🚨 REIN IN VOUCHERS — IN THIS YEAR’S BUDGET! 🚨

Tell your lawmakers and Gov. Hobbs that unaccountable vouchers for the rich must be reined in in this year’s budget! Our students deserve quality resources, safe buildings, and rich academic experiences that will prepare them for a strong future. Our educators deserve pay raises and quality working conditions that benefit all teachers, staff and students. 

NOW is the time to demand true voucher reform and fund our public schools. Our easy-to-use, one-click email tool is preloaded with a message, but we encourage you to customize your email for maximum impact. Click HERE or the image below to send an email now!

This week, the state Senate reconvened for one day to pass a handful of bills, including two bills that are harmful to public schools and democracy.  They then adjourned indefinitely (Senate President Warren Petersen can call them back into session by giving 48 hours’ public notice). 

HB2867 would ban Arizona’s public K-12 teachers and university professors from teaching “antisemitism” in their classrooms, but fails to define what anti-semitism means — likely leading to baseless accusations, the silencing of classroom conversations, and the banning of books and other content. 

Worse, the bill would allow any student or their parent to bring a civil lawsuit against teachers, and would require educators to be held personally liable for damages. Multiple Democratic legislators argued that this would put teachers at risk of losing their assets, including their homes, to defend themselves against allegations and could make them targets of people wishing to use the law maliciously. In today’s fraught times, saying something pro-Palestinian is often wrongfully conflated with being anti-semitic, as Senator Analise Ortiz described on the floor:

HB2610 would force elected school board members in struggling school districts to step down. The bill was prompted by the Isaac School District which went into receivership earlier this year due to severe financial mismanagement that left the district in millions of dollars of debt. (Receivership means a third party takes over the district's finances and operations, overriding decisions of the local board and superintendent.) However, the bill would apply to many school boards, and even to newly elected school board members who were not part of any mismanagement. This anti-democratic bill gives the legislature far too much power instead of allowing Arizona voters their say. “To me, it's not up to the Legislature to decide to force governing board members to resign. That should be up to the voters that elected those board members and the communities in which they serve,” Sen. Lauren Kuby (D-8) told her colleagues.

We expect Gov. Hobbs to protect public schools and teachers by vetoing these harmful, anti-democratic bills. She cannot do so until the House takes the procedural step of coming back into floor session and transmitting the bills to her office. This could happen as early as this Wednesday June 4, the next date they are scheduled to return.

✅ Stay in the know: The SOSAZ Bill Tracker contains full information about the bills SOSAZ supports or opposes and gives you up-to-the-minute information on where these bills stand. 

🏫🎒🧑‍🏫 All the school news you need to know from this week in one quick read: 

Public schools are not failing: Check out this excerpt from a recent piece from Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon on the false claim that there is an “education crisis” in America: 

America’s public schools are failing their students and the country. That’s long been the argument of many Republican politicians, who are moving aggressively at the state and federal levels to expand voucher programs….

The vast majority of American students are learning at normal levels by international standards, and the U.S. education system is doing about as well as many other big nations.

Three other indicators suggest American education is not failing. First, most parents (about 70 percent) say they are satisfied with their kid’s school. Second, programs that would shift money from public to private schools usually are opposed by voters, even in red states.

Third, the U.S. has a thriving economy, full of people working productively in their jobs. It is hard to imagine that being the case if most Americans aren’t learning anything in public schools.

And the education conversation in America often ignores the enormous nonacademic benefits of public schools. They are places where students are generally safe during the day. They often provide free meals. Students from wealthy families meeting their counterparts from lower-income households and cisgender kids connecting with their nonbinary or transgender peers is valuable and educational even if it doesn’t raise test scores.

 “People on the right, they’re always talking about the spiritual crisis and how terrible it is that the church pews are emptied out and everybody’s alone and playing video games. But their whole policy prescription is to get rid of the last institution that brings people together,” education writer Jennifer Berkshire said.

✂️😟 Trump budget cuts threaten after-school programs across the country:
Public schools are facing cuts to federal funding across the board, including to after-school programs. These programs are a vital piece of the education puzzle, ensuring students have a rich and well-rounded learning experience – but that’s not all. Research shows that these programs actually increase student attendance during the school day, among other benefits. "After-school programs can connect kids to needed resources like food, nutrition. And make sure that they're connected to something that engages them, makes them excited about learning." - Hedy Chang, founder of Attendance Works, a national nonprofit that combats absenteeism in schools.

Dawn Fickett, director of an afterschool program in rural Maine, shared how much the program she manages has affected her local community: "I almost can't imagine our school district without a robust after-school program.  could see it really hindering the progress of our community if we didn't have safe and supportive places for our youth to be, and places that help support their academic success…. "At the middle school, teachers report they see a 90% increase in homework completion with their kids who attend our program." 

Scottsdale Unified Implements curriculum covering George Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter protests: At a recent school board meeting, the Scottsdale Unified School Board faced some backlash over the implementation of new curriculum covering recent history, claiming it is “anti-police propaganda.”

Other members of the district saw the new curriculum for what it truly was, and spoke in support of the curriculum. One parent shared that, “Now more than ever, it is vital to provide students with a comprehensive education rooted in fairness and trust.” Another asked, “Is it messy? Yes. Is it uncomfortable? Yes. You may not like the fact George Floyd is brought up but Derek Chauvin is serving time for murder so if you have a problem with that being discussed... then I don't know what to tell you." Kudos to the SUSD school board for approving truthful social studies curriculum! 🔥

Higher Education Rally: Join our friends at the Arizona Student Association and partnering organizations for the “Education for All: Empower our Future” Higher Education Rally on Monday, June 2 from 9-11 am at the Arizona State Capitol.

Upcoming Townhalls for CD 7! Join Save Our Schools Arizona Network and our partners at the Arizona Student Association and Instituto for upcoming townhalls for the Congressional District 7 special election coming soon! You can attend in Tucson on June 9 or San Luis on June 11.

Help Voters on June 11! Want to help voters who are at risk of being kicked off the voter rolls? Join us for a virtual phone bank on Wednesday, June 11 from 4-5:30 pm and help voters get re-registered! Training is provided — all experience levels are welcome!

Learn how to Deep Canvass in June! Join us to learn about our deep canvassing efforts and how to have meaningful conversations with swing voters. Deep canvassing focuses on listening and connecting with voters to understand their concerns, questions and perspectives on public education. Sign up for one of our interactive virtual trainings so you can be ready to start having these pivotal conversations as soon as we launch canvassing efforts.

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