To teach in Arizona

In a two-part feature, the Douglas Dispatch reports that the documentary “Teaching in Arizona” was recently screened for the general public at Douglas High School. The film follows three Tucson area teachers who alternately extol their love of teaching and express their frustrations of a teacher workforce crisis.

The Grand Canyon State has the highest teacher turnover rate in the U.S., losing 42 percent of its teachers in the first three years; more than it produces educators from its three state universities according to a report by Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University.

Additionally, Arizona ranks 49th in the country for median teacher pay while at the same time teachers spend, according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post, an average of $500 per ammun on supplies. To make matters worse, the new GOP tax bill will no longer allow them to get a tax deduction.

A 2018 survey, by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association (ASPAA), showed that 1,547 teacher vacancies remain this school year.

Part two of the article, Concretizing Solutions, publishes this week.

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