PHOENIX — Arizona schools are preparing to reopen Friday after a walkout shut down schools across the state for six days. Arizona’s governor signed a…
PHOENIX — Arizona schools are preparing to reopen Friday after a walkout shut down schools across the state for six days.
Arizona’s governor signed a budget bill Thursday morning that includes nearly $273 million aimed at giving teachers raises after state legislators debated for 13 hours to craft the state’s budget. Protesting teachers initially were expected to return to classrooms Thursday but pushed to keep schools closed until the budget passed.
Some schools did reopen Thursday.
“I just want to finish the year strong for the kids,” said guidance counselor Cheryl Guthrie at Ingleside Middle School in Phoenix, who waved to students as they came back to school.
► May 2: Arizona teachers will walk out again Thursday as budget votes drag on ► April 30: Educators at Arizona Capitol dig in on Day 3 of teacher walkout ► April 27: Colorado ralliers pin hopes on ballot initiative
Both houses of the Arizona Legislature OK’d the state budget for the coming fiscal year in the wee hours of the morning. Gov. Doug Ducey signed the bill dealing with education at about 6:10 a.m. MST Thursday, according to a post on his Twitter feed.
“It’s a good way to start the day,” Ducey said in a video of him signing the education budget bill. He has not yet signed any of the nine other budget bills.
Passage of the additional teacher pay was called the triggering event that organizers said would end the statewide teacher walkout, the largest in recent U. S. history.
Ducey initially had called for giving every teacher a 20% raise by the year 2020. But what the Legislature passed falls short of his promise of 1% this year, 9% next year and 5% raises in the 2020 and 2021.
Teachers who walked out of their classes also wanted a reversal of the $1 billion in cuts made to the state education budget in the past decade, a halting of tax cuts until the state per-pupil monies reach the national average and raises for school support staff. The grassroots group that organized the walkout, Arizona Educators United, also wanted a 20% pay increase in one year, not three.
Arizona’s 2017 per-pupil expenditures were $7,501; the national average was $11,642, according to a National Education Association report released earlier this month. The state’s average teacher’s salary was $47,403, eighth lowest in the country, compared to a national average of $59,660.
The new plan pays for the teacher salary increases partly through a vehicle-registration fee that would be levied on every motorist. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimated it at $18 to $24 a vehicle each year, and Ducey maintains that it is not a tax increase.
School districts will have the final say on how to spend the money that the Legislature is funneling their way, lawmakers told the hundreds of teachers watching their debates in the gallery, the Capitol lobby and watching the proceedings on television.
► April 26: Teachers strike in Arizona; protests spread to Colorado ► April 25: Pot taxes across U. S. help shore up school budgets
Lawmakers had no guarantee that every teacher in the state would receive exactly a 20% pay raise.
“Right now we’re getting about four-elevenths of what we were asking for in terms of funding,” said Mark Zepezauer, an eighth-grade social studies teacher from Tucson’s Sunnyside Unified School District. “It’s all put in a pool and they throw it at the districts and say, ‘Here, you decide where this goes.’ “
Amendments were brought up and defeated. Teachers in the Senate gallery generally supported the Democrats.
In the House, GOP Rep. Kelly Townsend of Mesa introduced a trio of amendments that appeared targeted at the #RedForEd movement. All were defeated.
One would have outlawed school closures outside of certain situations, such as a natural disaster or threat. Another would have required the attorney general to start an investigation into school districts that break state laws if lawmakers filed complaints.
► April 25: What worries parents most about the Arizona teacher walkout ► April 23: Arizona’s governor puzzled on why teachers want to walk out
The third would have prohibited teachers from using classroom time to espouse political ideology. Teachers found in violation would have faced a fine of up to $5,000.
“It’s far beyond time we rein in indoctrination in our public schools,” Townsend said on the House floor.
Contributing: Ryan Randazzo, Dustin Gardiner, Andrew Nicla, The Arizona Republic. Follow Lily Altavena, Richard Ruelas and Rachel Leingang on Twitter: @lilyalta, @ruelaswritings and @rachelleingang
