Embattled Virginia Governor Ralph Northam with his wife addressing reporters on Saturday, February 2, 2019
The revelations over the last several days of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam apparently taking a disturbing racially charged photograph while a medical student 35 years ago and the non substantiated accusations of sexual assault of Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax have exposed the depths of Republican hypocrisy (as well as their aptitude for gutter politics) and the potential pitfalls of Democratic zero tolerance when these matters are first brought forth before hearing all the details and circumstances surrounding the events.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman
In a jammed packed Hearing Room One at the Arizona State House with several television news crews, Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman gave her State of Education address before the mostly assembled House Education Committee (State Representative Townsend was absent).
While touching on the themes she has consistently spoken on since being a candidate like greater accountability for all public and charter schools and the Department of Education, increased school funding, more resources, and staffing for ELL, Special Education, Counseling, and Psychologists, anti-bullying preventive measures, getting rid of laws that permit Anti LGBTQ behavior, restoring early education funding, respect for all forms of diversity, and a desire for bipartisan collaboration between her department, the Governor’s office, and the legislature, Superintendent Hoffman devoted a substantial portion of her remarks (a link to the full address is below) on the teacher shortage, especially in our rural areas, commenting that “Arizona’s Teacher Shortage is Nothing Short of a Crisis” that threatens the “future of our state” which “is on our schools.”
Anyone wondering where we stand with Arizona’s teacher shortage? After all, last year was probably the most significant year ever for Arizona public school teachers. Some 75,000 of them marched on the state Capitol demanding better pay for themselves and support staff, lower class sizes and more. The result was an additional 9% salary increase added to the 1% Governor Ducey had originally offered for the year. Surely this must have helped us retain quality teachers, right?
Well, not so fast. As the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association (ASPAA) learned in their annual statewide survey of districts, we are a long way from “out of the woods” and aren’t even headed in the right direction.
The 211 districts and charters that responded last year reported that 7,453 teacher openings needed to be filled during the school year. As of December 12, 2018, there were still 1,693 vacancies and 3,908 individuals not meeting standard teacher requirements, for a total of 75% of teacher positions vacant or filled by less than fully qualified people.
Arizona’s Senators both voted to help pass the Senate’s Mideast Bill Package this afternoon. S.1 passed by a 77-23 vote as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) first legislative priority for this session – began while avoiding a vote on the then-shutdown; its future in the Democratic-controlled House is uncertain. While all of the Republican Senators but one … Read more
Donald Trump has consistently misled the public about releasing his tax returns, as every presidential candidate and president has done since Richard Nixon. Trump started out saying “If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely,” he said. “And I would love to do that.” Then he hemmed and hawed, and finally spewed bullshit about how he couldn’t release his tax returns because he is under an audit. After he was elected Trump asserted no one cared about his tax returns, and has consistently refused to produce his tax returns. All the things Donald Trump has said about releasing his tax returns.
The previous Republican Congress enabled Trump to get away with not producing his tax returns as part of its oversight function, despite three Emoluments Clause cases having been filed, and long-standing allegations about foreign money flowing into the Trump organization, money laundering and influence peddling.
