The Strike on Education

Tatum Bralley

Arizona State University

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Introduction

90 districts closed. Over 30,000 educators marching to the state capitol. This is the work

of the Red for Ed movement striking against the injustice in classrooms. Minimal budgets,

decreasing yearly funding, and books over twenty years old falling apart. These are the standards

the state of Arizona maintains in its school systems. The year of 2018 was vital to creating

change for education across the United States through our use of walkouts, districtwide

shutdowns, and fights for funding. Each year our communities struggle to raise our children with

current knowledge, while our government chooses to fight us over our aptitude to update.

Arizona should be supported by the public in its shutdowns for education because they would

provide improvements in legislation, expanded school budgets, and raises for educators to

eventually provide the most opportunities for students to maximize their knowledge.

As a senior in high school, I received emails each day for a week and a half in April

2018, which determined whether the shutdown continued. My mother, who’s a teacher in the

same district, feared the walkout would cause her pay to be decreased for the time she didn’t

attend work. Supervisors had a difficult choice to make: follow government’s recommendations,

or support employees in their fight.

Legislation

Recently, the state of Arizona has been influenced by West Virginia’s strikes for

education. The Red for Ed movement across America started in West Virginia based on belief

that if all teachers united against the government, they could receive their requests: a pay raise

and increased budget. With midterm elections coming months after, there was a shift in focus of
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legislation towards providing more funding for schools. Once West Virginia received a 5 percent

pay raise for all government workers, there was a spark in the eyes of educators (2018). They

saw more and more districts were closing on account of the teacher walkouts; and they were

working! In April 2018, Arizona took a plunge and voted across the state to see who would take

part in boycotting the government’s lack of advancement. Over seventy percent of school

employees across the state of Arizona voted to walkout to benefit of their students. On a

firsthand account of the school shutdowns of 2018, I saw how teachers struggled with this

decision. The government of Arizona has a law against teachers having the ability to strike, they

risk losing their careers and certifications for their schools. Many district offices took time to

release information on how this would affect school events such as graduation and prom, based

on parental distress reactions.

The process of shutting down schools for the Red for Ed movement was built on the

common belief that Doug Ducey would feel the pressure and vote to provide more funding for

schools and their employees. This movement aimed to accomplish a 20 percent raise for teachers

along with an increase to school funds up to pre-recession levels. Within the first five days of the

walkout, Ducey agreed to vote on giving out pay raises by the year 2020, but the movement

continued. Nine days went by until school resumed and the state gave teachers a twenty percent

raise by 2020 with the use of increased revenue and small cuts in other programs. For instance,

this meant community colleges shut down sports funding, meaning millions of scholarship

dollars became lost opportunities for students. Legislation recently pushed towards officially

making boycotts by teachers illegal, which is still in the process of being voted on. As of

November 2018, communities across Arizona fell witness to the worst part of legislation,
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citizens voting on whether to financially support education. The proposition for each school

district to receive more taxpayer money got put on the ballot; and was shut down immediately.

This midterm election instigated a rift between voters, whether they support or do not support

prop 305 or Red for Ed.

The Cause

The foundation for any school system resides in the main component: teachers. Our

teachers give us the support we need within the classroom to succeed and contribute to society.

But how can we give back the same level of dedication and effort? Through the walkouts, one of

the larger requests is the raises of salaries within education. This is our way to improve; with a

powerful foundation we cannot be broken down. Now in the public’s view of the teacher

walkouts, there is a common belief these people signed up for low pay and extra work. But, this

isn’t the truth. A study shows an average starting salary for a college student with a bachelor’s

degree earns from $50, 219 to $52,353 with a teacher’s being about $38,617 (Will, 2018). This

large difference with the same level of education demonstrates how messed up our economic

system is. Now imagine, a single parent with two children trying to survive on a small salary

while paying off student loans and living expenses; it’s nearly impossible. One of our greatest

achievements possible is providing these workers, who are required to have at minimum a

bachelor’s degree, with the pay they deserve. The controversy over giving these raises is that

educators get summer and winter breaks off (Babcock 2019). Understandable right? Wouldn’t

you want time off after scraping by with as much effort put into your work as possible, going

towards parent teacher conferences, school events, tutoring sessions, meetings, grading after

hours, and this is just the surface of extra work. As a salary employee, you should work just the
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salary hours correct? (Babcock 2019). Nope. Our school systems cannot survive. So with a

shitty pay which is lower than a starting salary of a freshly graduated college student, teachers

with master’s, yes, a master’s degree, continue to be worked to death and paid as if they are

slaves to society.

In my personal experiences as a child of an elementary teacher, I see the ins and outs of

school systems. Growing up, I attended way too many McTeacher’s nights, cookie dough

fundraisers, bake sales, and car washes. I never got paid for my leadership and participation, so if

anyone wants to give to the cause…? Besides this, I saw how each and every education

employee’s dedication to making an impact on their students. The purpose of a teacher is to

create a safe space for students to expand their minds to encapsulate as much information

possible. For this to happen, they need to expand their influence to outside of the classroom

which includes volunteering at school events and managing student skills progressively. Many of

the programs my mother had to promote within her classroom included career ladder to build

students’ portfolios and standardized testing to evaluate students’ progression within the year.

The process of work throughout the week includes many hours spent sitting at a desk creating

lesson plans and grading; my mom has her entire Sunday reserved for grading her students’

work. It is ridiculous. I bared witness to endless times where she spent her entire spring break

attending district trainings and preparing materials for the following week. Unlike popular belief,

my mom has a requirement to attend work until the third weekend of May and return from

summer break by the third week of July. At this point she trudged towards endless meetings and

classroom preparations. A teacher typically receives between six to eight weeks of actual break

time, where work is a far thought away.

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The Solution

Cheers to a strong defender of the educational funding that communities all around the

United States need, marijuana tax! People have been able to see the millions of dollars worth of

cash flow coming from the legalization of weed towards schools in Colorado and California.

This newfound concept has decreased unemployment rates while also preventing citizens from

being arrested for petty crimes like possession, lowering crime rates across the country. The only

problem here: voters. Voters across the U.S. see recreational marijuana as a drug that no one

needs, it’s gross. Yet, they LOVE the tobacco industry? Ironic, I think yes. The benefits of

marijuana range from cancer pain prevention to happy hippies and even millions, MILLIONS of

dollars towards school districts. The Colorado Department of Education determined that among

the $90.3 million of marijuana revenue from 2017-2018, approximately $30 million went to the

state public school fund (CDE 2018). That money provides new books, updated technology,

special education programs, improved resources, etc. The top option for increasing funding for

our schools within Arizona has been accomplished by multiple states across the country and is

presently expanding. With the fight for 20% raises for educators, we see the problem of

financing that goal. Doug Ducey cannot promise a budget increase without taking action. If our

voters disagree, then we continue the fight for funding all over again. Based on the rejection of

proposition 123 in November 2018, our local governments are forced to defund other essential

programs to provide promised money. Rather than take away community college sports or

extracurricular classes, we could utilize the increasing desire for weed and generate a revenue.

Weed makes people happy. Weed makes education stronger. A vote for weed usage is a vote for

our students’ education.

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References

Babcock, R. (2019). Phone interview.

Colorado Department of Education. (2018). Marijuana tax revenue and education. Retrieved

from CDE State

Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services. (2018). Federal judge rules arizona's prop.

123 education funding plan illegal. Retrieved from Tucson.com

Turner, C., Lombardo, C., & Logan, E. B. (2018). Teacher walkouts: A state by state

guide. Retrieved from NPR.org

White, K. (2018). 'Tired of begging,' teachers shut schools in Okla., Ky.

Retrieved from Ebscohost.

Will, M. (April 2nd, 2018). Arizona teachers set to strike over school funding and pay.

Retrieved from Ebscohost.

Will, M. (April 26th, 2018). Sick of low pay, more teachers prepare to fight. Retrieved from

Ebscohost.

Will, M. (May 2nd, 2018). Oklahoma teachers’ union shuts down walkout, despite some

resistance. Retrieved from Ebscohost.