PHOENIX — Today, Governor Katie Hobbs delivered on a promise from her State of the State Address by establishing the Educator Retention Task Force. She did this by executive order as part of her First 100 Days Initiative. In an effort to rebuild and reinvest in our public schools, the new task force will make recommendations for improving educator retention in a report due to the Governor’s Office by Dec. 1, 2023.  

“The reality is we don’t have an educator shortage, what we have is a retention crisis. There are too many amazing professionals who had to leave a career they love because of the uncompetitive salaries, onerous policies, and unfunded mandates that rob educators of the joy of teaching, ” said Governor Katie Hobbs. ”As the sister of two public school teachers, I see how hard they work every day on behalf of their students. Teachers are creating the workforce and leaders of tomorrow, and it’s time we started treating them with the respect they deserve. We can and must do better and this executive order is the first step of many to support our educators, students and parents.”

The task force will hold ongoing stakeholder meetings and conduct surveys to better understand a wide variety of issues affecting retention including pay and benefits and an analysis of the Arizona Teachers Academy and Arizona Teacher Residency program. 

The executive order can be read here.

Those interested in applying to the commission can submit their information here.