Published: March 20, 2023
Every year, thousands of experienced, passionate educators leave our state or the profession because of low wages, underfunded schools and a lack of respect. As a result, our state faces a shortage of teachers and education support professionals every single year.
In 2023, this crisis has only deepened:
- As of January, Arizona schools still had 2,890 teacher vacancies.
- Of the vacancies that have been filled, 45% were filled by people who don’t meet standard teacher certification requirements.
- Arizona also has high numbers of vacancies among education support professionals—for instance, the state has 1,640 vacancies for special education paraprofessionals.
We are calling on our state lawmakers to address this crisis through investments in this year's state budget. Download our Educators Budget to learn more.