Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Doug Ducey announced that he is continuing investments in Arizona’s education system by increasing teacher salaries 20 percent by the beginning of the 2020 school year. This initiative is in addition to his plan to fully restore recession-era cuts over the next five years — all without raising taxes while maintaining Arizona’s balanced budget.
To start, the governor’s FY2019 teacher pay increase will be boosted to nine percent. This in combination with the pay increase in FY2018 will result in a total 10 percent increase for FY2019, effective at the start of the 2018 school year this fall. Additional 5 percent increases will be made the next two years to achieve a net 20 percent increase by the 2020 school year.
This plan builds on the governor’s proposal to invest $371 million in District Additional Assistance and Charter Additional Assistance, phased-in over the next five years. An initial investment of $100 million will be made in FY2019. These dollars provide flexibility to school districts for investment in resources including fixing school infrastructure, modernizing curriculum, school buses and updating classroom technologies.
“Arizona teachers are the biggest difference-makers in the lives of Arizona’s children, and we need to reward them for their hard work — this plan does that through a 20 percent pay increase by school year 2020,” said Governor Ducey. “We are also making significant investments in Arizona classrooms in a responsible and sustainable way. We will never stop our commitment to improving Arizona’s public education system because when it comes to our kids, we must never stop working for them.”