Education Issues Outlined (Bullhead City: 2015, student loan, elementary school)

[Jukesgrrl]

ASU's Morrison Institute (a public policy think tank) recently completed a serious study called Finding and Keeping Educators for Arizona's Classrooms. They took their own poll of 2,100 teachers and administrators and compared these comments to a study of Federal labor statistics and information from a state database of 90,000 teachers. Here are their Top 10 findings:

1. High school teacher pay ranks 49th of the 50 states, after adjusting for cost of living.

2. Elementary school teacher pay is the lowest in the nation, after adjusting for cost of living.

3. 74% of administrators surveyed said their schools are currently experiencing a shortage of teachers.

4. Median pay for Arizona’s elementary school teachers has dropped by 11% since 2001. For high school teachers, the decline has been 10%.

5. 42% of Arizona teachers hired in 2013 quit within three years.

6. 22% of the teachers hired between 2013 and 2015 stopped teaching in Arizona after one year.

7. Over one-third of Arizona teachers have fewer than four years in the classroom.

8. Arizona loses more teachers each year than it produces from bachelor of education programs at its three state universities.

9. Finding qualified teachers is difficult in specialized areas such as math, science, and special education.

10. 14% of Arizona teachers are Latino, compared with 44% of K-12 students.

What effect will these issues have on life in our state? How should the problems be addressed? How will these negatives effect economic growth and our quality of life?

http://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/sit...ORT%202017.pdf

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

ASU's Morrison Institute (a public policy think tank) recently completed a serious study called Finding and Keeping Educators for Arizona's Classrooms. They took their own poll of 2,100 teachers and administrators and compared these comments to a study of Federal labor statistics and information from a state database of 90,000 teachers. Here are their Top 10 findings:

1. High school teacher pay ranks 49th of the 50 states, after adjusting for cost of living.

2. Elementary school teacher pay is the lowest in the nation, after adjusting for cost of living.

3. 74% of administrators surveyed said their schools are currently experiencing a shortage of teachers.

4. Median pay for Arizona’s elementary school teachers has dropped by 11% since 2001. For high school teachers, the decline has been 10%.

5. 42% of Arizona teachers hired in 2013 quit within three years.

6. 22% of the teachers hired between 2013 and 2015 stopped teaching in Arizona after one year.

7. Over one-third of Arizona teachers have fewer than four years in the classroom.

8. Arizona loses more teachers each year than it produces from bachelor of education programs at its three state universities.

9. Finding qualified teachers is difficult in specialized areas such as math, science, and special education.

10. 14% of Arizona teachers are Latino, compared with 44% of K-12 students.

What effect will these issues have on life in our state? How should the problems be addressed? How will these negatives effect economic growth and our quality of life?

http://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/sit...ORT%202017.pdf

May I reply with a question What does it help California to pay twice as much and more to their teachers? - I'm not seeing better results from their more generous pay, terms and outrageous pension packages for teachers. Case in point my wife is HS teacher here and her brother in Fresno. He makes about twice as much (more experience since no break for own kids), not inflation adjusted. His pension plan basically guarantees him 100% of last pay check at age 55. Is his teaching that much superior to benefit California 2.5 times as much as my wifes's does Arizona?
Not to mention that California's public pensions are a ponzi scheme. For 20 years liabilities grow faster than assets. Basically you have to retire fast enough before this thing blows up like Puerto Rico's currently does.

[KurtAZ]

Not sure how #10 is relevant...

So what these numbers say to me, at least, is that the reason we are hemorrhaging educators in this state is they can go pretty much anywhere, even places with a comparable COL, and make a better wage than working in AZ. These are not stupid people, if they can make more money elsewhere, barring any other considerations, they will.

Don't get me wrong...we have some quality teachers here but we have friends that are very good educators that have 2 part time jobs to make ends meet. I am not a big advocate of throwing money at the education issue but if teachers are not feeling valued and can't make a living here...only the extremely dedicated, those with other income or those that have no other choice are going to be here. Apparently our Governor thinks a 2% wage increase, which doesn't even keep up with inflation, is a good thing. I know there is a long road and we have to increase salaries gradually but, and I hate to use them as an example, BASIS teachers are paid much better than our Public schools teachers and most of them have only been in the classroom for less than 3 years.

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

May I reply with a question What does it help California to pay twice as much and more to their teachers? -

See #5 above

I think teachers deserve a livable wage. Adults making under $40k is awful and unlivable (IMO).

New teachers aren't going to be as good as experienced teachers and we need to retain good talent, same as any business.

Throwing money at schools has never helped, it just ends up in administration. We need to find a way to ensure money ends up in teachers' paychecks.

[Finger Laker]

There is also a cost associated with recruiting, hiring, training and initial administration of new hires. When you churn so much staff you just burn that cost and spend it again.

Retention of good employees is key. You get more experienced results and you don't incur the replacement cost for an indefinite period of time until you end up with a like replacement (that will also need to be retained)

[jamies]

But in Bullhead City the corrupt school board can force through a 35 MILLION dollar bond to build a football stadium that nobody needs or wants, and they have no way to fund ongoing costs.

But they can't keep staff. Meanwhile administrators make fortunes. This is what a corrupt education system breeds.

And where did the state lottery money go? Supposed to go to schools - show me the money.

And where did the state trust money go? Supposed to go to schools - show me the money.

I'll tell you how to save money for teachers and the children - fire most administrators. One principal per school, one VP per thousand students, they don't do anything anyway. Minimal district staff - take away taxing rights from school boards. Take away all expense funds from school board members who should be volunteers, no "junkets." Divert all that money to the kids.

[dvxhd]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

May I reply with a question What does it help California to pay twice as much and more to their teachers?

I think yet another question would be why Arizona is considered to be in a crisis when there's a shortage of teachers, as people don't want to teach here. I don't know what California has to do with this, aside from the usual envy, but I'd imagine they can make that job more worthwhile there when someone is clearly fiddling while Rome burns here. With the pittance this state pays teachers, if they're in student loan debt, the meager salaries here don't exactly make that a lucrative option. As I've done that job before, it's not easy work, it's beyond frustrating, it's thankless, and frankly parents don't want to be held accountable for their shortcomings that appears in their kids.

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

ASU's Morrison Institute (a public policy think tank) recently completed a serious study called Finding and Keeping Educators for Arizona's Classrooms. They took their own poll of 2,100 teachers and administrators and compared these comments to a study of Federal labor statistics and information from a state database of 90,000 teachers. Here are their Top 10 findings:

1. High school teacher pay ranks 49th of the 50 states, after adjusting for cost of living.

2. Elementary school teacher pay is the lowest in the nation, after adjusting for cost of living.

3. 74% of administrators surveyed said their schools are currently experiencing a shortage of teachers.

4. Median pay for Arizona’s elementary school teachers has dropped by 11% since 2001. For high school teachers, the decline has been 10%.

5. 42% of Arizona teachers hired in 2013 quit within three years.

6. 22% of the teachers hired between 2013 and 2015 stopped teaching in Arizona after one year.

7. Over one-third of Arizona teachers have fewer than four years in the classroom.

8. Arizona loses more teachers each year than it produces from bachelor of education programs at its three state universities.

9. Finding qualified teachers is difficult in specialized areas such as math, science, and special education.

10. 14% of Arizona teachers are Latino, compared with 44% of K-12 students.

What effect will these issues have on life in our state? How should the problems be addressed? How will these negatives effect economic growth and our quality of life?

http://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/sit...ORT%202017.pdf

I think this just echoes a concern people have, but no one can be bothered to pay more taxes. These kids will eventually grow up and into professions to serve others though. Call me crazy, but I prefer my financial managers, doctors, etc. to be well educated. As I mentioned above, I have done that job before. Oddly I was just thinking about this earlier tonight because in 2015 I was considering getting into teaching again... but only because I needed a job and Arizona makes it easy. The fine print to that is that it has to, though other states are more stringent in qualifications. When I did apply for teaching positions, I wasn't finished with the state requirements, but schools were being very aggressive about fast-tracking me through the process because they needed the position filled. I chose not to pursue it because I make more money in the private sector than I could teaching. To some of the points you raised:

1 & 2: I think there's a lack of foresight and connectivity rampant in Arizona. People here see issues as discrete and can't connect them to each other. They don't see that education is connected to other aspects of the place (and this is true of any place anywhere on Earth). They also don't see that in the future, this will lead to problems when students have an inferior education. Pay is a motivating factor, and it's hard to find people who will work hard for little money and no good long-term prospects.

3: I pointed this out in the above post, which he ignored in your post and chose to bash California again, because we don't see that enough on this forum. It's my understanding this is spreading across the country, and many states are facing shortages, but it's quite drastic here.

5: Had I gone into teaching, I confess that I would have been guilty of that too. Honestly, I was considering finalizing my education with a PhD, and as I understand it, teaching pretty much allows that to happen. Once I graduated I would've quit and moved up to the university-level. I've taught at both levels, and you have more freedom in a college/university.

8: I don't think this is a complete story. That's not to say I doubt it, but as I've heard the "brain drain" is an issue in Arizona when people can do better financially elsewhere across all sorts of disciplines. Briefly: the low cost of living thing gets Arizona only so far, but it's neglecting how many millions of people live well in these "expensive" cities outside of the state. Many of these anti-California/Illinois/New York/insert other blue state here posts are overblown, hyperbolic, and inaccurate.