Arizona gets failing grade in ranking of best states for teachers

PHOENIX — Arizona has been named as one of the worst states for teachers in a new report by the personal-finance website WalletHub.

“Unfortunately, Arizona is the second-worst place for teachers – second only to Hawaii,” said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst for WalletHub.

Gonzalez said she doesn’t think Arizona’s ranking in the “2018’s Best & Worst States for Teachers” report “is any surprise” given there has been “a very high teacher turnover rate in Arizona for a number of years.”

The state has the third-highest teacher turnover rate in the country.

WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 22 key metrics, including teachers’ income growth potential and student-teacher ratio.

It found Arizona ranked last in teacher salary changes over 10 years. The state also ranked toward the bottom on student-teacher ratio, public school spending per student and quality of school system.

When it came to teacher safety, Arizona performed above average. That means not many teachers have reported threats from students.

The report comes in the lead-up to World Teacher Day, which will be celebrated Oct. 5.

“World Teacher Day is coming up and the combination of job pressures, low pay and lack of mobility really forces many teachers to quit soon after they start,” Gonzalez said. “We wanted to see in which states where that was less true.”

WalletHub ranked New York as the nation’s best state for teachers, followed by Connecticut and Minnesota.

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