What do we want?” “Respect.” “When do we want it?” “Now!” It’s been twenty-two days since Prop 208 passed here in the state of Arizona, and to say I was thrilled with the result would be a massive understatement. As a millennial who was born and raised in the state of Arizona, I have never had a fully funded education, and as a teacher, I want better for my students. Since the walkout in 2018, I have spent many hours sitting through committee meetings and floor sessions in the House and Senate. I’ll be honest; there have been many times when the fight for proper funding, school safety, livable wages for ALL school staff has felt impossible.

When I first introduce myself to our state legislators, and they find out that I’m a teacher, the first question is always, “What can we do to help the teachers and students in Arizona?” I usually stick to three main issues:

• Staff pay

When it comes to this issue in particular, I always avoid using the term “teacher pay.” As teachers, we’re in constant debt when it comes to all of the work that the bus drivers, janitors, cafeteria workers, interventionists, librarians, classroom aides, and office managers do to keep our schools running. Still, these crucial members of our schools are often left out of conversations at the capitol. 

• Busses

As a student, I often rode on the bus to and from school, and the ride was often chaotic (food fights come to mind), and the main reason for the chaos was the overcrowding and the lack of a bus aide. Many of our parents count on having free bussing so that their student(s) can arrive at and from school safely. Without enough bus drivers and working busses, we have many students who can’t make it to school. Bus drivers/bus aides work crazy hours; they wake up early, pick up the students, drop the students off, and they don’t have time to work a second job before it’s time to pick up the students again to take them home. We need to do a better job at getting our bus drivers and aides involved in our schools by offering other district employment opportunities for extra pay and making sure to include them in district events. The better retention, the easier it’ll be to find bus drivers that want to stick around, and of course, the more bus drivers, the more busses, and less overcrowding.

• School safety

This is the topic that tends to cause the most controversy when speaking with state legislators. Like many in the United States, when they hear the words “school safety,” they immediately think, “school shootings.” According to the Arizona School Counselor Association, the counselor to student ratio continues to be the worst in the United States. Far too frequently, our school counselors are tasked with admin duties that take away from the time they could be spending working with small groups of students. Many of our students come to us needing resources for immigration, mental health, food, housing, clothing, domestic violence, and more. As teachers, we’re all happy to give any help that we can provide; however, trying to juggle academics and social work can quickly become overwhelming for everyone involved. It’s time we start filling our schools with more social workers and counselors who can work with the families and outside resources so that our students can finally get all of their needs properly met.

Prop 208 is a small fix to a massive problem that has been around for years. However, it does show us that the public truly is listening to what we have to say. Now that Prop 208 has passed, it’s time to get louder. Call your senator and state representatives and get to know them, and more importantly, let them get to know you and your students. Give them the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ask them the hard questions, and listen during committee meetings and floor sessions (you can watch live sessions from home). Are they advocating for ALL students or only a select few? Are they truly advocating for teachers, or are they simply nodding along? Arizona is listening, now go out and use your voice.

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