Hear Arizona and Rio Salado College have teamed up, with support from the F2 Family Foundation and Intel, to develop a podcast series that addresses Arizona’s teacher recruitment and retention issues. 

For years, headlines have said Arizona’s schools are in trouble. One of the issues is Arizona cannot recruit enough qualified teachers or replace the ones that retire. Hear Arizona’s new podcast, Education Cliff is an in-depth discussion about solutions like  community colleges and other organizations that can help keep Arizona students from falling off the education cliff.   While community organizations cannot fix the pay or funding, they can support early-career teachers and give them the resources they need in order to stay.

Where have all Arizona’s teachers gone?  In some cases, just across the border. The fact is salaries in neighboring states can be as much as $30,000 more per year! That kind of money goes a long way in paying back a teacher’s student loans.

In the Education Cliff series, producer Scott Bourque reveals how nonprofits and community colleges are among the solutions needed to keep Arizona’s kids from falling off the education cliff.

Hear Arizona podcasts address issues and empower the community. Podcasts on a variety of topics are available on most platforms. Heararizona.org  offers a list of resources for each episode.  

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 Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust awarded the resources to launch the Hear Arizona podcast channel through Sun Sounds of Arizona. Sun Sounds provides audio for people who cannot read print due to a disability and is part of the Public Service Division of Rio Salado College which includes public radio stations KJZZ 91.5FM and KBACH 89.5FM.