PHOENIX — Pristine blue water, snow-capped mountains, glaciers, and ice as far as the eye can see - sure sounds nice right about now as Arizona sizzles in the summer sun!
But it wasn't the heat that forced special education teacher Mary Lillie to ditch Arizona and move to Alaska more than a decade ago.
"It's already a hard job; it's already difficult," says Lillie.
"It's a difficult job to begin with, so when you add the low pay, which all teachers complain about...You always have to have a second job. But on top of that, we were not treated as well as other professions. It just keeps piling on and piling on. Just the stress of it."
"Coming to Arizona and entering this profession, you don't feel welcomed," explains Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia. "You don't feel respected. You don't feel like a trusted professional like we had in the past."
Garcia is a former educator herself. She's also a mom of a senior who attends public school and remembers hearing about many of her colleagues leaving the state or leaving the profession altogether.
"It makes me incredibly frustrated. Over 15 years, I lost about 10-15 of my colleagues to other states and other professions. It's a huge hit to students who need that consistency."
RELATED: A new survey is out and the state hopes teachers provide honest feedback about what matters most. Click here if you're a current teacher and would like to participate.
According to a February 2023 survey from the Arizona Association of School Personnel Administrators, our state is roughly 2,900 teaching positions short. To put that into context, the group says one in every four teacher openings remain unfilled with just under half of the openings, 44%, getting filled by teachers who don't meet the state's standard certification requirements.
For Lillie, part of the reason she left was due to her low salary in Arizona. She says after moving to Alaska, her salary more than doubled.
But that's not the only benefit she says she now has. She explains she has more planning time, has fewer students in each class and even has access to low-cost housing.
