The Arizona Education Association (A.E.A.), in existence since 1892, serves “teachers, community college professors, speech pathologists, bus drivers, secretaries, retired educators, and student teachers” as a labor union across “150 affiliates” in Arizona.
With a membership of 20,000 educators and support staff, the A.E.A.’s mission is to “advocate on behalf of students, staff, and teachers in Arizona.” Its core values are:
- Quality Public Education for All.
- Fairness, Equity, and Respect for All.
- Teaching is an esteemed Profession.
- Education Support Professionals as Valued Partners
- Learning as a Community Commitment.
The current President of the Arizona Education Association is Joe Thomas. A Social Studies instructor from the Mesa Unified School District, Mr. Thomas, who will run for a second three-year term in May, sat down with Blog For Arizona and outlined his organization’s Education Priorities for the Arizona State Legislature and Governor in 2019.
The questions and a summary of Mr. Thomas’s responses are below.
- What are at least three (or more) educational policy goals your organization would like to pursue in 2019?
Mr. Thomas believes the core issue for schools is funding and getting tax revenues into them as soon as possible into the classroom. He expects the legislature to institute a tax increase this year to fund education and wants to see where all 90 legislators stand on this. He also voiced concern over the lag time between what kind of tax increase is passed because shifts in corporate and individual rates may take place at a different time than the passage of a sales tax increase.
The second issue Mr. Thomas wants to address is the Teacher Shortage Crisis where he noted that many classrooms opened the school year without qualified instructors.
The third priority can be practically anything like reforming teacher evaluation and standardized testing that affects teachers that teach and do not teach those specific students. We want the State Board to oversee this. You need multiple observations and quality feedback and good coaching.
We need a smaller counselor to student ratio as well as greater student services. We need more attention to school safety and training for all educators to see warning signs on issues like suicide. Anything that brings resources to students would be a priority.
Mr. Thomas also had harsh words for proposed bills like the Livingston one (significantly revised since the meeting with Mr. Thomas) wanting to process DNA of education personnel during fingerprint, calling it “ridiculous.”
Mr. Thomas also spoke out against the Townsend’s bill making it illegal for school staff to espouse their religious and political views on others, not because he thinks instructor should be able to (he does not think they should) but because these rules are already codified for schools in their 501C3 declarations and human resource policies already prohibit educators from doing so. He also worries that this would create a slippery slope for teachers who worry that covering a particular subject (that students need to learn) may receive recriminations. Interested readers should view his discussion with Representative Townsend on the March 2, 2019 episode of Sunday Square Off.
2) Is your organization going to work on a new Invest in Ed type proposition?
Mr. Thomas believes that his organization should look to both the legislative and initiative proposition to get dollars into the classroom in the immediate short term and over the long term.
a) Would there be any differences in a revised proposition compared to the new one? For example, would the tax increase apply to more than upper-class earners?
He favors the Joint Legislative Council analyzing any proposal thoroughly.
3) With regards to education proposals from the legislature since the start of the New Year, which ones do you find favorable?
The A.E.A. supports:
- The ELL Bill was very successful on that and we are happy with it.”
- The Boyer teacher evaluation.
- The cap on carrying funding forward from school year to school year (going to a three-year rolling average).
- Counselor and school safety.
- Teacher contracts should be offered April to May with a set date (4/15 to 5/30 with no liquidation fees)
4) Which education proposals from the legislature do you find disagreeable?
*The DNA bill (Livingston)
* The two voucher bills
* The Townsend Bill on suppressing teacher speech.
* Tax conformity.”
5) Specifically, what are your views on the Allen proposal to increase education funding through a sales tax increase?
Mr. Thomas fees it is “it is too small” and creates the situation where legislators have to go back to the voters every two years and ask for more money.
6) What were your impressions of the Governor’s education comments during the State of the State and please give two reasons?
While he and the A.E.A. are happy that district assistance is increasing and instructors and staff are getting a much-needed raise (although base pay needs to be further addressed), there is concern that the Governor is only reinforcing an education system, with its statewide grading component, a system of “haves and have not’s” that rewards schools that are going to do well on tests anyway that could be spent on schools that reduce class sizes, have some performance pay (like getting a masters degree), and improve student performance.
7) What are your impressions of the education goals Superintendent Hoffman outlined in her inaugural address (and first speech at the Arizona Board of Education?) Please give two reasons.
Mr. Thomas feels Superintendent Hoffman is doing a great job, noting that there is a greater atmosphere at the Department now that an experienced educator is at the helm.
8) What are at least two (or more) circumstances Red for Ed, S.O.S. or the A.E.A. would organize or support another strike?
Mr. Thomas relayed that the union members are the ones that make the decision on whether or not to strike again. Furthermore, he stated “the trigger for a next statewide action is if the legislature acts like last year did not happen and start ignoring us again and that “it was for getting a better system for the kids” through reducing class sizes, recruiting highly qualified instructional and instructor support staff, and building infrastructure like technology in our schools.
Fully Funding Education is more possible today than this time last year largely thanks to the efforts of education organizations like the Save our Schools (SOS), AEU/Red for Ed, and the Arizona Education Association (AEA) as well as the inspiring efforts of the Democrats who ran for Superintendent of Public Instruction: current Superintendent Kathy Hoffman and her primary opponent David Schipara.
Even reactionary attempts to craft bills like voucher ones, as well as the Livingston and Townsend ones Mr. Thomas cited, have met resistance, causing them to be sharply revised or, in the case of the voucher program being shifted to the State Treasury, eliminated.
The case of the Townsend Bill, as indicated earlier, is especially troubling. One of the very first lessons for teachers in Education 101 is not to tell children what God (if any) they should worship or what political candidate or party to vote for and support? That policy, along with potential consequences for non-adherence is ingrained in most not for profit district and charter school governing and human resource policies. There is no need for a state law to regulate what teachers say in the classroom.
These recent developments in increasing education funding and tempering reactionary impulses among conservatives in the legislature are a testament to the grassroots organization of these progressive groups and the support they generated among the people who marched on the capital and lined major streets in Phoenix and Tucson causing Governor Ducey and the Republicans to rethink their positions.
Hopefully, with Democratic numbers increased in the State House and in the Department of Education, this legislative momentum in fully funding education and other needed forward-thinking education reforms will finally move forward.
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