Arizona teachers seeing first salary increases

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Tue, 07/31/2018 - 04:30

KTVK 3TV Phoenix reported that Arizona school teachers are returning to classrooms with many of them seeing their first significant pay raise. It took an historic protest with tens of thousands of teachers walking out of the classroom before Gov. Doug Ducey offered a better pay deal, promising a 20 percent raise over the next two years.

His office estimates the average teacher salary will increase this year to $52,725 from $48,723 during the last school year. This is still below the national average of nearly $59,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"It's going to take us many years to solve the problem," said Dan Hunting, a senior policy analyst for Morrison Institute at Arizona State University. "It's important to remember that the last time Arizona's education funding was at the national average was in 1975."

SEE: Arizona teachers return to school with bigger paychecks but still lag behind the rest of the country
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