Teachers vote in favor of walkout, risk losing their jobs
Apr 20, 2018, 4:50 AM | Updated: 2:25 pm
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
PHOENIX — Teachers voted Thursday night to walk out of their classrooms, and in doing so, jeopardize their jobs.
“Teachers run the risk of losing their jobs and being fired if they choose to walk out of the classroom,” KTAR News 92.3 FM legal expert Monica Lindstrom said.
She said there didn’t appear to be any state laws in place that prevented teachers from walking out. However, she noted the Arizona Attorney General issued an opinion in 1971 that teachers striking was unlawful because they were public employees.
Educators have been calling on Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and other lawmakers to increase their pay by 20 percent, increase the pay of school staff and improve school conditions.
A total of 57,000 teachers took part in the voting. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be treated as a walk-in, while Thursday’s protest on April 26 will be a walkout.
The decision to walk out came as Ducey waited for the Arizona State Legislature to approve his proposal to raise teacher pay over the next three years. A big concern for teachers is where the money to cover the teacher pay raises would come from.
Both the Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools said Ducey’s proposal didn’t meet enough of the demands for the Red for Ed movement. They said the governor’s proposal didn’t put any new money into the classroom or in teachers’ pockets.
By deciding to walk out, teachers have run the risk of not just losing their jobs.
“The Board of Education could determine that teachers have acted unprofessionally by leaving their classrooms and revoke their teaching credentials,” Lindstrom said.
She explained a teacher cannot resign without first getting approval by the Arizona School Board. She said walking out was considered a resignation, but because it wouldn’t have the board’s approval, it could be considered unprofessional conduct.
That allowed the Board to revoke a person’s teaching certificate.
“Bottom line, if the teachers strike, they run the risk of having their teaching credentials pulled,” Lindstrom said.
She added teachers do have something working in their favor: It was “highly likely the districts will not fire their teachers.”
Red for Ed handed teachers a “know your rights” letter that said the walkout experience will likely vary across schools and districts.
“Some districts have expressed their intention not to take a punitive approach toward employees who engage in a walkout,” the letter stated.
It went on to warn teachers it was possible they would go without pay, be disciplined, fired or have some form of action taken against their certificates.
But it also noted all that was unlikely, given the shortage of certified teachers in the state.
“As a practical matter, the more school employees who take part in a walkout at a given site and statewide, the less likely it is that we’ll see dismissals and other adverse actions taken against school employees,” the letter stated.