Can Arizona teachers make a million dollar salary? Founder, Lloyd Hopkins, says yes.
Many of Arizona’s education startups have taken it upon themselves to innovate the current student school experience and to improve Arizona’s low-ranking education status in general, but few have made it their mission to improve the experience of those teaching.
“I want teachers to make a million dollars.”
That is the goal of Lloyd Hopkins, the founder of the Arizona-based Million Dollar Teacher Project, a startup dedicated to increasing Arizona’s current teacher salary and classroom conditions. Although the bold statement is often met with a lot of raised eyebrows, Hopkins means every word.
The Million Dollar Teacher Project focuses on ways to locally and nationally recognize teachers and to create new ways for them to receive income from the work that there are doing inside and outside of the classroom, Hopkins said.
Given Arizona’s current ranking as one of the lowest paying states for teachers, Hopkins mission seems more of a state necessity than a venture. Hopkins has experienced the flaws of some of the Valley’s schools up close, having worked in and around education for 17 years and as a teacher’s assistant.
“I saw first hand the stuff that the teachers had to go through and what they experienced; there are these expectations on them to do this transformative work with these kids with low pay, low resources, low support, sometimes horrible leadership, and all of that kind of stuff,” Hopkins said.
He’s not wrong. The average annual income for an elementary school teacher for 2016 in Arizona came out to less than $43,000 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with only Oklahoma and Mississippi offering a lower pay. The low teacher salary sheds light on the current shortage of teachers available in Arizona: Why would a quality teacher want to enter into Arizona’s education system when at our neighboring state, California, teachers are making an average of over $74,000 annually?
Given the current state funding status, Hopkins said he is often asked: “How the Hell are you going to get people to pay teachers a million dollars?”
“If we want amazing students then we have to have amazing teachers,” Hopkins has repeatedly said.
He stands by this statement, and although the ultimate goal of the company remains to help teachers make a million dollars, he said the overall focus is to elevate teachers to a higher status and worth in the community. The company is beginning by focusing first to make teachers feel like a million dollars.
Launched ideas created by the Million Dollars Teacher Project include the #ApplesForTeachers project, in which students created small videos to show appreciation for their teachers. The company is also working to make sure that every school district in the state of Arizona participates in their “Take A Teacher To Lunch,” appreciation event by the end of 2018.
Hopkins is also looking into innovative ways to provide teachers with other channels of support and funding. That includes “classroom support teams” and an app that the company is in the process of developing that would award cash prizes to teachers who create superior lessons that are then voted on by the public.
The six-month old company adheres to eleven board members and an intern, but Hopkins still does most of the heavy lifting and is hoping to get more people involved in his startup.
“We don’t have to sit around and wait for state funding to fix [teacher’s salaries]. As a community there are things that we can do to increase teacher’s salaries, increase recognition and improve the environment of teachers right now. The Million Dollar Teacher Project wants to help to create that conversation,” Hopkins said.
To find out more about Lloyd and the Million Dollar Teacher Project you can visit their website or like them on Facebook.
