The president of the Arizona Education Association says she is not surprised with the findings of a recent Department of Education survey on teacher retention. The AEA is a labor union for public school employees in Arizona.
Nearly 1,000 teachers who left the profession in the last year were surveyed. Many said they quit due to a lack of administrative support for classroom discipline and a desire for better pay.
AEA President Marisol Garcia says that last year, her group brought these issues to Gov. Katie Hobbs, who then created an educator retention and recruitment committee.
“We need to look at teacher salaries, at lowering class sizes, we need to have a separate funding source that gives an influx of funding to public schools," Garcia said.
Garcia also said these issues are not new, and her group has been ringing the alarm for nearly a decade. She says support also needs to come from Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.
“I would hope that from this survey that he took from former educators that it would lend him to stop encouraging flaming rhetoric that is negative about public schools and public educators," Garcia said.
She says those falsities include indoctrination and that critical race theory is happening in the classrooms.
-
The state Legislature continues its break next week. GOP leaders said they would use their time out of session to work on a new state budget ahead of the end of the fiscal year on June 30. -
One of the Guggenheim Foundation's fellows is ASU professor Larissa Fasthorse, who is planning to use her fellowship to create a theatrical adaptation of one of the first English-language novels, "Oroonoko." -
After vetoes on Monday and Tuesday, the total number of bills Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has rejected so far this year is 138. That is just five shy of the record the governor set in her first year in office in 2023. -
For a second year in a row, Arizona State University’s commencement involves a record number of graduates. This year, more than 21,000 students will officially earn their degrees. -
The Arizona Legislature is a vote away from passing a bill that would make teachers personally liable for civil damages if they are found to promote antisemitism. House Bill 2867 would be a first-of-its-kind law.
