Title: Arizona’s teacher salaries rank among the lowest – Arizona Capitol Times
Headings: Arizona’s teacher salaries rank among the lowest
Arizona’s teacher salaries rank among the lowest
Content: The report comes as questions of school funding have taken center stage in courtrooms and the gubernatorial race. Key is the ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court that during the recession state lawmakers ignored a 2000 voter-approved mandate to adjust aid to schools each year for inflation. The exact amount missed is still being litigated. But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper said just resetting basic state aid to what it should have been had legislators complied with the law all along totals $317 million. If and when the state comes up with that cash, that will make another $279 per pupil available, on top of the approximately $7,550 a year per student from all sources. That does not count an additional $1.3 billion that schools claim they are owed for the years the state ignored the inflation funding formula. While that would be a one-time infusion, it translates out to close to an additional $1,150 per student. Both Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Fred DuVal and Republican Doug Ducey say they want to put more money in the classroom though they differ on how to do that. Arizona Arizona Department of Education low lowest teacher pay teacher salares teachers 8:32 am Mon, October 6, 2014 Arizona Capitol Times
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services