Educators’ strike will start on Thursday, April 26, across Arizona, according to leaders in the Red for Ed movement.
Votes from all public school teachers and classified staff who chose to participate were tallied last night. Arizona Educators United and Arizona Education Association said they counted more than 50,000 ballots and about 78 percent voted to strike.
Marea Jenness, a Tucson High Magnet School teacher and leader in the Red for Ed movement, said she’s excited about the vote.
“This is just the opportunity of a lifetime, to fight for our schools and public education in Arizona,” she said.
The Red for Ed movement, led by the grassroot group Arizona Educators United, or AEU, has been pressuring Gov. Doug Ducey and the state legislature for weeks to give teachers 20 percent raises, among other things.
Arizona educators are currently among the lowest paid in the country. And in response to mounting pressure, Ducey agreed last week to provide 20 percent raises for teachers over a three-year period as well as some additional education funding, but that did not meet all of AEU’s demands.
“No one wants to see teachers strike,” Ducey said in a prepared statement. “If schools shut down, our kids are the ones who will lose out. We have worked side by side with the education community to give teachers a 20 percent raise by 2020. I am committed to giving teaches this raise, and I am working to get this passed at the legislature.”
Apart from the 20 percent raises for teachers, educators are demanding wage increases for all education support staff that’s competitive with other states, scheduled annual raises for teachers, education funding restored to 2008 levels, and no new tax cuts until per-pupil spending reaches the national average.
Jenness organized one of the first local Red for Ed rallies, which resulted in more than 1,000 educators and allies marching out of their downtown schools earlier this month. She said Tucson High is going to have minimal staff during the strike, mostly administrators and some custodians and cafeteria staff, to make sure the students still get breakfast and lunch. She also said there will be limited bus service.
“We’re prepared to stay out longer than the state is prepared to watch kids not graduate,” Jenness said. “The state of Arizona and the Legislature is going to have to deal with the crisis they create.”
Another complication of strikes is that any day of school closure will have to be made up in order for students to complete grade requirements. Therefore, students who are ready to graduate will still need to complete days they miss.
The Marana Unified School District put out a statement yesterday, signed by MUSD Superintendent Doug Wilson, that said the district hopes such extreme measures as a strike will not be needed.
“Our educators would much rather have the state legislature and Governor implement solutions to address salaries and public school funding,” the letter read. “District Administration and our Governing Board do not support a walkout or any activity that disrupts instruction and negatively impacts our students and families; however, we continue to support advocacy toward greater funding for public education and salaries”
MUSD said the schools will stay open as long as they have enough staff to supervise students. But if they don’t, they will be forced to close, a measure that would be district wide rather than school by school.
The Amphitheater Public Schools district also sent out a letter saying they may be forced to close schools if there are not enough staff to adequately supervise the children. But Amphi will look at school closure on a case by case basis rather than district wide.
Catalina Foothills Unified District also said they may have to close schools if there’s not enough staff to supervise students.
This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2018.
Arizona Teachers should, of course, receive a periodic salary increase that is written in their contract; Based on Merit as indicated by a Standardized Assessment Examination given at each grade level so as to determine that Students are being taught properly and provided with the Academic Skills necessary to move on to the next grade level in achieving their Career Goals.
An Ineffective Instructional program should NOT be rewarded with a pay increase!!
Now, this guy knows what he’s talking about. If he only knew when to stop talking !!
Francis,
Maybe you should take your collective head out of wherever its stuck and look at reality. Tying teacher pay to student achievement would be like believing the sun circles the earth. There is a connection, but youve sort of got it backwards and you missed a great deal of physics along the way. Have you looked at the school systems lately? Public schools in Arizona are a dismal failure for some, but not limit to, because of these reasons: Social promotions the students are passed because to fail them would be called racist or some other ist, the school are loaded with students who cant speak English and have no cultural awareness of education, there is no family structure or discipline at home, the ever present cell phone is allowed in class (why beats the devil out of me), and a very poor discipline policy in schools especially TUSD (do you know that a teacher can be assaulted and nothing is done about it). I know a teacher who teaches Algebra II in High School and whose students do even know what negative numbers are or the order of mathematic operations are. Six grade knowledge unknow in high school? How do you teach them Algebra when they should still be in middle school?
A teacher typically spends $160K on their education, they must pass 2 exams that you couldnt even begin to understand, and then put up with your bastardly little brats who dont want to learn and its the teachers fault? Why do you think all the smart kids go to private schools? Its not because of race as most Liberals claim because if you look at the student population at these schools you will see kids of every strip. Its really because when you stick kids beside a Somalia that stinks to high heaven and assumes they are the most important pupil in the room and they cant even speak English or in a room with gangbanger drug dealers just across the border and threatens their child daily then youd understand why parents pull their kids out and then puts them in a school where they can learn.
To equate the pay of a teacher to a dumb ass kids who refuses to behave or learn is more than ignorant, its stupid because you should educate yourself before you spout out crap.
Take a bow, VietnamVe2. Well said. And thank you for your service.
You signed a contract for a year honor it. To hurt the kids at this critical time is not unlike a terrorist action. I saw a bumper sticker on a young woman’s car saying “Our kids deserve better!” I say how does your getting more money help our kids. The answer to that question is the key to understanding what is happening. The fact is more money to the teachers in place does nothing for the children, that is just for the terrorists holding the children hostage, more money for teachers can help by drawing a better class of educators into the profession, but you do not make an existing educator better with more money, anyone who says they will teach better with a raise and honor their contract where they already pledged their best, should be fired immediately!
WOW!!!…sounds as if VietnamVet2 may be one of those ineffective “Teachers” that would benefit from an “across the board” salary increase.
It is indeed unfortunate that anonymous posting are permitted so that Racist/Hateful Comments can be made with impunity; if made by a “Teacher” they should be identified and dismissed forthwith!!!
People who ramble on and on trying to impress us with big words should be dismissed. Forthwith, I might add.
If the teachers strike, the students must be held back a year.
Now let’s see who blinks.
While Viet NamVet2 said some vile things in his/her post, he/she had some very accurate observations: (1) “loaded with students who can’t speak English” (would love to know what the numbers/% of students are across grade levels of students who can’t speak English); (2) “cell phones are allowed in class” (why aren’t cell phones locked in student’s lockers during class time? They are a HUGE distraction!); (3) “very poor discipline policy, especially in TUSD” (completely agree thanks to multiple examples from TV reports & friends who are teachers!).
Those three things alone are enough to drive down education standards. LOUSY PAY with teachers literally pulling out their own wallets to pay for basic classroom needs (paper, pencils, etc) has been the frosting on the educational poop cake in AZ for the last decade. Do I blame teachers for striking? NO! I only wonder at the fact that it took them 10 years to get to this point!
tiredofpc : If what you say is generally true, these issues are Destructive to a Teachers Instructional Program and the Effective Education of Students. These issues should be of Major concern to Teachers in Demanding that they be Changed. NO!!! The major concern of Teachers, and the proposed Strike, is an Immediate 20% “across the board” Salary Increase…..their own Self Interests NOT the Interests of their Students!!!
The defense rests !!
Ms Siatta; I don’t know where/if you work outside the home, but most folks in the public sector don’t have to pay for their own basic supplies such as pencils, papers, pens, staplers, staples, etc, etc, etc. They’re provided! If you haven’t had a raise in 10 years & if your company/institution is nationally ranked LAST in employee pay, you’d be considering a strike as well.
Well, aside from all the pros and cons of such a strike, how about the school year “padding” a few days for “whatever” might come up….like perhaps a natural disaster, or a shooting (heaven forbid), or whatever might necessitate school closures for a day or a week. In this way, there are days that could be scheduled for “make up.” I grew up where snow days were always hoped for….until at the end of the school year we found ourselves sitting in non-air conditioned classrooms with nothing to do except mark time. Stupid, but no one was held back from graduating. I’ve lived in AZ since 1982, was an adult when I moved here with a child in high school, and worked over five years for TUSD. I am still amazed how behind the education system here is in comparison to districts in other states that value a decent education. But I realize from close friends who taught their whole careers within the district I grew up in, that teachers are not necessarily valued there anymore. I think it speaks for too many states and districts across the country. We, as a nation, are becoming less competitive and only those who are able to afford extra help, or to be able to attend more quality schools or afford to live in the “high rent” districts are getting ahead. We waste so much talent, both learned and natural, in this country and yet we speak of “make America great again”, but waste our dollars and show no respect for our children or those whom we trust to educate them. Shameful. BTW, I will be downsizing some of my “stuff” and selling it so that the proceeds can be given to an art teacher neighbor whose classroom supplies too often come from her own pocket!
“Arizona Teachers should, of course, receive a periodic salary increase that is written in their contract; Based on Merit as indicated by a Standardized Assessment Examination given at each grade level so as to determine that Students are being taught properly and provided with the Academic Skills necessary to move on to the next grade level in achieving their Career Goals.”
Nothing has been tried more in education history than tying money to test scores. Hundreds of case studies. Has it ever worked in 150 years? Never when done by itself. If you want to develop a bad school culture- tie money to test scores as your sole performance pay initiative.
The very upper edge of academic gains, top 1%, is 30 points of gain. But, the standard error of that number is huge for a single classroom. One teacher can easily end up in the top 10% of all teachers in one class and the bottom 10% in her other class- same quality, completely different results.
And, that is a little more scientific using gain data, not the raw test scores that you advocate.
Schools have to endure endless cultural assaults from policy makers who are driven by common beliefs of the public.
Be more informed. If you are on this blog, you should be doing better.
Arizona is the only state in the nation with performance pay supported by teachers. Was written right into prop 301- an entire section.
jhuppent@hotmail.com: “….Be more informed. If you are on this blog, you should be doing better….” Sir: I suggest that you follow your own advice!!!!
“Teacher participation in a merit-pay program led to the equivalent of four extra weeks of student learning, according to a new analysis of 44 studies of incentive-pay initiatives in the United States and abroad.
The U.S. merit-pay studies on their own showed increased student learning equivalent to three additional weeks of schooling.
“The findings suggest that merit pay is having a pretty significant impact on student learning,” said study author Matthew G. Springer, an assistant professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University. …..”
No, merit pay is not simply tying money to test scores. There is a difference. And guess where most of those higher academic gains came from? Arizona. We had the highest academic gains in the nation from 2011 to 2015.
Our “merit pay plans” are much more comprehensive than simple links with test scores. Gain scores, district parent quality ratings, school quality ratings. Teamwork and individual.
Simply tying money for a teacher to her test scores is a formula for disaster.
jhuppent@hotmail.com: Sir: Notwithstanding how a Performance/Merit based Salary Structure is implemented, the only Effective/Objective measure of a Teachers’ Instructional Program are Standardized Examinations that measure the Body of Information that Students are required to learn so that they are able to move on to the next Academic Level.
Ask Francis what time it is and he tells you how to build a watch.
We could pay teachers and other state employees more, if we just were a little wiser with our money. Are there any salaries on this list that seem excessive?
https://www.abc15.com/news/data/arizona-salaries-see-which-state-employees-are-making-the-most-money
Even if a merit-based pay system worked (it doesn’t in the field of education, as it measures little more than zip code), the system is reliant on having a long line of qualified applicants ready to fill the positions of the “underperforming” teachers. But thousands of teaching positions statewide currently sit vacant. That’s how horrible the pay and working conditions are. Consequently, there is no leverage to even implement such a system.
These days there seems to be a lot of talk about “running the government like a business.” Well, when you have a business, and you need to fill thousands of positions, and you aren’t attracting qualified applicants to those positions (in many cases because you aren’t even offering a living wage), then you raise the salary and improve the working conditions until the positions are filled. Apparently the Arizona state government needed a little help in understanding this simple concept of supply and demand. Hence, the strike. #redfored
I sure hope other labor organizations throughout the state will be on the streets with the educators. IBEW – how about it??
The NEA has created a new wave of Durkheim Constant as they seek to change society for personal gains. let’s see how much society will tolerate. Too bad the children are watching them. In thirty years you will be disappointed that you supported these tactics.
If education received even half as much support, resources, accolades, buy-in, status and commitment as do sports (literally GAMES), we would not be in this situation.
Education and learning is more than just something for which the states cut budgets. Education. Our schools are all part of our national identity, indeed, our national security. As a nation, we need to support our schools. We need to pay teachers more money for what they all ready do.
Buy this one to show your support for the public schools, community colleges, and universities whenever you need to demonstrate “Red For Ed”. #RedForEd! https://viralstyle.com/store/nipa/support-red-for-ed
$upport Our Schools America!