Arizona AFL-CIO & PALF endorsements (So. AZ) for 2018 Primary

“Announcing Arizona AFL-CIO and Pima Area Labor Federation candidate endorsements: SOUTHERN ARIZONA ELECTIONS: Legislative District 2: Senate: Andrea Dalessandro House: Rosanna Gabaldon House: Daniel Hernandez Legislative District 3: Senate: Sally Ann Gonzales Senate: Betty Villegas House: Andres Cano House: Olivia Cajero-Bedford Legislative District 4: Senate: Lisa Otondo House: Charlene Fernandez House: Gerae Peten Legislative District … Read more

Alliance 4 Action’s endorsements for 2018 Arizona Primary

from their website, www.alliance4action.org: “Who We Are We are an alliance of progressive individuals in southern Arizona working to ensure a caring and inclusive country. We will act together to protect and strengthen our values, human and civil rights. The alliance4action (a4a) is a citizens activist group that has become a powerful agent for creating … Read more

This Can Be Done

Cross-posted from RestoreReason.com.

For those who may not have seen them, I had two letters to the editor (LOEs) published recently, one on Tucson.com and the other in the Arizona Republic. As you might have guessed, they were about education.

I don’t know that these LOEs moved the needle any, but if enough of us write them, they surely can begin to. Certainly, we are seeing much more in the news about education than ever before.

One such bit of “news” is the op-ed published by the AZ Republic’s Editorial Board this morning titled “The heavy lift is still ahead on education.” I applaud the headline for making it clear there is much more to be done, and for driving home “how far Arizona still has to go to restore our public-education system and make it secure and strong enough to face the challenges of a growing state.” I also appreciate their astute observation that “The recession taught Arizonans the hard lesson that their children and grandchildren will need solid skills to succeed in a fast-changing world. Our schools are trying to deliver on a starvation diet.”

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“It’s just a bunch of Mexican kids. Why should I pay for them?”

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

There’s something that feels very inevitable about the way this Arizona school funding “settlement” is playing out.

The plan ends a lawsuit filed by schools in 2010 after the Legislature stopped giving required yearly inflation increases to basic school funding. It would funnel $3.5 billion to K-12 schools over 10 years. About $2 billion comes from increasing land trust withdrawals, and the $1.4 billion from the state’s general fund. The deal also contained several triggers that would allow the Legislature to stop mandatory inflation boosts in tough economic times.

If passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, voters would have to approve the changes in a May special election.

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