This is not good news:

Teachers have been fleeing Arizona in droves, resulting in such a serious shortage of experienced teachers that state officials are warning of serious consequences if the exodus continues.

Over the last five years, thousands of teachers have left the state, according to a 2015 report by the Arizona Department of Education, with this past school year being possibly the worst. The report warns if teachers keep leaving, “students will not meet their full potential” and “Arizona will not be able to ensure economic prosperity for its citizens and create the workforce of tomorrow.” It calls for increased pay for teachers and more overall education funding in the state.

Why are so many teachers leaving? Educators say reasons include low pay, insufficient classroom resources, and so many testing requirements and teaching guidelines that they feel they have no flexibility and too little authentic instructional time. According to new Census Bureau statistics, Arizona is near the bottom of a state list of spending per student, $7,208. The average per pupil spending around the country is $10,700, and the state is near or at the bottom for classroom spending per student. But it is near the top of a list of states showing which ones get the biggest percentage of their education revenue from the federal government.

Read the whole depressing report here.

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2015.

Getting hassled by The Man Mild-mannered reporter

19 replies on “WaPo: “Teachers Are Fleeing Arizona in Droves””

  1. This is exactly what TUSD wants. By creating a shortage of teachers through mismanagement and fraud, they can try to force the legislature to give them more money. One problem….the students are leaving faster than the teachers. Get you kids out of TUSD.

  2. Maybe the kids can get their education in all the new prisons that the Governor wants built.

  4. Count me as one who left the ranks of teachers. Teaching in AZ is a disaster. It’s pretty hard to justify staying in the profession. I spent a pretty large percentage of my paltry paycheck on classroom supplies. My school wouldn’t even buy books to use in our English classroom! I managed – through Donors Choose – and others to get over $5,000 donated to buy textbooks and novels. Students were subjected to testing 5 or more times a year. And the plethora of charter schools (some ARE good – but most aren’t) only further waters down the quality of instruction. But some of those schools are making BANK. And now we have Doug Ducey and Diane Douglas? Hang on, kids – education in AZ is going to get MUCH worse.

  6. My cousin retired as an elementary school teacher in Rochester NY, many years ago. She was making $70,000 per year. However, homeowners also paid $4,000 in school taxes yearly, plus the normal property tax, which was close to Tucson’s entire property tax. I wouldn’t mind giving teachers the raise they desire under the following conditions. Reduce the overhead at a1010. No tenure. Teachers union would clean up the bad apples.

  9. Jim, teachers in Arizona earn half what your cousin earned before she retired, and that is all teachers. In my district we top out at 6 years of experience. Also there isn’t any tenure in Arizona or pretty much anywhere else anymore, so I am not sure what is meant by “get rid of tenure”. @Rat T, we don’t even have good insurance coverage for ourselves anymore, and if I were to put my two sons on my health insurance it would cost me nearly all of one paycheck; as in two weeks salary. Stop acting as if teachers are sitting pretty and making bank. It just isn’t true.

  10. Think about all the money and resources that would be available if we simply weren’t paying for illegals.

  13. With an economic model based solely on cheap (illegal immigrant) labor and homebuilding, it’s no surprise we can’t pay teachers. We don’t have a tax base but have all these kids to educate from the latest wave of illegal immigrants.
    Of course comparing teacher pay across states without taking into account cost of living is meaningless. But no one can say Arizona teachers are paid well.

  14. Why would anyone want to teach in Arizona? The State clearly considers education a waste of resources and is actively hostile towards educators, the sole exception being any pet charter school outfits that individual legislators have a financial interest in themselves. The irony is that without an educated workforce available the businesses and industries that are being wooed will not come here, no matter how many tax incentives and tax breaks you throw at them.

  15. “The state clearly considers education a waste of resources.”

    How much are they spending on it now?

    Maybe the truth is the educrats that are wasting money are the problem. Take a good look at yourselves first.

  16. I don’t hear any complaints from Marana, Vail or Flowing Wells. Are TUSD teachers paid less than them? Give us a comparison chart and let’s take a look.

  17. AZ Tax Research Associartion has just come out with a factual rebuttal of the various statistics on school spending in this issue, suffice to say, statistics can still be the best lie out there when used to politicize an issue. Hooray for ATRA!

  18. Thank you WTBAB. There is a lot of info there.

    This was particularly interesting:

    Arizona’s teacher pay index is comparabl
    e to neighbors Utah and New Mexico and is actually
    better than Colorado, Texas, and Wyoming.

    I never would have known based on the propaganda here.

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