Arizona teachers seeking funding start voting on a walkout

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona teachers began to vote Tuesday on whether to walk off the job in their push for more funding for education.

Arizona Educators United, a grass-roots group that's mobilized tens of thousands of teachers for weeks of protests, instructed teachers on how to hold a strike vote over three days. The group told teachers to hand out premade paper ballots to be filled out before and after school.

The vote on whether to walk out comes despite Republican Gov. Doug Ducey offering a 20 percent raise by 2020. Teachers say it doesn't address other needs, including raises for support staff and a return to pre-Great Recession school funding levels. The vote is meant to gauge interest in holding a strike.