A Letter to the Editor History Essay Research Paper

Running head: TEACHER PAY IN ARIZONA1
Teacher Pay in Arizona: A Letter To The Editor
Student Name
College/University Affiliation
TEACHER PAY IN ARIZONA

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Teacher Pay in Arizona: A Letter To The Editor
The Editor
The New York Times
New York, NY
Date
Dear Editor,
Education is a matter of urgent and longstanding grievances in Arizona. For years, Arizona has had consistent cuts in state’s budget for education only to make matters worse. The state of current education in Arizona is nothing short of a crisis and, if business goes on as usual, simmering conflicts between school boards, state legislature and politicians could get out of control. In fact, education in Arizona is a case study of an educational system gone wrong in every possible way. Teacher pay. Classrooms. Technology. Textbooks. The list is really long and could exhaust current limited space for writing. The importance of education in Arizona is, unsurprisingly, a matter of statewide and national interest. According to a 2019 poll by Expect More Arizona, a grassroots movement calling for education reform, shows 42% voters believe education is state’s most important issue followed by border/illegal immigration issues (25%) and healthcare (10%) - for fifth consecutive year (“Education Top Issue for Fifth Straight Year,” 2020). Equally unsurprisingly, slow response from state officials, coupled by persistent apathy to public interest, has given rise to RedforEd, a local teacher-led movement calling for wide reforms in Arizona’s chronic educational ills, particularly underfunding (The Red for Ed Movement,” n.d.). The reform of Arizona’s educational system cannot wait longer. Of particular urgency is teacher pay.
Understandably, many might argue all past and current brouhaha about educational reform in Arizona is, well, abut pay. This understanding of Arizona’s educational problems is at best misinformed and at worst ill-intentioned. If anything, paying teachers decent salaries is not so much about raises and benefits yet, more importantly, about offering what is best for our children. Teachers who are paid well are well-trained, professionally happy and, not least, capable of giving in and out of class. As matters stand, Arizona’s statues fall short of offering minimum acceptable salary for teachers. According to Title 15, Article 952 of Arizona Revised Statues, “C. For any fiscal year in which a governing board receives approval to increase the school district's base level as provided in this section, the governing board may only expend the additional monies for additional teacher compensation [emphasis added]” (“Additional Monies for Teacher Compensation,” n.d.). The problem in such phrasing is that Arizona has experienced cuts after cuts every year since 2008 – meaning no additional monies for additional teacher compensation. This phrasing makes school boards have a fina...