by asudevil » 07 May 2018, 15:41
So Ill finish this up.
Another slap in the face for teachers last year was when a legislator told us that we all have second jobs to afford BOATS...yes you heard that right...all AZ teachers buy BOATS with their second jobs...not food or shelter...jerk.
So last year Ducey gave the teachers a 1% raise and made it sound like it was a huge deal. This wasn't built into the long term budget, so most districts had to pay it out as a 1time bonus stipend (400 bucks or so) because the following year there was no way to know if he would still fund that 1% raise. This year in February (ish) we were told we would again get a 1% raise (he bragged about it as 2 since he had given one the previous year...but they weren't going to compound, so it was really just the same 1% again)...but again it wouldn't be in the base, so we knew districts would have to pay it as a stipend. Ducey continued to talk about how lucky we were to get raises, when at the same time, inflation is generally pegged at about 2%...so our "big raises" didn't even keep up with inflation.
The redfored thought started right around that time. We were asked just to wear a red shirt on Wednesday's to raise communal awareness of how we are all in this together. We started doing walkins at the schools where we would gather out front of the school with signs to ask Ducey to adequately fund our schools and then go to class.
Right around the first walkin Ducey came up with his 20 by 2020 plan. But he was going to take money from colleges, developmentally disabled programs and other services that help lower income families. Also the legislature said that they weren't going to give us that raise. So even though he had promised it...he has no actual power to make it happen.
Then we had our walkout and yes, we relatively got that 20 by 2020 raise but it was funded more sustainably and we never would have gotten even that much without the walk out.
The biggest issue here is that the RedForEd movement had 5 "demands"...the problem was that we ordered them incorrectly because we always listed raises first. We also used the adjective more...when we should have used enough (enough funding, enough pay, enough salary...etc)
The 5 demands were
Increase teacher pay by 20%
Competitive salary for classified staff (secretaries, security, bus drivers, etc)
Increase education funding to 2008 levels (that's right...we are below where we were a decade ago)
No more tax cuts until we are AVERAGE in per-pupil funding
Permanent salary structure (because many districts freeze teacher pay for years when the budget gets tight from the state)
Even with the walkout...here's what we got.
Ducey is bragging about every teacher getting a 20% raise. However, that money goes to the district to do with as they wish (not terrible...but annoying). The bigger thing is that he funded enough for 20% raises based on the average teacher salary in Arizona. So some districts that have higher wages will only see enough funding for 15% raises. Also, he defined "teacher" as teachers with a roster as teacher of record. So all the people who are on the same pay scale as teachers because they have a teaching certificate but aren't CLASSROOM teachers...don't get this funding. So librarians, counselors, speech pathologists, curriculum coaches (to help low achieving students), curriculum specialists (to help mentor teachers), elementary specials (PE, art, music, spanish, etc), most elementary special ed teachers (cause they do small group pullouts) all don't see any of that money from the state. So the districts have to take the money and spread it out over all of these employees.
Also, he gave back 100million in funding from the DAA (remember this was cut 1billion dollars since 2008 because of him siphoning off money and never restoring it...but we should be grateful for 10% of it). That money has to be split between every school (2000 or so). So 50k per school. That money is supposed to help with the classified raises. It also goes to buy books, buses, building repairs, technology and anything else the school needs. That 50k isn't going to last long in any school. So that 20% "raise" from teachers is going to be split to buy some of this stuff too because our kids NEED it.
So that's why we walked out...and what we got. It's still not nearly enough...but he won the PR battle because he gave us raises. But the STUDENTS who need the money (per pupil spending) still got the shaft.
Just so you have an idea about HOW much our students get screwed. In 2015 per pupil spending in AZ was 7,489. The national average is 11,392. So our kids are 4k less than average. Which means we spend about 2/3rds of average. That's PATHETIC.
Anyway...hope that answers your questions for why we walked. Ill be happy to answer any questions and when I have time, Ill go back through and answer any that already popped up.
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