By Daniel Stefanski |
While Arizona Democrats continue to search for ways to bring down the state’s school choice opportunities, Republicans are working on solutions to increase salaries for teachers in K-12 public schools.
On Monday, Arizona Republican legislators held a press conference to announce a plan to raise teachers’ pay, calling it the “Teacher Pay Fund.” The goal of the lawmakers is to “deliver K-12 public school educators with an average of 7% pay raises all without increasing taxes.”
According to the press release from Arizona Senate Republicans, the plan involves an addition to the November 2024 ballot, where voters would decide on Prop 123’s future. If voters approved that question, that money would be “dedicated solely to teacher pay raises, beginning in the summer of 2025.”
Senate President Warren Petersen endorsed the plan, saying, “This initiative will allow Arizona to be more competitive in teacher salaries, boosting teacher pay in Arizona above the national average, and making a big increase to starting teacher pay. We believe we can continue this dedicated funding source long-term because the fund has already grown exponentially over the last eight years, even during tumultuous economic times.”
The Chair of the Senate’s Education Committee, Ken Bennett, added, “Republicans have led the charge in dedicating billions of new dollars to K-12 education, on top of Prop 123 funds and inflationary increases, but unfortunately not enough of those dollars are getting into our classrooms or to our teachers. Arizona teachers right now make about $56,700, on average. This proposal will increase teacher pay to an average of over $60,000. We can – and we should – do better. This is a responsible proposal that won’t create a new tax burden for our citizens.”
AZ Free News reached out to Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who said, “We absolutely have to increase teacher salaries. We lose 40% of our teachers in 4 years and then another 26% in years five to nine. So that’s a total of 63% of our teachers that we’re losing. We cannot replace teachers at that rate. Surrounding States all pay more and we lose good teachers. We can’t afford to keep doing that.”
One of the top advocates for teacher pay increases at the state legislature, freshman Representative Matthew Gress, attended the press conference and supported the plan. He posted, “Today, I’m proud to join with teachers, school board members, and my legislative colleagues to introduce a plan that sends 100% of NEW State Land Trust resources for K-12 education DIRECTLY to the classroom. If approved by voters, classroom teachers will get a $4,000 RAISE.”
Gress took a political shot at some of the state’s education interest groups, adding, “It’s time to bypass school administration and the education unions to do what’s right for Arizona students. Every student deserves a high quality educational leader in the front of their classroom, EVERY DAY without exception. Common sense couldn’t be more clear.”
It didn’t take long for some of those groups to react to the Republicans’ plan. The Arizona Education Association’s President, Marisol Garcia, warned that “the devil is in the details,” making the case for “education support professionals” to receive increases in pay along with the state’s teachers.
Save Our Schools Arizona called the proposal a “shell game,” accusing Republicans of using this scheme to cut funding to K-12 schools. The group argued that Arizona legislators should instead be committing “new dollars” for students and teachers and attacked the 2022 universal expansion of ESAs as part of the problem.
Earlier this year, Representative Gress, a Republican, sponsored HB 2800, which would have given Arizona teachers a pay increase. According to figures provided by House Republicans, the bill would have given state instructors the fourth highest ($50,554) starting salaries in the nation, compared to a current ranking of 27th ($40,554). The bill did not make it to Governor Katie Hobbs’ Office during the 2023 session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
