Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has released a state budget that includes $114 million in new spending for K-12 education. Among other uses, the money will go into signing bonuses for instructors at low-income schools and expansion of kindergarten at low-income schools. It will also be used for teacher raises, which will go up each year until 2022.
This first year, the average teacher pay increase will be $225. Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said it’s the best the governor can do given the state’s revenue situation.
“We're always going to be looking for ways to reward our teachers beyond this. I think when this is fully implemented it is going to move the needle for teachers,” he said. “But we're always going to be looking on how we can do more.
Scarpinato said when the raise is fully implemented after five years, it will work out a $900 bump per teacher.
