How Long Are Teacher Contracts in Arizona?
How long is a teacher’s contract for? This really varies. It depends on what type of teacher you are and what environment you’re in. Are you in a public school, district K-12? Are you in a charter school, a private school, or is it higher education? It just varies. But, for an Arizona educator who teaches anywhere between K-12th grade, normally they’re for one year. Sometimes if you’re on a tenure track, it can be a little bit different, but I would just say in general, they’re for one specific school year. It’s less than one year. It will have a start date and an actual specific date. Normally, it’s in August. Sometimes a couple of days or a week before the students come in. There will be a date there, and then it normally ends at the very end of May.
It will have a specific date there. And again, it’s going to be for one school year. Your pay though can be stretched over 12 months if you prefer, or you can do just through the school year. And so, you wouldn’t get paid from the end of May through the next August. Normally, teachers’ contracts come up for renewal and they normally start within February of the next school year. So, you’ll be offered a new contract, or they’ll renew your old one. And like I said, that normally starts in February. But if they decide not to renew it, then you just end your contract at the end of May, and then you guys go your separate ways. You also can not renew it, which is the best way for an educator to end their employment with the school district.
If you do decide to terminate your contract, most of the time, there actually isn’t a way to do that during the school year. You would be considered in breach. So, you always want to try your very best to fulfill your contract unless the school district is either breaching the contract or there are just some unforeseen circumstances where you can’t fulfill it. And then I would always advise speaking with attorneys to handle this because there can be some serious consequences if you do not fulfill the full school year. Your school district can report you to the state board of education. That’s your licensing board. It can be considered an act of unprofessional conduct. So, you want to be very careful with that. You want to make sure that the school board or the governing board releases you from your contract so that you’re not in breach. Other topics of interest include:
- What Does an Arizona Teacher’s Contract of Employment Include?
- How do you Resign from a Teaching Position in Arizona?
Charter schools are normally the same, it’s for a specified school year with a renewal starting in February. I also just want to mention, since they’re only for one year or one school year, we should just say that one school year. You want to make sure that you really sit and think about it before you sign that because if you’re signing in in February or March for the next year, it’s a big commitment. And like I said, it’s very difficult to get out of, and it’s very stressful. So, just make sure that you have fully considered what is in your foreseeable future for that next school year before you sign that contract.
Arizona Teacher License Questions?
Contract Review, Termination Issues, and more!
