Education advocates are pushing to increase pay for Arizona’s public school teachers.

They are backing a bill sponsored by state representative and former teacher Matt Gress, who wants to boost salaries by $10,000. The bill is expected to be considered on Monday.

The legislation is backed by Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.

"No school is better than the quality of the teachers inside the classroom, and our surrounding states pay more than we do, and we lose good teachers to the surrounding states and we can’t afford to do that anymore," said Horne.

Horne said the state must improve teacher quality, which in turn could boost student achievement.

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