Teachers in Arizona receive the lowest salary
The state of Arizona falls to the bottom, nationally when it comes to teacher salaries.
Governor Doug Ducey promised to prioritize teachers and education in the 2017 budget. Teachers in the state make an average of just over $40,000 dollars, however in Yuma that number is as low as $31,600 dollars.
District Superintendente Toni Badone, says that they’ve seen too many cuts in previous years and that it’s time to make an investment in teachers.
“In 2009 and 2010 we had meager cuts of $1.2 million dollars just at our district alone in the middle of the year. Our capital has gone down from $10 million to $750,000 dollars and that’s what we use to repair structures our building funds have gone away. There’s been cuts every single year, so really right now we’re at a place where there can’t be more cuts, there needs to be an investment,” says Badone.
She also adds that they make efforts to attract teachers to the desert southwest, such as paying for teacher’s moving expenditures. If a teacher who lives 50 miles or more away decides to sign a contract here in Yuma, District #70 will pay for that moving process.
