Four weeks into the 2016–2017 school year, Arizona saw 53 percent of its district classrooms without a certified teacher; over 2,000 had no teacher and another 2,000 had an uncertified person at the head of the class.
Source: Misogynistic Malfeasance | Blog for Arizona
And, from Laurie Roberts, AZCentral:
Share this:Gov. Doug Ducey said it was time to give teachers a raise, but it turned out that his definition of a pay raise was fourth-tenths of a percent pay increase.
He proposed $10 million to ensure that poor schools can offer all-day kindergarten, but only a handful of Phoenix districts and no Tucson schools will get a share of the money.
He said public education was his priority then gave us universal vouchers to divert more public funds to private schools.
So really, is it a surprise that Ducey’s $38 million for high-performing schools – billed as a way to help decent schools in poor areas – will mostly boost charter and public schools in more affluent areas?
That fully 40 percent of the money will go to the state’s richest areas?
That charter schools, which educate 16 percent of the state’s students, will scoop up 26 percent of the money?
This, at a time when public schools are woefully underfunded — forced to try to educate Arizona’s children with $1,360 less per student, when adjusted for inflation, than they had in 2008.