Rather than work with Democrats to reform the waste, fraud, and abuse in their billion-dollar welfare/scam for the rich and crooked Empowerment Scholarship Account Private School Voucher program, Arizona Legislative Republicans, in wanting to combat teacher protests and walkouts like what happened in the Red for Ed Movement, have launched a vindictive vendetta against public school teachers’ unions like the Arizona Education Association in a potential ballot measure, HCR 2040.
MAGA Republicans, whose base comes from those wealthy voters who want to fleece the state treasury or those who want to send their children to indoctrination homeschool programs or centers like Turning Point, are also continuing to craft an extension of Proposition 123 with caveats that narrow what constitutes instructional salaries.
They are trying to put these measures on the ballot because they know regular legislation to weaken or obliterate the Arizona Education Association would meet Governor Katie Hobbs veto.
They are also unwilling to put forth legislation to fully fund Arizona’s K-12 Public Schools because they know the Governor would sign it.
In HCR 2040, Arizona Legislative Republicans are attempting to “Prohibit using public money/resources for union-related activities, including payroll deductions for dues, and restrict union meetings on school grounds.”
In a press statement, Arizona Education Association Marisol Garcia said:
“As educators, we know that our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. When something isn’t right, we come together and use our collective voices to push for the change that our students need. HCR 2040 is a direct attack on our freedom to do just that. This bill would ask voters to restrict our basic rights as Americans. It would block educators from meeting in their own schools to discuss workplace issues, override existing agreements between school districts and employees, and ban payroll deduction for union dues, while keeping it for insurance companies and other outside groups.
“In poll after poll, we see that voters strongly support our state’s teachers. HCR 2040 is a direct response to lobbying from out-of-state groups like the deceptively named ‘Freedom Foundation’ that do not care about our schools. We are asking lawmakers to focus on what our schools and our students actually need — more funding, more resources, and an end to the constant political battles over our schools.
“No matter what we do for a living or where we live, most of us believe that people deserve the freedom to stick together and speak up for ourselves and the communities we serve. HCR 2040 protects nobody except the out-of-state special interests who want to silence the power of everyday Arizonans.
“In recent years, as funding cuts have forced districts to pull back on professional development programs, unions like ours have stepped in to fill the gap. Over the next month alone, AEA is holding free training sessions to help educators prepare to pass the state’s K-5 Literacy Endorsement. We are holding nearly a dozen virtual cohort meetings to help educators across all subjects share best practices with their colleagues. Day and night, educators can access our online learning platform with dozens of classes to help them hone their craft. These are all things that help educators feel supported — and they are part of the ecosystem of resources provided by our union that make it sustainable for educators to stay in the classroom long-term. If this bill passes, we could lose the ability to provide those services — and our schools and our students would be worse off as a result.”
In a comment to Cooper Courier, Garcia said:
“This legislature should be talking about: ‘How do we keep great teachers in our state? How do we make sure that they don’t leave for New Mexico, which has a higher salary, or Nevada, which has a higher salary and benefits package?”
Democratic Assistant House Leader and educator Nancy Guiterrez commented on HCR 2040 to Blog for Arizona, offering:
“We will be voting on this on the upcoming week. Taking away a teacher’s right to organize is unacceptable. Teachers and all workers have this constitutional right. The Legislature should support public schools and teachers, not tear them down and show such disrespect.”
Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz, a Democratic Candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, also commented to Blog for Arizona:
“Let’s call HCR 2040 what it is: A blatant attempt to undermine and attack Arizona’s educators and target our education associations. As the wife of a retired fire chief, I’ve seen the support provided by our fire, police, and other public sector unions — almost all of which use payroll deduction to collect dues. Make no mistake: HCR 2040 specifically targets our teachers by prohibiting school districts from using payroll deduction, stifling the ability of local education associations to organize and support our educators. As Superintendent of Public Instruction, I will always stand by our teachers, and urge lawmakers to vote NO on HCR 2040.”
Garcia is right. Republicans should be working on legislation to make the Grand Canyon state an attractive place for public school teachers to work, and not, as Representative Gutierrez said, treat them with disrespect.
Unfortunately, Republicans have been on a decades-long mission to return this state and country to a time when plutocrats reaped most of the wealth and benefits, minorities were legally segregated or politically minimized, women’s rights were virtually nonexistent, and the right to organize and form unions to collectively bargain was not constitutionally guaranteed.
Voters should repel such a program when they vote for local, state, and federal candidates this November.
They should also vote against ballot measures that harm people like union members and institutions like the state’s public schools, while supporting measures to reform MAGA Republicans’ welfare/scam for the rich and crooked Empowerment Scholarship Private School Voucher Program.
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