Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman is requesting $556,000 to double the staff currently responsible for investigating claims of teacher misconduct.
According to the Arizona Capitol Times, the Department of Education’s investigations team is staffed by one chief, one administrator and four investigators. Additional staff members would help lessen the workload for the investigators and decrease the time needed to reach a final disposition.
Each investigator currently handles an average of 120-150 cases per year, and the average time to reach a final disposition is two years.
The number of cases is likely to increase given that the State Board of Education is proposing a bill that would increase its authority to investigate school employees that are not certified. This would include support staff, student teachers and coaches.
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