Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R) released a statement Tuesday blasting opposition from Democrats and the state’s teacher union to House Bill (HB) 2800, sponsored by State Representative Matt Gress (R-Phoenix).
“Shockingly, the Arizona teacher’s union and a number of Democrats in the legislature, oppose the bill. All we can think of is that they are opposed to it because it is a Republican bill. These kinds of questions should be bipartisan, and people should not oppose a good bill, just because [a] Republican introduced it,” Horne said.
As reported by The Arizona Sun Times, if Gress’s bill becomes law, teachers will receive a $5,000 pay increase above the 2023 base salary in 2024. Then the same would occur in 2025, providing public school teachers a $10,000 permanent pay increase. The bill would also establish the Pay Teachers First Fund to pay schools up to 50 percent of costs associated with salary increases. The legislature would be responsible for continuously appropriating the money for the fund.
Arizona currently has the 27th highest average teacher starting salary in the nation at $41,496. Horne stated that with the $10,000 raise, Arizona could be within the top ten highest starting salaries.
Furthermore, Horne made his statement in response to a new report from the National Education Association (NEA), which called for higher teacher salaries. According to the report, America is heading to a “perfect storm” as teachers’ salaries cannot keep up and shortages continue nationwide. While the average public teacher salary increased from 2021-22 by two percent to $66,745, that does not consider inflation. With the country’s rampant inflation, teachers are making $3,644 less than they did a decade ago.
Overall, 40 percent of nationwide full-time K-12 teachers earn less than $25,000 annually. Moreover, ABC News reported that three-quarters of the U.S. is experiencing a teacher shortage in the classroom, spurred by pandemic-era frustrations.
“Educators who dedicate their lives to students shouldn’t be struggling to support their own families. A career in education must not be a lifetime sentence of financial worry. Who will choose to teach under those circumstances,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.
However, Horne said there is a disconnect between what the national and state-level teacher unions want, as the Arizona Education Association (AEA) opposes giving teachers a wage through HB 2800. The AEA said one of the significant problems with the bill is that it does not spread the wealth to other deserving school employees, such as school counselors. Additionally, the association argued that the policy would put schools at the mercy of the legislature to provide the needed funding.
Under Arizona law, the aggregate expenditure limit (AEL) limits how much funding the state’s public school districts can receive. The legislature can lift the limit, as it did this year, but it requires a supermajority in both the House and Senate to pass. The AEA said that if a time comes in the future, the legislature fails to lift the AEL, schools will be stuck paying higher wages it cannot afford to, which may lead to teachers getting laid off.
Nonetheless, Gress said he still believes the bill can work.
“#HB2800 permanently raises teacher pay & protects that raise from admins. We use ONGOING General Fund dollars from a small portion of the $2.5B surplus. We have the resources; let us do what’s right,” Gress tweeted.
The #PayTeachersFirst Plan sends more of our tax dollars to the classroom. #HB2800 permanently raises teacher pay & protects that raise from admins.
We use ONGOING General Fund dollars from a small portion of the $2.5B surplus.
We have the resources; let us do what’s right! https://t.co/SVjTyjrK7y pic.twitter.com/namOcZKfCL
— Matt Gress (@MatthewGress) April 26, 2023
Additionally, Gress said he has attempted to work with Democrat lawmakers to negotiate solutions to make the bill more favorable to everyone but has yet to receive any aid.
HB 2800 is still in the House and needs to pass a third-reading vote before moving to the Senate.
The Sun Times reached out to the House for an update on the bill but did not hear back before publishing time.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne” by Tom Horne.
