Half Way There: The Arizona House Passes a Suspension of the AEL

The Arizona State House of Representatives, in a 46 to 14 vote, secured a suspension of the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) for this year by passing Republican David Cooks HCR2001. The AEL is the archaic 1980s legal mechanism, that if allowed to be applied in March, would deny traditional public schools the right to spend … Read more

Our Budget Should Be an Investment in Arizonans’ Future

The “skinny” budget presented by Arizona Republicans narrowly failed to pass this week. It’s basically a re-write of the 2022 budget, with little to no additional investment except for $200 million due to public schools in return for ESA voucher expansion. Said vouchers, over time, will actually remove millions more from already under-funded public schools.  … Read more

Arizona Republican Legislators Do a Disservice to Educators with FearMongering about CRT and Wokeness

Last week (January 31, 2023,) the Republicans on the House Education Committee resuscitated a revised attack on Critical Race Theory and Wokeness, sponsored by the chairperson, Beverly Pingerelli, by securing passage of HB2458, a measure that if it makes its way through the State House and Senate and, in some alternative reality, gets Governor Katie … Read more

In Weekly Addresses, Democratic Leaders Teran and Cano Ask Republicans to Work with Them to Move Arizona Forward

In weekly addresses to the people of the Grand Canyon state, Democratic Senate and House Leaders Raquel Teran and Andres Cano have implored their Republican counterparts to get serious about governing, stop playing childish political base games, and work with them (and Governor Katie Hobbs)  to move Arizona forward. Good Morning, Arizona ☀️Here is our … Read more

Governor Hobbs Sets Up an Educator Retention Taskforce and Her Team Discusses the Education Portion of the Budget

Earlier today (February 2, 2023,) Governor Katie Hobbs fulfilled another commitment from her State of the State Address by announcing, via Executive Order, the creation of an Educator Retention Taskforce. Please click here to read the Executive Order. The Governor later posted on social media: We don't have an educator shortage, we have a retention … Read more