Teachers in Phoenix area

[Finger Laker]

40k for a job where you understand in a master's degree is a joke.

Home values are definitely not depressed anymore either. Cost of living here isn't bad, but it isn't that cheap either.

[Hal Roach]

Many with master's degrees can't find work in their field, at all. A CL ad in Phoenix looking for employees with degrees at 12 USD per hour would get 1000 applicants. While the sensationalism of poor teachers seems to grab many headlines; rarely do these articles mention that the school districts (of which there are four times too many in Arizona) flat out refuse to control administrative costs. It is often revealed that bond referendums put before the taxpayers to improve schools often will only send pennies on the Dollar into the classrooms. Too much of the blame is placed on taxpayers, whose budgets are actually constrained; and not those, who seem to believe money grows on trees.

[Finger Laker]

Hal, you can't quantify any of your stats it ramblings. Frankly, you are talking out of your butt.

Administration costs are very low here across the board. There really isn't much fat, can there is nothing to support it.

While I absolutely agree there could be a benefit to consolidation in districts with many benefits, there is zero support to do this from the people who make more money and have more influence.

[Hal Roach]

And the links you posted? At least my head isn't up my butt. Classroom spending in Arizona 53.8% vs. 60.9% nationwide.
How much do Arizona school districts spend in classrooms?
And your statement about not getting step increases was almost entirely false, as any district's pay-scale will show. Maybe they will like the Amazon warehouse better.

[Finger Laker]

Step increases do happen, annual increases really do not.

What the OP was talking about was annual increases built into a contract. Generally contracts in AZ are annual and there isn't a negotiated yearly increase percentage.

Step increases frequently require you to post it money to reach the step and are frequently revenue neutral.

The 53.8% AZ spends in the classroom is $4,703 per student. The 60.9% national percentage equates to $6,495.

This lines up to per student pools of $8,741.64 per student in AZ and $10, 665.02 nationally per student.

That means nationally there is a spend of $4,170 per student "outside of the classroom" and a spend of $4,039 per student "outside of the classroom" in AZ.

So yes, AZ spends less than the national average outside the classroom in real dollars.

The percentages shift because per student funding in AZ is amongst the worst in the country.

Outside spending isn't just pesky administrators - which by your own link shows that principles and other administrators in AZ are taking roughly the same percentage of the per student spend as the national average (actually .9% less). However, in real dollars AZ is at $757 per student vs $1,160 per student. Again, administrators in AZ are pulling well below the national average.

So what is outside spending? Some items are going to bite everyone nationally - buses, fuel, insurance, food, buses, utilities, insurance, etc.

These things cost money regardless of the per student budget. If your basket cost for these items is $2k per student and your total allocation is $4k per student then you are allocating 50% to these items. If your per student allocation is $10k, now you are at 20% per student. See, you need to be careful just getting sucked into percentages. In this case neither would be doing a better job at controlling the outside classroom spending, one just gets a lower percentage due to a higher budget.

So to the OP, despite everything I like living here. Education is still a challenge and the attitude shown in this thread is some of what you would face. However, do think the tide is turning a bit.

To Hal, the next time you or anyone else wants to slide insults into my rep points, at least put your name on it.......