In pictures: Teachers in Colorado and Arizona strike over low salaries

Thousands of teachers and supporters gather in the western and southwestern US states to protest inadequate public school funding for a second day.

Arizona teachers are among the lowers paid in the nation. Schools that educate the vast majority of the state's 1.1 million public school students closed Thursday and Friday as teachers walked off the job.
AP

Arizona teachers are among the lowers paid in the nation. Schools that educate the vast majority of the state's 1.1 million public school students closed Thursday and Friday as teachers walked off the job.

Thousands of teachers in Colorado and Arizona rallied for a second day on Friday to demand higher pay and school funding as a revolt by US public school teachers spread westward.

Waving placards such as "Teachers Just Want To Have Fund$," educators and their supporters descended on the state capital in Denver to demand an increase in school budgets.

In Arizona, thousands rallied in Phoenix for an immediate 20-percent increase to teacher salaries, which are among the lowest in the country, and restoring education funding to 2008 levels.

Arizona state Governor Doug Ducey announced a deal with state legislative leaders to raise teachers' pay 20 percent by 2020. 

AP

Teachers in Arizona and Colorado walked out of their classes over low salaries keeping hundreds of thousands of students out of school. "They've been telling us they value us, and we're underpaid since 2009," said one demonstrator, who asked not to be named.

AP

"We have educators working two or three jobs to make ends meet," said Kerrie Dallman, head of the Colorado Education Association, a statewide federation of teachers' unions organising the two-day walkout.

AP

The protests have been spurred by activism in Republican-controlled states that brought increases in pay and budgets.

AP

It's the latest in a series of strikes across the nation over low teacher pay. Encouraged by similar protests in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky, organisers in Colorado said the protests would send a message to political leaders about their dissatisfaction.

AP

Arizona's historic state-wide strike has closed public schools serving more than 800,000 students. In Colorado, at least 600,000 students were not in class on Friday.

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