This morning, Gov. Jan Brewer signed HB2227, a measure that is a direct assault on Arizona’s most experienced teachers, proving once again that politics are more important to our current administration than keeping our most experienced teachers in our classrooms.

In adopting the FY2010 budget, the Legislature enacted several provisions aimed directly at teachers who dared to apply political pressure to Legislators to support public education in budget negotiations. In response to this blatant retaliation, the Arizona Education Association filed a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of these changes, which included prohibiting employment policies based on seniority, and removing the requirement that teachers be re-hired in the order that they are laid off. Now, instead of an effort to reach a compromise, we have HB2227, which is nothing more than a mean-spirited measure to negate the pending lawsuit.

Meanwhile, school districts are laying off hundreds of teachers in response to budget cuts enacted by the Legislature, and the first ones to go are the most experienced (e.g. most expensive) educators. Without the requirement that previously laid off teachers be rehired prior to new ones, cheap labor is the name of the game. Simple economics dictate that you can hire two brand-new teachers for the price of one 30-year educator. The difference is that now those first-year teachers are going to be given classes of 35-40 students, perhaps even more. This is a disservice not only to our students, but to the new teachers as well. Without the experienced educators that they replaced to turn to, a novice teacher with a huge class will quickly burn out and likely leave the profession, worsening the already critical issue of teacher retention.

And where is our Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne? Out running for Attorney General. We need a Superintendent who will stand up for teachers and students when necessary. Politicians, political consultants, and lobbyists have occupied this post for the last 20 years, each time using it to jumpstart a political career instead of fight for public education. Enough is enough. Please help the campaign today by donating or volunteering. Together we will make a difference!

Tags: AEA, Gov. Jan Brewer, teachers, Tom Horne

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.