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An Arizona teacher decided to post her “upgraded” salary stub on her Facebook page last week, and it is a very clear reminder that teachers are undervalued and disrespected. While the NRA and Republicans blather on about arming and training teachers to become the first line of defense against a culture of violence that they have manufactured and profited from, teachers are still not pulling in salaries for the work they already do.
Whispering Winds Academy teacher Elisabeth Milich posted a photo of her salary on Facebook. Her salary is $35,490 per year.
She works for the Paradise Valley Unified School District.
Milich posted the photo after seeing her expected pay raise for taking professional-development courses.
"This is my new pay after taking a few professional development classes," stated Milich in the post. "I actually laughed when I saw the old salary vs. the new one. I mean really, I need a college degree to make this? I paid 80,000 for a college degree, I then paid several hundred more to transfer my certification to Az."
The Facebook post she put up has been taken down, but you can see a screen shot of it here or here. USA Today gives the Arizona median teacher salary breakdown:
The median salary for Arizona elementary school teachers in 2016, adjusted for cost of living, was $42,474, a 2017 analysis by Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy found. The median salary for high school teachers was $47,890.
And while Arizona legislators are under the impression that teachers who have two jobs are only interested in buying boats, the hard reality of change is now—as victories in West Virginia for striking teachers and Oklahoma’s legislators on notice from Oklahoma teachers illustrate.