Arizona teachers, of course, are not the only ones striking. Colorado teachers marched on their Capitol on Thursday as well, and there have been teacher strikes in West Virginia and Oklahoma in the last several weeks.
So how did we get to this point? For more on that, The Show spoke with Michael Hansen, senior fellow and director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.
He said that around the country, teacher salaries have lost ground in terms of inflation adjustments; they’re getting less money for retirement and paying more for health insurance. During the Great Recession, teachers were willing to take the cuts. But since the recovery, in many states, those cuts haven’t been restored and teachers have had enough. At the same time, teachers unions have lost power around the country.
Hansen also said we’re in an important cultural moment right now, where grassroots movements — from #MeToo to the March for Our Lives — are sweeping the nation.
