by Pamela Powers Hannley Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is pissed off at President Obama for releasing immigration prisoners from jail. She believes that the administration is playing some sort of high school payback game to punish Arizona. Puleeezzz. If Brewer wants to blame someone for the nationwide immigrant prisoner release, she should blame Arizona Senators … Read more
by Pamela Powers Hannley The ACLU is claiming that, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), young people eligible for deferred deportation are "authorized to stay and lawfully present in the country" — not "illegal people." Within the last year, Governor Jan Brewer had issued an executive order stating that Dreamers were not eligible to … Read more
Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA) leader Randy Parraz and others protested Governor Jan Brewer's denial of Arizona drivers' licenses to undocumented people who are eligibile for deferred deportation under President Barack Obama's executive order regarding the DREAM Act.
"These people [DREAMERS] already have clearance to work in this state. What does she [Brewer] gain by denying them a drivers' license?" Parraz asked on Monday, January 14, the first day of the new legislative session.
"We want a new level of respect and civility in this state… I'm tired of second class citizenship [for DREAMERS]," he added. "They're good enough to graduate from ASU but not good enough to apply for a drivers' license? That type of mentality has to stop in Arizona."
For more comments and footage of DREAM Act protesters being arrested at the Arizona State Capitol, check out the video by Dennis Gilman after the jump.
Tonight Tucson Unified School District's lame duck governing board will vote on closing up to 14 schools around the district: Brichta, Corbett, Cragin, Lyons, Manzo, Menlo Park, Schumaker and Sewell elementary schools; Carson, Hohokam, Maxwell and Wakefield middle schools; Fort Lowell/Townsend K-8; and Howenstine High School.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, the schools will be voted on individually at the meeting to be held at Catalina High School, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Public schools are the backbone of our community. This is a sad day for Tucson. In multiple stories about the public forums on school closures, dozens of parents and activitists have spoken out in favor of saving particular schools. "This side of town needs those schools. You can close all of them." "This school has wonderfully creative programs. You can't close it." "This is a top-rated school with full enrollment. You can't close it." And on…
Unfortunately, these reasons won't be enough to save most of the schools. With a $17 million budget deficit and 13,000 empty seats (the equivalent of 26 schools) TUSD is looking at data, expenditures, and enrollment— how can taxpayers get the most bang for their buck– not emotion, not program specifics, and not community cohesion.
In a recent Star article, TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone admitted that the district won't realize the projected full $5 million from the school closures because the district has to maintain the closed schools until they are closed or leased. Of the nine schools closed in 2010, three remain vacant and a deal to level a fourth recently fell through.
Allowing as many as 18 public schools to sit empty is a dramatic waste of resources. Tucson needs out-of-the-box thinking on this issue. For some ideas, read on.
As I was reading Arizona Daily Star education reporter Alexis Huicochea's Tweets from the latest public school closure hearing on last Saturday, I wondered to myself: How many of these parents– who are now gnashing their teeth about their kid's school– voted Republican or didn't vot at all?
Remember 2010, when the Repulbicans swept all of Arizona's statewide offices and won a super majority in the Arizona Legislature? Things were bad before that, but our state really slid into dark times with Governor Jan "George Wallace in a Skirt" Brewer and her henchmen– Attorney General Tom "Kill MAS" Horne, Public Instruction Head John "Charter Schools" Huppenthal, Secretary of State Ken "Birther" Bennet, and former State Senate President Russell "Get the Messicans" Pearce– in charge. They are the reason that Tucson Unified Schools District (TUSD) has a $17 million short fall. They are the reason TUSD is closing schools, increasing class sizes, and laying off teachers. And, actually, you are the reason, too.
Parents, grandparents, and activists– if you voted for Republican legislators, the governor, and her gang of thieves and/or voted against continuation of the sales tax for education and jobs (prop 204) OR didn't vote at all– shut up about school closures. You got want you wanted– smaller government, impoverished public education, and millions of dollars of corporate welfare. Hurray for the 1%! Screw you, children of Arizona.
Your theme song plays after the jump.