Teachers protest across the U.S.

Reuters News Service reported that U.S. teacher demonstrations are likely to spread as more educators hit the streets to take on states that they claim are choosing tax cuts over the education of students in elementary and secondary public schools.

Median teacher salaries in the Grand Canyon state are among the lowest in the nation, leading to a retention problem. A report last year by Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University found that almost a quarter of teachers hired between 2013 and 2015 were no longer teaching after a year, while 42 percent of teachers hired in 2013 lasted no more than three years.

Dan Hunting, a senior policy analyst at the institute, said taxes in Arizona as a percentage of the economy have been reduced by about a third since the early 1990s, resulting in less state money for schools.

“It’s going to take a while for us to get out of this. There’s not going to be a magic bullet,” Hunting said.

For a graphic showing teacher salaries, click: (tmsnrt.rs/2IsvlGa)

READ: Analysis: Sagging school funding fuels U.S. teacher protests