Katie Hobbs Urges State Lawmakers To Address Arizona’s Teacher Shortage Crisis

PHOENIX – A New York Times article published on Monday put the spotlight on Arizona’s “severe” teacher shortage, pointing to Arizona School Personnel Administration Association data that showed nearly four-fifths of teaching positions in Arizona schools had to be covered in suboptimal ways. That includes using support staff and teachers-in-training to temporarily shore up the teacher vacancies in classrooms.

Secretary of State and frontrunner for Arizona Governor, Katie Hobbs, has urged state lawmakers to get to work on solving the state’s dire teacher shortage and chronic funding issues, vowing to make this a priority when elected governor if the legislature will not act now.

“For far too long, Arizona’s education system has ranked near the bottom in per pupil funding because our leaders have failed to invest in our children’s future,” Hobbs said. “While my opponent Kari Lake fully supports cutting even more money from our public schools, I stand alongside the majority of Arizonans who strongly oppose these measures and demand real solutions for our children’s education. As governor, I will work hand-in-hand with parents, educators, and other stakeholders to ensure Arizona becomes the best place for every child to receive a high-quality education.”

Just a couple months ago, Arizona’s legislature ignored the will of the resounding majority of voters across the state by passing an unpopular expansion of the universal school voucher program, which effectively siphons taxpayer dollars from the state’s public school system and injects it into private schools with no accountability.

Lake, who did not oppose a $1 billion cut to school funding in February, has thrown her full support behind the universal school voucher expansion. Meanwhile, she has advocated for off-the-wall and invasive measures in schools that have proven even too unhinged for her own party, including putting cameras in classrooms to spy on Arizona’s children.