Teachers Union Says 500 Positions Unfilled Statewide

Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 11:51am

More than a month into the new school year, the leader of the state’s largest teacher’s union says more than 500 teaching positions remain vacant across the state. 

Andrew Morill of the Arizona Education Association said that presents a serious problem for students and for the schools.

“You’ve got rising expectations, you’ve got harsher evaluation practices, which many teachers feel set them up for failure in an unfair system" Morill said.

Morill said that has led many qualified teachers to leave the profession or not to get involved in the first place.  And he said low wages are not the only problem.

Morill blames the drastic underfunding of education, along with poor policy decisions at the state level have which made it very difficult for teachers to show the effectiveness of their teaching methods.