Arizona's top educator wants a bigger raise for all teachers, as she tells legislators the state of education is at a "crossroads."
State superintendent Diane Douglas says a five percent permanent increase this year could help undo the teacher shortage. The proposal would cost $140 million per year.
"It took years to get into the serious situation where to many of our teachers work multiple jobs, they leave the state, or they leave the profession entirely trying to make ends meet for their family," Douglas said.
In her State of Education speech, Douglas also told legislators about the planned rollback of Common Core curriculum, a broadband initiative for rural and tribal schools and more details on letter grade school report cards.
In his budget, Gov. Doug Ducey proposed a two percent permanent teacher pay increase, which would be phased in over five years. Ducey also proposed $100 million in other K-12 education spending initiatives for FY2018 in his State of the State speech given earlier this month.
