West Virginia. Kentucky. Oklahoma. Colorado. Arizona. Arizona teachers became the latest to take their fight for increased education funding and higher pay to their state capitol on Thursday, with a walkout by thousands of teachers that has closed schools in districts across the state. Years of tax cuts have “cost the state about $4 billion in revenue in today’s dollars,” which means not just low teacher pay but oversized classes, tattered textbooks and sometimes filthy conditions as school funding has dropped 14 percent since 2008.
As in other states, teachers speak of their second and third jobs:
In addition to teaching fifth and sixth grade science, Morton is a private tutor, a caretaker for emotionally challenged kids and, four nights a week, she turns her car into a taxi and drives for Lyft. She says it is the only way she can survive in a state that ranks 44th in the nation in teacher pay and 48th in per-pupil spending, according to the National Education Association.
The New York Times spoke to four Republican teachers about conditions in their schools:
“I’m a die-hard Republican, and I’m dying inside,” says Allison Ryal-Bagley, an elementary school substitute teacher. “Republicans aren’t taking care of our kids.”
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey made a show of promising teachers a 20 percent raise, but since he claims it will happen without raising taxes, teachers are skeptical—and in any case, state legislators haven’t signed on.