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Arizona #RedForEd One Year Later: Tempe High School Teacher

By Lauren Gilger
Published: Thursday, April 25, 2019 - 12:11pm
Updated: Thursday, April 25, 2019 - 2:44pm

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RedForEd march
Jackie Hai/KJZZ

It’s been one year since tens of thousands of teachers walked out of their classrooms and marched on the Arizona state Capitol wearing red.

It was the peak of a growing trend of teachers taking action to demand higher pay, and this week, The Show is hearing some perspectives on that event and what the impact of it has been since.

On Wednesday, we heard from state Sen. Paul Boyer at the Capitol, where legislators are debating a new state budget now.

The Show turned next to one of the teachers at the heart of this debate.

Rodrigo Palacios teaches world history and economics to 10th- and 12th-graders at Tempe High School. And last year, he helped organize teachers at his school as they held walk-ins, stand-outs and, finally, when they walked out in protest.

Palacios always knew he wanted to be a teacher. He’s from a family of them, and he’s been doing it for more than 15 years. So, he knows the importance of the job and how big of a difference it can make when schools have the funding they need.

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