TEACHER VOICE: Underpaid, my colleagues and I are frequently advised to “marry a doctor or a lawyer”
No wonder there’s an acute teacher shortage here
TUCSON, Ariz. — Teachers work two jobs so they can buy boats and other luxury items, Arizona’s House Majority Leader Republican John Allen noted recently.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Here in Tucson, K-12 teachers get starting annual salaries in the $30,000 to $35,000 range, the same starting wage as city bus drivers, and a wage far below that of most other professions requiring a Bachelor’s Degree and professional licensing.
Arizona ranks 50th in the United States in elementary teacher salaries adjusted for cost of living with an average salary of about $42,560 only three quarters of what teachers earn in other parts of the country.
In wages adjusted for inflation, Arizona elementary teachers are making 11 percent less now than they were in 2001. Patterns for middle and high school teachers are similar. According the 2017 Living Wage Calculator out of MIT, a family of 3 to 4 individuals necessitates a minimum annual salary of $46,000. Teachers are taking second jobs to cover their basic living expenses, not to “enjoy the finer things in life.”
Given these low wages, it’s no surprise that the first bit of advice many new teachers receive is to marry a doctor or a lawyer.
Both this advice, to marry for security, and the extremely low salary offered in a field where 76 percent of teachers are female, demands attention in relation to gender-based inequities and social justice.
Because 19 percent of Arizona families have a female head of household, these low salaries contribute to a large number of children in our state living in or near poverty levels.
Why don’t we hear more of this outcry, particularly in places like Arizona where there is an acute teacher shortage and where Gov. Doug Ducey is responding to this teacher shortage signing a bill that de-professionalize teaching, lowering standards for teacher certification.
Doesn’t he get it? The problem isn’t that people can’t meet the TEACHER VOICE: Underpaid, my colleagues and I are frequently advised to “marry a doctor or a lawyer” - The Hechinger Report:
