Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Education Retention Task Force released its final recommendations for keeping qualified teachers in Arizona on Tuesday. The No. 1 suggestion was to pay them more money, but the funding source remains unclear.
The task force surveyed thousands of current educators, former educators, and other education professionals.
Most educators said they are unsatisfied with their pay, and that they’ve considered leaving their job within the past year.
The biggest issues cited are salary, workload, poor leadership, mental health and state policies.
Hobbs has consistently advocated for higher pay for public school teachers, but neither she nor the task force made it clear how much more they want to pay teachers, or where they’ll get the money.
Hobbs declined to take questions after the task force meeting.
Republican Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, attended the meeting and said his colleagues have the same goal. He referred to a proposal GOP lawmakers announced in Novemberto raise teacher pay by $4,000 using funds from Proposition 123 — a 2016 ballot measure that increases the amount of money schools get from the state’s land trust fund.
“If we can do 4,000, we go from being just below the national average to just above the national average, and that would position us better to attract teachers, so we ought to work together instead of pooh-poohing ideas from people just because the letter behind their name is different than ours,” Bennett said.
Democrats have been wary of the Republicans’ plan. Hobbs’ spokesperson, Christian Slater, called it a “half-baked” idea.
The main solutions the task force recommended besides higher salaries are: hiring more staff and educators to decrease workload; getting more support and recognition from leadership; prioritizing the educators’ mental health; and implementing policies that are best for the students.
