Arizona teachers hold fourth day of walkouts

Hundreds of public schools across Arizona remained closed on Tuesday due to the fourth day of teacher walkouts.

An estimated 840,000 students were out of school again Tuesday as educators and school employees committed to a fourth day of demonstrations over low pay and low funding for school systems.

{mosads}

Reuters reports that organizers announced late Monday that they would head to the state capitol to argue their case for higher funding to lawmakers.

“We need you to keep on red alert,” said kindergarten teacher and strike organizer Kelley Wendland Fisher in a Facebook video. “We need for you to be the eyes and ears. We need you to be down there making sure that they know that we are watching and listening to everything that’s happening.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) is offering organizers a 20 percent pay increase for state teachers by 2020, but striking educators say it is not enough. They are pushing for an additional $1 billion for school funding and pay raises for support staff.

Ducey has said that he does not plan to address the striking teachers’ other demands or meet with organizers.

Concurrent teachers’ strikes in Arizona and Colorado strikes come just weeks after similar walkouts in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky. The West Virginia strike was the longest in the state’s history, lasting nine days before lawmakers approved a pay raise and a committee to improve health-care benefits.