Arizona educators rejected the wage increase proposal of Gov. Doug Ducey. They voted favoring a statewide walkout to demand for more education funding. They will hold the walkout on April 26.
On Thursday night, the leaders of the Arizona Education Association (AEA) and Arizona Educators United (AEU) announced the result of the vote on the matter.
According to AEA President Joe Thomas, Arizona educators sent a strong message as 78% of 57,000 school employees supported a walkout.
Thomas said, “This is undeniably and clearly a mandate for action. Now that educators across Arizona have spoken, our journey moves forward.”
On the other hand, AEU organizer Noah Karvelis said the state’s public schools are crumbling. Students are sitting on broken desks in a room with leaky ceilings and studying books that are 25 years old. He emphasized that the situation in Arizona schools are “unacceptable” and they are in a “state of crisis.”
Additionally, Karvelis told Arizona educators that they will continue their walk-ins on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday then walkout on Thursday.
