Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1036706
6 ADVOCATE | FALL 2018 at the capitol No state in the nation has cut education funding more than Arizona. Between 2008 and 2015, state lawmakers cut funding per student by 36.6 percent, according to a national analysis by the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Even as the state economy has rebounded from last decade's Great Recession, lawmakers have refused to reinvest in public schools. Last year, they spent 13.6 less on students than they did in 2008. The results of their neglect are stunning. Teachers have up to 50 students in their classrooms. An elementary school counselor last year reported 1,540 students in her care. In photographic evidence, Arizona educators have shared the evidence of legislative abandon: mold growing on their classroom ceilings, decades-old textbooks taped together, homemade "air conditioners" that educators construct with Styrofoam coolers, electric fans and bags of ice. Teachers describe earning so little money that their own children qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch. This spring, in the largest educator walkout in history, tens of thousands of Arizona teachers participated in a statewide, six-day #RedforEd walkout that ended with significant teacher pay raises but no commitment for additional state funding. Arizona educators weren't satisfied. Their #RedforEd efforts never were about salary only. Almost immediately after educators returned to school, they began working on #INVESTinED, which would have taxed Arizona's wealthiest to increase funds for public schools. The ballot initiative was challenged by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, which alleged that the petitions were misleading because they referred to the tax-rate increase as a "percent" increase rather than a "percentage point" increase. "We're in…shock that they'd stoop so low to take this away from voters," said Thomas. "Our students absolutely have been cheated." But the fight is not over, Thomas and Karvelis promised. As Arizona educators look toward the November election, it's undeniable that they will have power at the polls. In the Oklahoma Republican Primary, voters ousted dozens of state legislators who were unsupportive of their #RedforEd efforts this spring. The same thing happened in West Virginia's primary elections this spring. "We don't mourn. We organize," Thomas promised. n Pictured above: Educators pack the legislative council hearing room and overflow rooms at the capitol to testify on proposed ballot language for the Invest in Education initiative. Pictured right: Educators across the nation stood in solidarity with Arizona for a national #RedforEd day to protest the removal of our ballot initiative and taking away voters opportunity to vote for more funding for our schools. Members of Bellevue Education Association are pictured top right and officers from the Texas State Teachers Association are pictured in bottom right photo.