tells our under-appreciated, taken-for-granted, dedicated, hard-working educators that he has a package for them. Trouble is, he announced it by tweet, with no details.

He won’t raise taxes on high-wage earners or cut deep enough into governmental special-interest-driven waste in order to strengthen public education funding, build the needed classrooms to reduce sardined class sizes, and provide decent wages to teachers based on a pre-set, systemic model, not on over-hyped economic projections.

Loosey Ducey is the same big-bucks bonehead who tried to strip tens of millions of dollars from higher ed, while pushing for private prison construction to satiate the demands of its corporate lobbyists who shovel heaps of campaign cash his way.

The guv with no guts helped create this fiasco but says he’s here to fix the mess he helped birth.

Meanwhile, Arizona’s public school teachers are marching on the state capitol as voter support for their cause is growing day by day across the state.
——-

Here’s the cartoon:

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2018/05/01/Phoenix/Phoenix/636607631922203863-Benson-Ducey-Arsonist-05-02-18.jpg?width=1280



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2018 01:48PM by steve benson.

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But this isn’t about you. It’s about teachers and kids.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2018 01:29PM by steve benson.

This cartoon is spot on, Steve. He is trying to play the role of hero by solving a problem he helped create.
The commercials running in the state produced by the Republican Governor's Association lauding him for his efforts to help education are disgusting.

It's a tough problem, Prizons are going to be needed especially with the caravans coming (though I guess that's more of a federal problem rather than a state problem). I'm guessing the teachers are more concerned with class size rather than wages though. Their working conditions can be very aggravating.

anono this week Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's a tough problem, Prizons are going to be
> needed especially with the caravans coming (though
> I guess that's more of a federal problem rather
> than a state problem).

The "caravan" (and there was one, not "caravans") was comprised of people seeking asylum.
People seeking asylum aren't put in prisons.
Federal OR state.

By the time this caravan (singular) reached the US-Mexico border, its numbers had dwindled from over 1000 down to 100. Those 100 than began being processed by US immigration authorities for possible admission into the United States based on established legal guidelines. Normally in such situations, somewhere around 20% of these applicants seeking asylum actually are allowed into the United States.

You need to up your anti-anxiety medication and quit being so xenophobic.

And, per this matter, quit being duped by your Head Dunce:

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2018/05/04/Phoenix/Phoenix/636610315660729637-Benson-Trump-Sttue-of-Liberty-05-04-18.jpg?width=1280



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2018 11:43PM by steve benson.

Apt cartoon. I live in Maryland where teacher wages are decent, and schools are adequately funded. I don't feel unduly burdened by my property tax or sales taxes. So it's possible to have a balance.

According to NEA data, the average teacher salary in Arizona for 2016-2017 was $47,403. "Average" would likely be for a teacher with a Master's degree and 15-20 years in the classroom. Compare this with the national average for teacher salaries at $59,660, or the average for all workers with Master's degrees at (roughly) $71,497.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2018/04/teacher_pay_2017.html

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2018/04/teacher_pay_2017.html

I can tell you that very few workers are going to be willing to invest the money in a Bachelor's degree, then a Master's degree, and put 15-20 years into their field for $47K. It's simply not in the ballpark when it comes to compensation for that level of education.

Arizona currently ranks 8th lowest in the nation for teacher compensation. Oklahoma (2nd lowest) and West Virginia (3rd lowest) have also gone out on strike.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2018 05:37AM by summer.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2018 12:01AM by steve benson.

We never had this problem under G. W. P. Hunt!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2018 11:47PM by steve benson.

AZ: Track Record of next-to-worthless governors;

Voters Blind, Stupid, or BOTH?

Beautiful cartoon, Steve. I mean visually as well as conceptually.

. . . with the critic severely chiding me over what they described as my “carton,“ accusing me of forgetting who was inside the school.

Huh?

I first pointed out that I draw “cartoons,” not “cartons.”

I then noted that the cartoon depicted a nighttime scene with no lights on in the school, meaning the school was empty.

I tell ya, sometimes . . .



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2018 03:35AM by steve benson.

Arizona used to be a good state too back in the day. Seems things went downhill in the last fifteen years.

the republican "argument" is that teachers are making plenty of money since they only work 180 days per year.

Teachers are contract workers, so most are 10 month employees. The contract typically states how many hours must be spent at school (i.e. 7 hours per school day,) and also says that teachers will work "additional hours as needed to complete all work-related and assigned tasks." This work is typically completed both at school and at home.

It's the additional hours that kill you. It is essentially unpaid overtime, including nights and weekends. For many years I put a total in each week of 63-64 hours. Currently I'm probably at about 53-54 hours per week. New teachers can go 70 hours on up. The time is spent writing lesson plans (for me, three typed pages per day,) running copies, grading papers and tests, customizing work, filling out forms, entering data, crunching and reporting data, phoning parents, etc. We are given planning time according to contract, but it isn't even close to enough time to complete our tasks.

So as teachers like to say, we work a 12 month year in 10 month's time. It's very tiresome to have to continually respond to critics who only see the time we work during school hours.

It would help if administrators didn't keep adding to our workload, but they continue to do so, because it's free labor, so why not? This is why so many teachers are burning out.