When Jessica Ramirez-Perea stepped into a first grade classroom nearly 25 years ago, a new world awaited her.
She spoke Spanish only. She had moved hundreds of miles to Tucson from her native California, where her parents were migrant farm workers.
What she discovered that school year — mentors, support, friendship, a love of learning — laid the foundation for her professional life as a teacher, she says.
She is the first in her family to graduate from high school and college and then, she became a first-grade teacher.
That connection she felt to her teachers as a student ignited her passion for education, Ramirez-Perea said. “A lot were teachers like me, teachers of color and that really was interesting for me to see and encouraging. They spoke the language my parents speak.”
Now 30 and beginning her eighth year as an educator, the dual-language teacher at Davis Bilingual Magnet Elementary worries the financial strain of advancing her career could force her and others to leave the profession or move to a different district for better teacher pay.
Keeping teachers like Ramirez-Perea through pay raises is a large motivator for the Tucson Unified School District, whose Governing Board is likely to decide Tuesday night whether to ask voters directly for help, by placing a budget override on the Nov. 4 ballot.
A budget override must be approved by school district voters, and the override allows that district to increase property taxes to generate a specific amount of money for a specified amount of time — seven years — to be used for a distinct purpose. Override money cannot be used for capital costs, like buildings or equipment.
When voters approve a budget override, they’re agreeing to pay higher property taxes so schools have more money to spend than they would under the state’s regular school budgeting formula. Almost all school districts in Pima County currently have an override in place, some for decades, while others have gone to voters for more money and been denied.
“We aim to increase compensation and expand programs we know are important,” TUSD board member Ravi Shah said.
The TUSD override would cost the district $1 million to conduct the election. The override aims to preserve and expand programs like art, music and PE and fund a teacher pay raise, which would help keep and develop teachers, educators say.
The district proposes a 4% raise for certified teachers. For example, a current first-year teacher earning the base pay of $37,800 could make $39,312 under the district’s proposal.
The override proposal combines two key priorities from the district and the Tucson Education Association, the labor union which represents teachers and most other classified employees: Provide immediate raises to make teacher pay more competitive, and increase long-term career earnings with increases to steps in the salary schedule to retain educators.
“Educators work incredibly hard often far beyond our contracted hours and the compensation does not reflect the value or demands of our work,” said Ramirez-Perea.
Almost all local school districts have overrides in place, but TUSD has not had one in over 30 years, TUSD’s Chief Financial Officer Ricky Hernandez said. The last time the largest school district in Southern Arizona asked for an override, in 2009, voters said no.
“It’s a now-or-never situation,” Shah said. “We have 40,000 kids and the future of our region is dependent upon a successful TUSD. … We are trying to mitigate all the budget cuts from the state over the last couple of years.”
Average TUSD teacher salary pay was $56,898 for this past school year, according to its website. That’s up 3% from 2024 – but it’s 21% below the national average. Arizona ranks 29th in average public school teacher pay at $62,714 for the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Education Association.
In 2024, Arizona ranked 49th nationally in elementary teacher pay and 42nd in secondary teacher pay, according to data from The Center for the Future of Arizona.
Override breakdown
Raising pay is just part of what school districts use an override to do. Additional funding inside schools could mean more PE, music and arts, added counselors, social workers, librarians and math and reading specialists.
Overrides are typically approved for seven years and funded with property taxes. The average TUSD homeowner would pay about $200 a year more on a home valued at $200,000, based on a proposed increase of $1.02 per $100 of net assessed valuation, Hernandez said.
The proposed override package equals 15% of the district’s revenue control limit — the maximum budget calculated by state funding formulas. It would generate a maximum of about $45 million a year in the first five years, followed by $30 million in year six and $15 million in year seven. Districts typically go back to voters to renew an override in years four or five, Hernandez said.
The package focuses on six areas:
- Compensation: Increasing teacher salaries at a cost of $7.3 million, all other district employees would get a pay bump, too.
- Student success: Add reading and math interventionists at all schools without the positions, maintain fine arts and add art and music programs at 14 schools, at a cost of $11.2 million.
- Mental and physical health: Fund school counselors, hire social workers at all high schools and hire PE teachers for all elementary and K-8 schools at $12.9 million.
- Future achievers: Help students retake courses for credit and focus on student attendance.
- Early learners: Add five new pre-K classrooms.
- Career and technology investment: Hire specialists and career coaches.
The package was created to preserve and expand current programs, improve teacher and staff pay and the board may choose to make changes before the vote, Shah said. “We want to agree on a basic package and we are working to live within our means,” he added.
If you go
What: TUSD Governing Board meeting
When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 27
Where: Duffy Community Center, 5145 E. Fifth St.
It will be a challenge to get the override across the finish line in November but the time is right, Shah said. “The public understands the drastic cuts to public school budgets by our state and our communities don’t want to lose programs and services vital to so many students and families in our region.”
“This is the right time. We need the money now.”
Voters agreed in November 2023, when they approved TUSD’s 10-year, $480 million bond measure to renovate aging schools and update security and safety systems, technology and vehicles. That money comes from bond sales and is repaid over time. An override would increase property taxes for seven years.
“We need to move the needle on our salary schedule. We definitely need an injection of dollars in the here and now,” said Tucson Education Association President Jim Byrne.
Voters can be convinced
After repeated override defeats in the early and mid 2000s, including a 16-year drought without the extra funds, the Sunnyside Unified School District passed its most recent override in 2023.
Superintendent Jose Gastelum says the district, which has about 14,700 students, built trust with voters and that investment is paying off. Sunnyside’s average teacher pay is $63,515, up 2% from last year, according to its website.
“It’s never a good time to think about taxes and the community needs to understand we can’t leave it in the hands of state and federal governments,” he said. “With good communication and transparency, you build trust. It is always helpful when you can leverage competitive salaries.”
Gastelum recalled hammering down signs himself during the campaign three years ago. He knocked on doors and headed to Pop Warner Youth-Football practices and spoke plainly to voters.
“It is the power of casual conversation,” he said. “We educated our community. It’s cents on the dollar. It’s $15-20 a month. You might sacrifice a trip to Starbucks or Peter Piper.”
Sunnyside and the Flowing Wells School District will consider asking voters this fall to vote on bond issues, according to the Pima County Superintendent’s office. Of the 16 school districts in Pima County, TUSD is one of four without override funding. The other three are: Baboquivari Unified, Ajo Unified and San Fernando Elementary in Sasabe.
Next up: Knocking on doors
If Tuesday’s vote sends the override to the ballot, then the core work begins for proponents.
“We’re gonna be knocking on doors. We’ll be at camps, soccer games, libraries and tapping into that knowledge. We will leave no stone unturned,” said education association President Byrne. “People know Saturdays, Sunday afternoons we will canvas in neighborhoods and build community while we do it.”
That playbook has worked for other local districts and for many TUSD teachers and staff, the timing is crucial.
Summer will not mean vacation and travel for Maria Caldera and her family of four. For the first time in her 10-year career, Caldera took a summer job to help pay the bills. As a bilingual teaching assistant at Bloom Elementary, Caldera makes just over $20,000 a year.
“I think it would help financially and mentally and it will relieve a lot of stress if this override goes through,” Caldera, 46, said. “I don’t see raises very often. One percent doesn’t do much. It doesn’t cover the cost of living.”
And it does not allow for growth, Caldera said, adding she would like to go back to school and earn her bachelor’s degree.
Teacher Ramirez-Perea agrees. Although she has special certification and compensation as a dual language teacher, she earns about $47,500 a year. She aims to earn a master’s degree to increase her skills and pay, but does not have the money or time right now. She will spend her summer tutoring students part time and in training to keep up her dual-language certification.
“My first two, three years teaching, I would stay two or three hours after school — unpaid — to catch up to be the best teacher I could be,” she said. “It was not sustainable for me. It affected my health.”
“But I keep coming back. I see myself in my students, knowing students need teachers that are passionate and that care,” she said. “I feel like I am making a difference in my community and my students’ lives. When we invest in teachers we are investing in students and that’s what matters most.”
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