Dear PTA Members

Governor Ducey recently made his budget recommendations for next year, which included limited spending on 15 different education initiatives.

While we are encouraged the Governor has set big goals for public education, a sprinkle of money in a whole bunch of buckets won’t move the needle on any of our education goals. And an average teacher raise of $185 per year won’t even begin to address our teacher shortage crisis.

That’s why AZ Schools Now—a coalition of dedicated teachers, parents, school board members, faith-based volunteers, and education leaders—is asking the Governor and legislature to put all additional funds into one priority this year: teacher raises. We stand in partnership with AZ Schools Now as a member of the Coalition and echo this sentiment.

The AZ Schools Now Coalition has identified a way to raise teacher salaries a full 4-percent without changing the existing budget structure. This raise will give teachers a reason to believe our state is moving in the right direction, but it will not solve our shortage.

We must find ways to increase our revenue sources and end the trend of short-term planning and funding crises. We can’t keep putting Band-Aids on the broken bones that are our education issues in Arizona.

We need YOU to email your state senator and representatives and ask for two things:

            1) Focus all new funding for next year on permanent teacher raises.

            2) Begin stakeholder meetings this session to identify long-term funding solutions that include sustainable resources for education and an update of Prop. 301.

We’ve attached a sample email for your use. Click here to personalize this email and send it directly to your representatives.