Despite historic state investments and a smaller student body than in pre-COVID-19 years, a report on Arizona’s teacher shortage says schools still need thousands of new educators.
The Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association released its annual count of teacher vacancies Monday, showing 194 school districts and charter schools had 24% of total teacher positions vacant.
“Arizona children deserve the best teachers and a stable workforce,” the ASPAA said in a release. “School districts and charter schools compete nationally for the limited pool of candidates.”
Meanwhile, state data shows actual public school enrollment since 2019 has dropped by nearly 31,000 students.
The ASPAA blames low teacher pay for the lack of candidates willing to fill those positions.
“The inability to offer competitive salaries severely limits public schools from attracting the best and the brightest to Arizona,” it said.
The shortage has remained near the same percentage in the seven years the association has conducted the surveys. In that time, Arizona lawmakers have appropriated more taxpayer dollars than in years prior. A 2022 report from the Goldwater Institute says state spending on public schools increased by 28% in just three years ending in 2021.
Federal, state, and local spending had increased so much that the Legislature has been forced to lift a constitutional cap on district spending to allow schools to spend all they’d been appropriated.
As previously reported, teacher pay increased in that span but didn’t expand at the rate the state upped its public school spending. State funding for public schools increased by 27.9% percent over those years, but Goldwater found teachers received a 16.5% increase in pay, on average.
Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
