The present members of the governing board for the Tucson Unified School District voted unanimously [Tuesday](
night to award teachers an annual salary increase of $3,000 starting July 1. That includes counselors and special education teachers. Substitute teachers will earn a 4% increase.
Those bumps will be funded by a 15% override which collects property taxes from district residents to fund maintenance and operations. Voters approved the measure last year.
TUSD said it also plans to change the salary schedule step difference from $500 to $750, after negotiating implementation with the Tucson Education Association educator’s union.
The changes agreed on this week will bump the teacher base pay to $51,400 and to $64,900 for ExEd — or special education — teachers. These increases bring TUSD’s starting teacher salary above the state and national average starting rates seen in a recent report from the National Education Association.
“I’m glad we’re in this position. It’s a much better position than we would have been in otherwise if the override hadn’t passed,” board president Ravi Shah said.
Disagreements over AI policy
Members heard the first read of a proposal to expand the use of educational artificial intelligence platforms across middle and high schools. Their vote ended in a tie, meaning approved AI resources will stay within high schools only for the time being.
Board member Sadie Shaw voted against the changes and said they didn’t include enough guardrails.
“Philosophically I’m still against the use of AI by students and staff. I think students have ample opportunity to self-educate outside of the classroom and I really think it’s a slippery slope for everyone,” Shaw said.
Members Shah and Natalie Luna-Rose, who voted in favor of the policy changes, agreed AI is ubiquitous.
“If we don’t have a policy, that means anyone can use any AI for anything. And so what this policy does is limits the use,” Shah said.
TUSD has administered over 1,000 AI trainings for staff and there is a current district-wide AI policy that approves four learning platforms for use in classrooms. Individual teachers are responsible for dictating the use of those platforms and for holding students accountable if they violate the policy, by committing offenses like plagiarism or bullying.
Addressing attendance and enrollment gaps
Student Relations Director Anna Warmbrand said there are close to 6,000 students — of the total 40,000 — whose attendance rates have fallen below 80%. Warmbrand assured the board that all of those students are on some sort of Multi-Tiered System of Support plan, which typically address issues like attendance and behavior.
TUSD lost about 3% of its student enrollment from school year 2024-25 to 2025-26, according to state data. To address both the enrollment and attendance shortfalls, the Student Relations Department will intake several dozen existing community liaison positions. The department plans to analyze enrollment and attendance data, work on family engagement strategies and build new data systems to more closely monitor attendance.
After a school year of implementing the new practices, the department will evaluate the impact on schools, staff, families and retention.
Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said last year’s 15% override allocates around $900,000 toward attendance initiatives, some of which will help fund the roles moving into Student Relations.
