#RedForEd organizer: We’ll strike if we have to

As pressure for education reform continues to grow, community organizers say they’re preparing to do whatever is necessary to force Gov. Ducey to act.

“Educators can’t continue to live here, our backs are against the wall,”  says Noah Karvelis, a music teacher in Tolleson and community organizer for Arizona Educators United. Although specific demands have not been announced, Karvelis says they are fighting for more funding for public education and higher wages for educators.

After a statewide teacher’s strike in West Virginia ended with a 5 percent pay raise for teachers and other state employees, many educators began calling for a similar strike in Arizona.

Karvelis says the 37,000 member’s of Arizona’s #RedForEd movement are simultaneously becoming more frustrated at Ducey’s inaction and more empowered by the group’s solidarity, and that the longer a resolution is delayed, the more likely an organized strike will become.

Arizona Educators United is holding a joint demonstration with Save Our Schools Arizona at the state capitol on March 28, where they will discuss the current situation as well as deliver a list of demands to state government officials.