A week after teachers walked out of public schools across Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed a budget bill that gives a 20 percent raise to teachers and $138 million more funding to schools, which led educators to end the strike but vow to keep fighting for demands that were unmet by the legislation.
“The budget is a significant investment, but it falls far short” of the movement’s demands, Arizona Education Association (AEA) President Joe Thomas told CBS News. He added that teachers should now support a November ballot measure to further increase education funding by taxing Arizona’s wealthiest residents.
“I’m glad it passed and we’ll get something because I’m a single mom of three kids, but it’s not enough,” Rebecca Wilson, a Phoenix-area teacher, told KTAR radio station.
Wilson was among those who stayed overnight at the State Capitol on Thursday as lawmakers reportedly spent 13 hours debating the bill, which passed around 5:30am and Ducey signed at 6:10am local time.
“The educators have solved the education crisis! They’ve changed the course of Arizona,” Noah Karvelis of Arizona Educators United declared to thousands of cheering teachers, according to multiple news reports. “The change happens with us!”
In addition to teachers in Arizona, educators across West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Colorado have held walkouts and rallies in recent months to demand raises and greater investment in the public school system. The protests over the past week came as the world marked International Workers’ Day, or May Day, on Tuesday.
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