by Ducey, who has proposed 20 percent teacher pay raises by 2020 and an additional $100 million for schools.
Garelli said that educators staying later is part of their tactic to “continue to put pressure on the Legislature.”
Sarah Simpson, a kindergarten teacher in the Balsz Elementary School District, said she and her colleagues were “willing to stay through the night” to put pressure on state lawmakers to include educators’ funding demands in the budget.
Educators are demanding the restoration of $1 billion in cuts to education funding since the recession, immediate 20 percent teacher pay raises and competitive pay for support staff, such as bus drivers and classroom aides.
There is no indication that Republican legislative leadership would support such additions to the current budget proposal.
Simpson called the demands “lofty” and said that she viewed Ducey’s #20by2020 announcement as a win for the #RedForEd movement.
“To be quite honest, we’ve gotten Ducey to offer something he’s never been willing to offer before — a 9 percent pay increase,” Simpson said of the #RedForEd movement’s power.
“Before this happened, he was saying, ‘Let’s give them 2 percent over five years.’ So now, we’re getting some movement on that, which is nice. But we’re not ready to settle.”
Simpson said that she hoped the teacher walkout would not last much longer and believed that once legislators passed a budget, teachers would be back in the classroom.
“Then we’ll move on to our next phase of activism, which probably is more toward the ballot box,” Simpson said.
At the Capitol, educators and their supporters crowded the galleries of the Arizona House and Senate floors, and the lines to enter both chambers spanned several yards and more than two hours.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee had begun to discuss the bills and the House Appropriations Committee was still in session after a 9 a.m. start.
Ducey issued a statement Tuesday that he would sign the bills immediately after receiving them.
Lacey Grant, a third-grade teacher at Arizona Charter Academy in Surprise, said she and teachers at her school planned “to leave when the representatives leave, so that could be a long time.”
Grant, who’s been at the Capitol since the first day of the walkout, said she wanted the budget to include the restoration of state cuts to education since 2008, which would top more than $1 billion.
One of educators’ most costly and ambitious demands, plans introduced by lawmakers and Ducey do not go that far.
Grant also wants the budget to include pay increases for support staff. The Legislature’s raise proposal focuses on teachers.
“We’re hoping the governor, the House and the Senate can all come together to come up with a reasonable budget for not only teacher funding, but support staff,” Grant said.
Laurel Irwin, 52, a kindergarten teacher from Tucson, said teachers were holding out until the governor listened to representatives of the movement, guaranteed funding over the long term and expanded raises to specialeducation teachers and support staff.
“We are frustrated that the governor has not met with teachers. It’s not a deal if you don’t talk with all parties concerned,” she said.
“From my perspective (what’s missing) it’s a sustainable funding source that does not take money from other areas, and it is a broadening of the definition of teacher. To me, these are the two big items.”
Music teacher Sarah Jones with Phoenix’s Creighton School District is planning to spend the night at the Legislature.
“As long as they are in session, they can’t kick us out,” she said as she walked toward the Capitol with her trombone. She had just finished playing at the walkout with other music teachers.
“We want the Legislature to hear us and hope our music gets their attention. I want to see the Legislature come up with a new revenue source to pay for education. I don’t like plans to take money from other programs. Stealing from Peter to pay Paul won’t work.”