Teachers in Arizona are leaving their jobs at an alarming rate. The state simply cannot retain its educators because of low salaries and a lack of monetary investment in the school system.
These, and several others education shortfalls in our state, will be at the core of a forum tomorrow morning, primarily hosted by the organization, Tucson Values Teachers.
The group recently conducted a survey on the reasons teachers are quitting their positions, or moving away from Arizona altogether. Two of the biggest concerns among a group of more than 6,000 educators were low wages and feeling disrespected by the state.
Katie Rogerson, Tucson Values Teachers’ interim executive director and director of marketing and outreach, as well as one of the authors of the survey, says:
The survey provided insight to the current teacher workforce crisis, and the problems go well beyond inadequate pay. Teachers also feel that they’re not valued or respected by the community, that they’re not being trusted to do their jobs without micromanagement, and that the time commitment has become overbearing.
The discussion, “Let’s Talk Ed,” is bringing together education representatives with local and national officials to talk about what is fueling this issue, and the solutions the state needs to follow to retain its K-12 teachers.
“This crisis impacts our children, our economy and our quality of life,” the group says.
The forum is happening tomorrow, Jan. 7, from 7:30 to 11 a.m., at the Tucson Convention Center Grand Ballroom, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $75 with breakfast included. Other supporters include Raytheon, the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, and Tucson Electric Power. For tickets visit, www.tucsonvaluesteachers.org.
Featured speakers include:
• Richard Ingersoll, University of Pennsylvania, teacher retention expert
• Ninive Calegari, CEO and Founder, the Teacher Salary Project
• Lee Woodruff, CBS broadcast personality and military advocate
• Eileen Klein, President, Arizona Board of Regents
• Pearl Chang Esau, President/CEO, Expect More Arizona
• Don Budinger, Chairman, Rodel Foundation of Arizona, Science Foundation Arizona
• Andrew Morrill, President, Arizona Education Association
• Jennifer Johnson, Executive Director, Support Our Schools AZ and a former Arizona Department of Education deputy superintendent
• Jennifer Pullen, MS, Research Economist, UA Eller College of Management and MAP Dashboard Project
• Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, City of Tucson, will welcome guests to Let’s Talk Ed
• Other state and national experts in education and teacher retention
About Tucson Values Teachers
Read the Tucson Values Teachers survey:
This article appears in Dec 31, 2015 – Jan 6, 2016.
This ought to be a hell of a Pity Party.
Pass the offering plate and solve your problems.
Ducey to public schools, drop dead!
Why invite the village idiot Rothchild? Tucson’so motto should be “it takes a village to screw up your kids”.
Teachers should get in free.
Ms. Tanner: With all due respect, Teachers, Administrators, and , particularly, the Tucson “Education” Association are major causes for the generally failed System of Public Education in TUSD.
Salaries are NOT the issue: What Teacher, a Competent Professional trained in their area of expertise and devoted to the Education of their Students, would wish to be a part of such a System?
$75? Really?
When was the last time the public witnessed engineers, doctors, or architects whining about being disrespected, and receiving low salaries in a “public forum” to focus on why they are leaving the profession?
Choices, Choices, and Choices & Consequences
I resonate with Ms. Tanner that “salaries are not the issue.” I opine that teaching, salaries, and the choice of employment are considered (or not considered) CHOICES one makes, as any other employment choice, and as other professions must make – considering the trade-offs of leaving, or staying put in an unsatisfactory employment situation.
Individual(s) professional UNSATISFACTORY CHOICE’s should not be remedied by the public.
About being disrespected & earning low salaries
FIRST — I opine (and I can’t imagine anyone who has been in the work place for any considerable time would not agree), that there is a correlation between “disrespect” and “low salaries” in a supply & demand free market American system — no one forces a teacher to choose that professional option.
SECOND – As far as teacher employed unhappiness in the TUSD system. Independent audit after audit has documented TUSD’s long history of educational and administrative dysfunction, a history any professional seeking employment there-in should have fact-checked – so there is no excuse now for any oh-wow-is-me whining after the fact.
THIRD – I opine that the bad rap teachers are receiving is in their willing (or coerced) collusion with Superintendent/Board of Governors directives – gaming the system by under reporting widespread discipline issues together with questionable (EOC) End of Class performances.
FOURTH – the beef against teachers whining about disrespect, and low salaries, rings hollow when considering benefits that come with their employment:
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Short Term Disability Insurance
• Paid Holidays and Time Off, and
• State Retirement Benefits, and more.
FIFTH –Employees of TUSD enjoy a veil of protection from accountability that is impenetrable — administrative incompetence, gaming the system for funding, AND teacher academic acquiescence. Challenges to administrative and teaching practices are met with a herd circling the wagons mentality, and SILENCE.
SIXTH – There is publicly documented accounts of TUSD administrative incompetence wasting $10 million dollars on administrative software it did not know how to use, and another $457,000 to purchase 9,600 calculators because TUSD math teachers were not teaching students the basics in math.
In the light of these facts, how can TUSD teachers ask for respect and more funding? How could you who are whining possibly believe one can buy into your whining?
A job is better than no job – one dollar is better than no dollars — count your blessing.
The majority of comments above show why teachers perceive that Tucson does not value education and are leaving in droves. Arizona has already won the race to the bottom on education and the writers apparently relish that distinction. Unfortunately our governor and legislature reflect the same penurious attitude toward education.