By Bob Christie | Capitol Media Services
A freshman Republican lawmaker who helped shepherd former Gov. Doug Ducey’s effort to raise teacher pay to end a 2018 statewide teacher strike is working to boost educator salaries by another $10,000 a year.
And the measure cleared its first hurdle on Monday with a 10-5 vote of the House Appropriations Committee — with most Democrats opposed for a variety of reasons.
HB 2800 is designed to address that Arizona teachers remain among the lowest-paid in the nation despite the 20% raise they won after the strike, said Rep. Matt Gress. He said he wants to make Arizona a mecca for teachers by boosting pay well above the national average.
“This would potentially move us into the Top 10 when we get the new rate base,” Gress told Capitol Media Services on Monday.
“The goal here is, in other states there’s going to be a billboard saying, ‘Come to Arizona, the starting teacher pay is X’ versus other states coming to Arizona and poaching our teachers,” he continued. “We really need to take bold action on getting the money to the teachers.”
Gress’ proposal is one of two considered by the House Appropriations Committee that are designed to boost teacher retention and get more people to come to Arizona to teach in public schools.
The other is a Democrat’s bill subsidizing family health insurance for teachers and staff who work in public school districts and charter schools. It got approved by the panel, with hesitancy from some Republicans.
Gress’ teacher pay raise bill, however, faces a tough go in the Legislature because of its price tag.
