Columns/Opinion, Letters to the Editor

Thanks to West Virginia teachers well in order

Keith Nelson, Mesa, Ariz.
I would like to thank the teachers of West Virginia for showing political courage and their desire to help their students’ education. Without your example, my wife and the other educators in Arizona would not have been able to realize their recent gains.
Last week, the Legislature and governor passed a law that should raise teachers salaries about 19 percent in the next three years and restore about one-third of the others’ yearly funding cuts. The original proposal was for a 1 percent teacher stipend for this year and status quo funding.
Even with the allocated money. Arizona teachers will still earn below national average salaries and public school funding is still 20 percent below 2008 levels. For example, my wife teaches classes with 40 middle-schoolers in them.
You know the stories and the examples, but you are leaders in making education a part of the public discourse. I thank you.
If you wish to follow the Arizona efforts going forward… #REDforED.