Ducey says education plan is ‘a positive step in the right direction’
May 7, 2018, 6:35 PM | Updated: 9:44 pm
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks during an interview with Mac and Gaydos on KTAR News 92.3 FM in Phoenix, Ariz. on April 10, 2018. (Matt Layman/KTAR News)
(Matt Layman/KTAR News)
PHOENIX — After signing a school measure, which will help fund 10 percent raises for teachers next year, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said he still has work to do.
“We’re going to build on this, this a good day for teachers, I think it’s a very good day for Arizona kids in the classroom,” Ducey told Mac & Gaydos on KTAR News 92.3 FM Monday. “It’s a great day as well for parents who know that teachers are in the classroom doing what they do best, but I would look at it as one step.
“We’ve had a step with proposition 123, we’ve had a step with the extension of proposition 301, which has been extended by this legislature. Now we’ve got another step with teacher pay.”
When asked what his next step would be in fact be, Ducey responded with more communication.
“I think this idea of continuing to talk about not only what’s going to happen in a budget session, one learning I’ve had here is not only is what’s going to happen in the year ahead, but what you can see in the next several years. We put a three-year budget out there for a reason, there should be a three-year outlook.
“Now you can’t always see what’s coming, you can’t always see if there’s a recession or economic downturn around the corner, but you can talk about what’s expected, what’s optimistic and what we’ll do if there’s tough times.”
The school bill, which will help fund 10 percent raises for educators next year, will also make the first payment toward restoring nearly $400 million slashed from school building and maintenance budgets after the Great Recession.
The teacher raise will be half of a 20 percent bump that Ducey promised by 2020.
“It was a positive step in the right direction,” Ducey said. “I want to make K-12 education not a political issue, but a policy issue that all Arizonans embrace.”
But while the school funding bill is in its first steps, another bill surrounding school safety stalled.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t do more for school safety, we were able to put dollars in for behavior and mental health,” Ducey said. “I’d like to increase that. I believe that STOP initiative that we talked about — the Severe Threat Order of Protection — that tool if used properly could have stopped any of the mass shootings that we studied in American history. That’s something I still believe in.”
