In Op-Ed Column, Kathy Hoffman Blasts Doug Ducey and Republican Legislators for Not Appreciating Teachers and Doing More to Help Them and Public Schools

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman did not care for Governor Doug Ducey’s most recent State of the State Address.

In an oped column for AZ Central, Superintendent Hoffman, still on maternity leave caring for her newborn daughter, penned an effective on point rebuke of Mr. Ducey’s address to the Arizona State Legislature.

Unlike the Governor, the Superintendent acknowledged that all education stakeholders were working hard to ensure public schools remain open and children are well educated. She wrote:

“And while my schedule may have changed from school visits and briefings on pending legislation to late-night feedings and diaper changes – it’s given me a lot of time to think about our public schools and the staff and teachers who have gone to incredible lengths to keep our schools running as we enter the third year of this pandemic. Right now, our schools are doing everything humanly possible to remain open during the most challenging surge of the virus yet. Teachers are covering extra classes during their lunch and prep time. Principals are covering bus routes to make sure students get to school on time.

Ms. Hoffman went further, chastising Mr. Ducey for not:

• Offering teacher pay raises like in neighboring New Mexico and Colorado. The Superintendent also said the Governor should have said teachers deserve hazard pay.
• Adequately helping schools during the pandemic.
• Calling in the National Guard to help drive school buses like other Republican Governors had done.
• Honoring some of the instructors and staff lost to the COVID 19 pandemic.
• Thanking teachers for their hard work and efforts. Superintendent Hoffman wrote: “At a minimum, he could have thanked our teachers and recognized just how difficult it is to teach during a pandemic. The bottom line is every child in our state deserves the highest quality education, and we need teachers to make that possible. I’m urging the governor and the Legislature to act now in support of our teachers and the students they serve before we lose any more educators from our classrooms.”

Superintendent Hoffman calls on Republicans in Legislature to Remove Spending Cap on Schools.

Schools are facing a potential financial doomsday if Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature do not act by March 1, 2022 to remove the spending cap on what schools can pay for during the last part of the 2021/22 school year.

In the last part of the article, Superintendent Hoffman called on the Republicans to remove the cap, writing:

“The most important task at hand is ensuring our district schools avoid devastating budget cuts of more than a billion dollars by immediately suspending the district funding limit, a relic from 1980. These budget cuts will impact every public school district in our state.

A two-thirds majority of the Legislature is required to suspend the funding cap, which has been done without controversy in the past. But this year, some Republicans are signaling they will use it as a bargaining chip to privatize our school system further.

This outdated funding cap from more than 40 years ago is a school closure ticking time bomb – one that will harm students and families if not addressed immediately.

Bills for a clean fix and a permanent repeal have already been introduced. The Legislature must pass this critical legislation now and allow our schools to get on with serving their students and families.

The truth is, we can avoid this divisive fight over education this session, and we can come together to support our public schools and the children of our state. I hope Governor Ducey and the party in control of the Legislature will work with their Democratic colleagues to make that happen.”

Save Our Schools Arizona Reports on the Fringe Ideas in Education Republicans are Pursuing instead of Voting to Remove the Spending Cap. 

The leaders at Save Our Schools Arizona are just as flabbergasted as Superintendent Hoffman with the snail’s pace approach by the Republicans in the State Legislature to remove the spending cap on public school expenditures.

In their latest Education report, they wrote:

“Arizona lawmakers have  five weeks to solve the ticking time bomb of $1.2 billion in education cuts due to an outdated spending cap. Click here to see how much your school district stands to lose. This magnitude of cuts will result in teacher furloughs, school closures, and worse. Make no mistake: this is a manufactured crisis. Lawmakers could easily fix the matter with a quick procedural vote (as they have at least twice before), but instead are playing political football with our kids’ futures.”

Furthermore, in their report, Save Our Schools tells readers what fringe educational ideas the Republicans are pursuing this session. Some are rethreads of proposals thrown out last year by the Arizona Supreme Court. These include:

• HB2112 by State Representative and Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate Michelle Udall that would ban teaching controversial subjects unless all sides were presented. This is the attempt to sanitize the teaching of history from the fact that the original (predominantly white) leaders of this country exploited non white groups (Blacks, Latinos, Chinese, Native Americans) through slavery, poor labor practices, and genocide in the expansion and building of it. Children should not be shielded from the truth of the nation’s past.
• SB1010: a bill by State Senator (and Secretary of State candidate) Michelle Urgent-Rita that would allow protesters to attend board meetings and other after school events. The proposal would also make school board elections partisan.
• SB1133: from State Senator (and COVID denier/Big 2020 Election Lie enabler) Wendy Rogers that would ban mail in ballots for city and school district elections. This is the same Wendy Rogers who just passed a bill in committee allowing more weapons on college campuses.
• SB1165 which is the brainchild of Nancy Barto and supported by Rogers that would ban transgender girls from participating on female sports teams.
• SB1159: a proposal by State Senator Rick Gray that would consolidate and, effectively, lower teaching certificate standards.
• HB2161 sponsored by State Representative Steve Kaiser that would not have any limitations or safety or privacy protocols for the sharing of school records.
• HB2439 sponsored by Beverly Pingerelli who wants every school board to approve every library purchase and acquisition. Everyone should click here on the famous school board scene from the movie Field of Dreams to see what school board meetings across the state could be like if this measure passed.
• HB2495 sponsored by Jake Troll Farm Fake Presidential Elector Hoffman that would forbid schools from using any material that has sexually explicit material. Goodbye Scarlett Letter. Goodbye virtually all of Shakespeare. Goodbye musicals like Westside Story. Goodbye sex education in health classes.

It is time for Governor Ducey and the Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature for looking for ways to weaken, politicize, and demonize our public schools.

They should be looking for ways to enlighten and protect children in our public schools.

They should be endless saluting the efforts of teachers, principals, and their support staff and seeking avenues to lift them up.

They should fully fund public schools and remove the expenditure cap so no district ever has to worry about paying the bills ever again.