Over 1,000 Arizona teachers resigning plays a part in shortage

More than 1,000 Arizona teachers have left the profession since July, with 763 resigning before the 2025-26 school year began, according to State Superintendent Tom Horne. This is in addition to the 4,000 positions currently covered by long-term substitutes or other part-time methods, as well as the nearly 1,400 that are currently vacant due to Arizona’s ongoing teacher shortage.

According to Marisol Garcia, the president of the Arizona Education Association, the economy is one of the main factors in teachers’ decisions to leave. Horne called the issue “intolerable” in a statement and advocated for a reauthorization of Proposition 123 to include an increase to teachers’ salaries using state land trust funds.

Tom Horne, Superintendent of Public Instruction, joined “Arizona Horizon” to further discuss the ongoing teacher shortage in Arizona.

Horne said the situation has reached a crisis point, calling salary the number-one issue driving teachers out of the classroom.

“We absolutely have to increase the salary of the teachers,” he said, adding that a lack of administrative support on student discipline is “the number two reason” educators are leaving.

He shared a letter from a Phoenix Union teacher who told him she could “name 40 teachers that have left because of failure to get support on discipline.”

According to Horne, thousands of Arizona classrooms are now staffed by adults who are not fully certified.

“About 4,000 vacancies… are filled mostly by permanent substitutes that are not properly trained, so the kids are getting cheated,” he said. Another thousand classrooms, he noted, have no teacher at all.

Horne argued that reauthorizing Proposition 123, the measure that governs use of state land trust funds, is the most immediate way to raise teacher pay.

“This is the deadline year for Prop 123… and teacher salaries increase can come out of the land trust so it doesn’t affect anyone’s taxes,” he said. He expressed optimism that lawmakers will act this year: “I’m hopeful it will happen.”

Still, Horne acknowledged that teacher morale is suffering.

“I’m doing everything I can to show appreciation to the teachers,” he said, pointing to recent press conferences celebrating Blue Ribbon schools and high-performing educators.

He reiterated that Arizona cannot retain teachers without addressing the core issues.

“It’s really an emergency now,” Horne said. “We absolutely have to take strong action.”