Well, the proof is out. The financial disaster that the ill-advised and unaccountable Empowerment Scholarship Account (E.S.A.) expansion that public school educator advocates, sane policy experts, and informed media outlets predicted would drain state coffers and benefit (by a great margin) rich families has become a reality. In reporting from Mary Jo Pitzel at AZ Central, … Read more
Out with the new and in with the new new. That is the scoop at the Senate Democratic Caucus this week with the twin announcements that Leader (and former Party Chairperson) Raquel Teran and Whip Rosanna Gabaldon were stepping down and Mitzi Epstein, Juan Mendez, Eva Burch, and Lea Alston assuming the top leadership positions. … Read more
A day after the Arizona House of Representatives passed HCR2001, a measure to suspend the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL,) the State Senate followed their example in a 23 to 7 vote today (February 8, 2023.) All 14 Democrats and Nine Republicans voted to give educators, children, and family peace of mind about schooling for the … Read more
Republicans in both Arizona and Washington D.C. really have no stomach for governing with the other leading party. That would require a good faith effort and a recognition that your side is not going to get everything it wants. The evidence for that. Both groups do not want to produce serious budgets and negotiate with … Read more
Remember when Republicans in Doug Ducey’s office and the Arizona Legislature wanted to take away control and oversight of the Empowerment Scholarship Program (E.S.A,) from Superintendent Kathy Hoffman because she actually believed in reporting who was applying and where the monies were being spent? Well, those fears among the pro-plutocratic and Christian-Nationalist wing of the … Read more