Thousands of teachers in Arizona, Colorado to protest

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PHOENIX (AP) — A wave of red-clad teachers will crash upon the Arizona state Capitol on Thursday for an unprecedented walkout that closed most of the state’s public school schools, part of an educator uprising that’s also bubbled up in Colorado.
Around 30,000 to 50,000 teachers and their supporters are expected to march through Phoenix to rally at the Arizona state Capitol to demand a 20 percent raise for teachers, about $1 billion to return school funding to pre-Great Recession levels and increased pay for support staff, among other things.
Districts announced closures before Thursday, and those closing schools included the state’s largest - Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson.
In Colorado, more than 10,000 teachers are expected to rally in Denver as part of a burgeoning teacher uprising. About half of the student population will have shuttered schools as a result, with teachers using personal leave time to take off.
The walkouts are the climax of an uprising that began weeks ago with the grass-roots #RedforEd movement that spread from West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
Colorado lawmakers from both parties have agreed to give schools their largest budget increase since the Great Recession. But teachers say that the state has a long way to go to make up for ground lost during the recession and before that due to the state’s strict tax and spending limits.
Since lawmakers don’t have the power to raise taxes without asking voters, they’re not expecting an immediate fix. The teachers’ union is backing a ballot initiative to raise taxes on people earning more than $150,000 a year and corporations.
Arizona Education Association president Joe Thomas said that Thursday’s march to the state Capitol is necessary after attempts at outreach have been ignored. There’s no end date for the walkout and he said educators may have to consider a ballot initiative for education funding if lawmakers do not come up with a plan on their own.
“How it ends is up to the governor and up to those legislative leaders,” Thomas said. “If they’re courageous, if they have the political capital to come down and speak with us, we all get a win.”
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has laid out a plan for a 20 percent teacher pay raise by 2020, but organizers of the so-called #RedforEd movement say his plan relies on rosy revenue projections and doesn’t address the other issues.
Districts around the state have said they will close as a result of the walkout. More than 840,000 Arizona students are expected to be out of school Thursday, according to an analysis from the Arizona Republic that tallied up at least 100 school districts and charter schools are closing. The state Department of Education said the state has more than 200 districts and more than 1.1 million school children.

1 comment:

  1. Give them a kick in the butt ... Amazing--- they choose RED as their color --- A wave of red-clad teachers ... part of an educator uprising that’s also bubbled up in Colorado.... Those that CAN, DO. Those that CAN'T, TEACH.
    The end result of their great teaching was on parade this weekend across America . ..... HALF the idiots are "demanding" you take away their Bill of Rights and give up your guns because "THE POLICE will protect you" ---- the other half were "demanding" the POLICE STOP SHOOTING UNARMED CITIZENS.
    They Really derseve raises --- ‘I was a teacher for 17 years, but I couldn’t read or write’ http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-43700153 and the teachers just "moved him on"
    Yeah sure, the POLICE - --- Currently, in the U.S., law enforcement kills around 1,200 citizens per year. Ironically, that number is actually four times higher than those who die from rifles. As has been recorded, cops have killed 450 percent more people than have died in the past forty years of mass shootings.
    Teacher pay raises HELL! Give the Taxpayers a REFUND. The little idiots cannot read or write, and have NO concept of the Constitution, Law, History. ...........The Teacher Unions should be paying DAMAGES to the Kids ---- A Third Of Millennials Aren’t Sure The Earth Is Round, Survey Finds http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/04/05/...-flat-earth-survey/
    take their HUGE pensions and use it to actually educate the kids.
    The same "teachers" who taught nothing about economics taught nothing about history or the Constitution .... what they DO teach is "Be PROUD of being stupid and knowing squat ...... history is BOOOORING"
    Teachers whine about how "hard" they work but FAKEucators taught the children nothing about History or the US Constitution. MILLIONS of kids without a CLUE about history, or the US Constitution.
    " Hey teacher, leave those kids alone."
    So the FAKEucators are bald faced liars as well as Child Exploiters. One does not wave POLITICAL SIGNS at a funeral. More reason to fire them.
    Every teacher or school administrator who aided, urged, promoted or engaged in that "student" walk out must be fired. They used YOUR taxes to promote Their political agenda . They used their "position of authority" to coerce their wards, minor children, into actions they will come to regret .... just like #METOO victims. I can guarantee the FAKEucators did not present a balanced, objective, overview of the subject.
    This is Child Abuse and Exploitation. They are coercing children to further their political agenda. Any teacher that engages in such exercises must be FIRED and charged with Child Abuse and Exploitation.When is the TAXPAYER FUNDED, School organized, PRO-Constitutional Second Amendment walkout???

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