PHOENIX — Arizona Republican School Superintendent Tom Horne stood in front of lawmakers Tuesday to sound the alarm of not having enough teachers in the classroom while highlighting his other accomplishments, so far, as the state schools chief in his State of Education speech.
The Arizona Department of Education says more than 7,200 teachers are coming to Arizona each year, but more than 10,500 teachers are leaving. That leaves a gap of about 3,300 teachers in Arizona classrooms.
Leda Devliger said she left teaching about two years ago for many reasons, and pay was a big one.
“It boils down to as a single parent and a single household, you really can't afford to survive and I was working second and third jobs,” she said.
In some classrooms, Horne said long-term substitute teachers are working instead of qualified, certified teachers.
“If we do nothing to reverse this trend, this could be a major catastrophe for our students and our economy,” Horne said in his speech to the Arizona House Education Committee Tuesday.
Horne’s hope is for the legislature to pass a resolution to extend Prop 123, allowing it to go to voters and raise teacher pay. That money usually comes from the State Land Trust, with 6.9% of it going toward education. Republican lawmakers propose that a percentage go toward teacher pay. The Democrats had their own proposal, wanting to raise the withdrawal from the Land Trust to 8.9% but direct it toward teacher pay and other school staff.
Education advocacy organization Save Our Schools, which Devliger is a part of, has been critical of Horne’s leadership, and says they’re wary of the Republican’s proposal.
“Our teachers do need a raise, but I think we can’t leave anyone behind in giving that raise,” said Tyler Kowch, the spokesperson for Save Our Schools.
Another issue Horne said teachers are leaving the classroom over is the lack of school leadership backing up a teacher’s decision for student discipline. Horne is hoping the legislature will pass a bill that would have districts keep records of when teachers ask principals for discipline and whether or not the principal followed through and supported their teachers.
Horne wants to penalize schools by knocking them down a level in the A-F letter grades if the percentage of teachers being supported is fewer than 75% without “a reasonable explanation in the appeal process.”
In his speech, Horne also discussed his work in school safety, increasing the number of school resource officers and finding a way to start the school safety officer program through the help of the state legislature and funds the department received from the state. He says his department is also publicizing more data to help find solutions to improve student achievement as well as working on giving school leaders and teachers more training to succeed in schools.
Watch the full speech in the video player below:
In closing, Horne said there are three important elements to quality education: quality of teachers and leaders, quality of curriculum, and student motivation.
He hopes the legislature will require students to pass the ACTs to graduate or get a certification for a skill in career, technical education.
“I think it's kind of more of the same from Superintendent Horne. Lots of hot air but not a lot of actual things that can improve our schools,” Kowch said, criticizing Horne for bringing politics into the classroom.
Kowch added he felt Horne’s speech did not touch on all the other issues he feels are important, such as the rapidly growing universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.
“My predecessors had a lot of distractions. I’m working to eliminate those distractions, focus on academics, that teachers teach bell to bell. Every instructional minute is precious. That's what I’m focused on is the exact opposite of politics,” Horne said.