Gov. Hobbs puts out survey aiming to keep teachers in education

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Shireen Behzadi got her classroom ready at the Catalina Foothills High School, dusting off book shelves and hanging up posters. It was all in preparation for her tenth and twelfth grade students to come back.

“I love getting interested in what they’re doing, and they keep me young me because I have to learn all their lingo,” Behzadi said with a laugh.

She’s excited to see them, but sad to see that some teachers aren’t coming back this year.

“I have, probably in the last five or seven years, just seen people out and out go for something else,” she said.

She said those teachers are leaving for opportunities in higher education or are changing districts.

“Some is for the money, others, they’re unhappy with the workload,” she said about her former co-workers.

The Catalaina Foothills Unified School District said teachers with no experience start at $50,000. They also raised their pay for teachers coming back from over five percent to over nine percent.

“This district has been very good about giving us raises to stay,” Behzadi said.

However, she also has to take on more roles outside of her regular teaching hours to earn some extra cash.

“I’m living a year off of a ten month salary contract and making it stretch over the summer and so for a lot of people, for families, teaching is not the profession that you go into to make a ton of money,” she said.

Governor Katie Hobbs’ survey asks about pay, benefits and affordable housing near schools. It also asks about issues like class size, facilities, professional opportunities and whether teachers are considering leaving.

The district said they put out their own surveys asking about retention.

While Behzadi doesn’t think the education system is changing as fast as it could, she said she feels supported by her district.

“This is a place that feels like home,” she said.