Opening Insights: Teachers on the Brink
The teachers strike in Arizona is an example of a breakdown in communication and a lack of a shared community vision. “Both sides are digging trenches. At this point, neither seem willing to give in.”
Students are, by far, the most important resource in any community. A principle function of a community is to raise up its youth and provide them with the tools to reinvest in and grow the community for future generations. Why then, is there such a battle to provide the students’ greatest resource, their teachers, with the support necessary to focus on their calling to educate?
Informational Insights: Priorities
According to an article published by Phoenix New Times on April 25, teachers in Arizona are not getting the support they need to subside in a community where the cost of living continues to climb. Previous educator budget cuts and a governor’s pledge to avoid raising taxes meld together creating a state of unrest. Something must be done.
Teachers are going to walk out of schools starting on Thursday. Dozens of districts have announced that they will pre-emptively close school sites, some for both Thursday and Friday. Teacher-organizers have said that the walkout will go on until they achieve their demands.
Joe Thomas, the president of the Arizona Education Association, said that when thousands of teachers fill the Capitol grounds on Thursday, lawmakers will be under tremendous pressure to reach a deal to end the walkout — especially if the strike drags on for more than a few days.
“If there’s no response from the governor and the Legislature, and no sit-down meeting and a discussion of the demands, I think everybody keeps coming,” Thomas said. “And I think we end up in a prolonged job action, and it’s up to the governor to really step in. I think this goes on as long as he wants it to.”
But can teachers hold on during a prolonged strike while keeping the public in their corner?
The community appears to be supportive of the teachers’ actions, but how long will their support last? A simple teacher strike has a wide-reaching impact on the community. A few examples:
- Students fall behind on their studies
- Parents leave their jobs to care for kids resulting in loss of income
- Low income students who rely on school lunch now must find other meals
- Community discord, confidence in government drops, tensions rise
What’s worse, is that instead of focusing on finding a resolution that both sides agree on, this situation has become a battleground for politics with neither side willing to budge on their positions.
On Tuesday, top Democrats in the House and Senate sent a letter to [Governor] Ducey urging him to reverse income tax cuts for the wealthiest Arizonans and close loopholes in order to pump money into the education budget.
“Gambling on economic growth and taking money from other priorities can only get us part way toward our goal, and even then, it certainly won’t keep us there when our economy inevitably cycles down,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote.
Ducey, however, made a campaign pledge not to raise taxes.
“Our schools are still underfunded, our students don’t have the resources that they need, and our educators still don’t have the pay raises that they need,” Karvelis said.
Arizona’s median teacher pay is nearly the lowest in the country when adjusted for cost of living. Elementary teachers here earn around $44,990 and high school teachers earn $48,306, according to the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University. After the recession, Arizona lawmakers enacted some of the deepest cuts to per-pupil education spending in the entire nation, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
One possible endgame to the walkout is a referendum that kicks the decision on school funding to voters, either because of a measure passed by the Legislature or a citizen initiative led by AEU and AEA. In that scenario, Thomas explained, Ducey would avoid having to sign a tax increase, and the Legislature would only need a majority to refer the education spending plan to voters, as opposed to the two-thirds supermajority needed to raise taxes.
How long before the community turns its anger from the government to the teachers and ends support of the walkout, demanding that teachers return to their classrooms, resolution or no? As long as this situation remains one of blame, rather than collaboration, any meaningful progress is unlikely.
Source: //www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-teacher-strike-how-will-it-end-10362471
Possibilities for Consideration: What We Learn
What’s the opposite of Disrupt – Deceive – Divide?
Reality – Honesty – Inclusion
We are born into reality and are fascinated by the experience of the world around us, but we learn to be distracted from living. We are born honest and only know truth, but we learn how to lie. We are born with the instinct to make meaningful connections to other people, but we learn how to fear.
- What if we could empower our teachers to help their students unlearn the damaging behaviors taught by social conditioning?
- What if our communities had learning programs that taught us what right looked like, so we could see what is wrong?
- What would happen in our communities if all stakeholders came to share a common vision, set of principles and mission of interdependence?
- What if, instead of drama and strife, truth became the common language in our communities?
Add Your Insight: Let’s Work Together
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN
