I have mostly remained silent through this whole #RedforEd movement. That’s not because I didn’t have something to say, but because I have so much to say that I had no idea where to begin. Well, I have to thank the disgruntled father at our children’s preschool Thursday morning for pushing me to speak.
If he found himself “personally inconvenienced” by this whole movement, he should consider himself lucky. That shows he comes from a position of privilege, not having to concern himself about whether his child will have food to eat during the teacher walkout, since she doesn’t rely solely on the school-provided free breakfast and free lunch.
As a former teacher myself, I did not work with such privileged families. I have taught in three Title I schools in three different states, all of which have very low-income populations. All of these schools sent Friday food bags home with students who would otherwise have gone hungry over the weekends.
These were not schools that held art auctions and cocktail parties for their parents so they would dig deep into their pockets and share much-needed extra funding (such as the event held at our children’s preschool recently).
This man and I are very fortunate to have a child attending such a preschool. But What he and others need to understand is that our children’s preschool is still part of a public school district. It is not a completely privately funded school.
We pay tuition dollars because preschool students are not fully funded by the state unless they qualify for Head Start programs to serve low-income student populations.
Despite paying those tuition dollars, though, our children’s preschool still benefits from state funding since it’s part of a public school district.
Too many people are making the mistake of thinking this whole thing is only about teacher pay.
That’s only one little part of it.
The main intention of the movement is to increase per-pupil funding. As of now, Arizona ranks 49th in the nation for its per-pupil funding, but the state certainly isn’t 49th in the nation when it comes to cost of living.
The amount of money school districts have to spend on air conditioning alone in this very hot climate should be enough of a reason to have much higher per-pupil funding than what we have.
The cost of air conditioning, facility upkeep, furnishings, classroom materials, technology, curriculum materials, etc., all factor into the per-pupil spending as well as covering salaries for teachers and school staff. Don’t even get me started on covering pay for school staff, though. It’s not just about the low pay teachers are receiving, but also those positions that aren’t being covered at all. School counselors, certified librarians, art teachers, etc. Many of those positions don’t even exist anymore.
I realize I’m in an extremely privileged situation as a stay-at-home parent. I don’t have to scramble for child care amidst this teacher walkout. However, I am not a stay-at-home mom completely by choice.
I had every intention to return to my teaching job after I had my first son. Initially, my maternity leave was only going to be for the remainder of the spring. However, I ultimately ended up resigning from my first-grade teaching position due to a multitude reasons, the main one being that I was unable to justify the cost of full-time child care for my low pay.
Here’s the part I absolutely hate to admit: The longer I am away from the profession, the harder it is for me to think about ever returning.
That’s not because I’ve lost my passion for teaching and children, but because this state’s education system is such a mess! It’s a shame that both the state, and quite often the voters, don’t seem to value public education.
I had never worked so hard in a teaching job to make so little as I did here in Tucson, yet somehow I loved my job more than any other I had. That love came from both the amazing people I worked with as well as the student population we served.
As much as I’d like to be a part of something like that again, I’m just not sure I can give 110 percent of my energy to teaching like I did before I had children of my own, especially not for such pitiful pay.
It has been difficult to hear RedforEd proponents talk about all the educators who leave the profession due to poor education funding in this state.
I am one of those people, and so are many of my friends. We all share the same feelings: Yes, we miss teaching, but unfortunately “teaching” has become a small percentage of a public educator’s job responsibilities.
When it comes to our own personal well-being, as well as our own family’s, it’s just not worth it. Yet good educators are definitely needed for our society’s success. That is the only reason I haven’t completely dismissed the idea of one day returning to the profession.
I often feel guilty for making the 10-minute drive up into the privileged Catalina Foothills to send my son to school. Although it’s still a public school system, this district is like night and day from all of the schools where I previously taught.
The Catalina Foothills Unified School District is not nearly as dependent on the outcome of the RedforEd movement as the majority of districts in Arizona. What they lack in state funding is made up for by wealthy parents and donors.
However, I must give Catalina Foothills credit for being so willing to stand in solidarity with all the public schools across the state, just as I’m grateful that our children’s tuition-based preschool is willing to close its doors along with the rest of the district.
So, to the disgruntled preschool father I say this: The RedforEd movement may not be as necessary for children such as yours and mine. However, for the majority of the population Arizona public schools serve, it is absolutely critical. We all need to understand that and support our teachers.
