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Arizona Gov. Ducey signs education funding and teacher pay bill

May 03, 2018 23:44·
Arizona Teachers Walk Out on Thursday After Budget Deal Drags

Arizona Teachers Walk Out on Thursday After Budget Deal Drags

Teachers will get an average 9 percent pay boost this fall and 5 percent more in each of the next two years.

Teachers are protesting low pay and low funding for the state's school systems and demanding an additional $1 billion for school funding as well as pay raises for support staff.

One Republican lawmaker upset about the strike proposed amendments to make it illegal for teachers to espouse political beliefs at work, to require the attorney general to investigate schools that allow political activity and to bar schools from closing during a walkout.

A leading organizer of the walkout by Arizona's teachers says striking educators should take credit for the increased funding that state legislators approved for their raises in an all-night budget session. Many schools districts planning to re-open Thursday chose to remain closed.

The Arizona Senate and House have begun debating a $10.4 billion state budget plan providing more than $300 million for raises for numerous state's striking teachers.

Hundreds of Arizona educators continued to crowd the state Capitol as lawmakers debated a state budget plan that hikes teacher pay but doesn't address other school funding demands. The teachers, in the sixth day of classroom walk outs, have agreed to return to the classroom once the budget has been approved by the legislature.

Ducey said the teachers had earned a raise and praised the legislation as "a real win" for both teachers and students.

Marana schools will remain closed until the walkout ends.

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Teachers who had hoped to go back to work Thursday essentially extended their strike by a day to ensure they could continue pressuring the Legislature.

Because the budget debate in the Arizona Legislature dragged into Thursday morning, May 3, before Gov. Doug Ducey finally received and signed the bill, teachers who expected to be back in the classroom on Thursday have chose to walk out for yet another day.

The Senate has already approved the entire budget, and the House is still working on five bills in the budget package. This, however, did not satisfy the teacher's demands for improved education funding, contending that the proposal would not be viable without tax measures.

The striking teachers, who are among the lowest paid in the country, kept watch at the state Capitol all night, packing the House and Senate galleries during the debate and holding a candlelight vigil in a courtyard.

The action came after a weeklong teachers' strike that shut down school for the great majority of the state's 1.1 million public school students. teacher vowed to stay out until the funding package passed.

Organizers of the strike had called for classes to resume Thursday if the budget passed. The proposal also includes making the first payment toward restoring almost $400 million slashed from school building and maintenance budgets following the 2008 recession.

Tucson Unified School District will remain closed on Friday, May 4, according to an announcement on the TUSD website on Thursday, May 3.

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