There’s a song made famous by the late Whitney Houston on her 1986 album by the same title, “The Greatest Love of All.” The song starts with the line, “I believe that children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way….”
If children are the future, we may be in trouble. There’s a significant gap in the number of certified teachers available to “teach our children well” in Tucson and Southern Arizona.
According to the Arizona Department of Education, about 8,600 teachers left the profession between 2024 and 2025, leaving schools with a gap that’s difficult to fill. The latest Arizona School Report Card states that Arizona is home to around 61,000 teachers who are currently in classrooms, with nearly 50,000 of those teachers working in public school districts (kindergarten through grade 12). Around 12,000 teachers work in charter schools, which do not require their teachers to be certified by the state of Arizona. An additional 58,000 certified teachers are in the state but serve in positions outside the classroom or are no longer working in education.
By the Numbers
What are some of the reasons classrooms aren’t being adequately staffed? We can start by examining pay. The Sunnyside Education Association is one of many education associations within Pima County that represent teachers and service professionals in the public schools…