Arizona special education teacher works second full-time job to make ends meet

Teaching special education has been Darla Knight’s passion for more than 25 years at Highland Junior High in Gilbert. For most of her career, Knight has always worked a second job, a sacrifice she willingly makes in order to stay in the classroom.

Knight works an additional 30 to 40 hours per week as a home health aide just to make ends meet. It’s basically another full-time job. She obtained her masters degree in special education in 2007 and with more than two decades of teaching experience her annual salary sits at $63,000.

Her current salary isn’t enough to cover the cost of living to support herself and her disabled adult son.

Knight’s son was born with cerebral palsy, a lifelong condition that affects normal brain development. After her son was born, Knight changed her major from nursing to special education.

She became a single parent after going through a divorce and at one point worked between four and five jobs, while keeping her full-time job as a teacher.

Special education teachers carry more responsibilities since they are in charge of a lot of legal documentation for students with disabilities, according to Knight.

“That’s the thing, I mean a lot of these positions are very hard to fill. Special education teachers are burning out after five years,” Knight said. 

Starting next school year, special education teachers at her district will receive an additional stipend up to $6,000. For five years Knight fought to get the additional stipend approved for special education teachers. When Knight heard that the union approved her proposal, her eyes filled with tears. 

“We go through so much more training. I just feel like our work is so much more. So I submitted a document comparing other states and other cities and districts, what they pay their special education teachers, (and) a lot of districts give them stipends,” Knight said.

Where does Arizona rank when it comes to teacher pay?

Arizona ranks 29th in the country when it comes to the average teacher’s salary coming in at $62,714, where the minimum living wage needed is $66,744, according to a National Education Report. 

A national Gallup poll found that one in five K-12 teachers are struggling financially and 71% of teachers have a second job. Additionally, only 28% of teachers felt they could live comfortably on their salary. 

New incoming teachers at Knight’s district, Gilbert Public Schools start at $54,335. Low wages and student behavior are what cause new teachers to leave the field, she said. When asked what she hoped for when it comes to the future of education she had this to say:

“I know a lot of people say, ‘Oh, but you get summers off.’ Let me tell you, by the time summer comes along, we are truly exhausted and spent and yeah, we really do work for all of the breaks that we do get, but I just hope that our government, other people (and) our community see what teachers do and what we deserve,” Knight said.

​​”It all boils down to legislation. I just hope and pray every day that they see the hard work that we’re doing and stop putting all these demands on us and not compensating us,” Knight said. 

Knight put in her resignation to retire at the end of last year, but plans to continue teaching. She is grateful to have been able to teach for so long and to receive a pension, but it’s not enough for her to survive on.

“I truly do love my job though. I love working with children with special needs. It’s just a gratifying job and even if you just see little growth, it just means the world to me,” Knight said. 

“It’s really the only life I really know as an adult now for teaching for 26 years and my son is 36. I have to say it’s my dream job. I just wish it paid more.”

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Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.

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