by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 17, 2025 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
As another legislative session begins in Arizona, Republicans and Democrats are again bringing the all-important issue of school choice to the forefront of the public debate.
On Monday, Governor Katie Hobbs ushered in the start of the 57th Regular Session of the Arizona Legislature with her State of the State address, where she took time to criticize the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program. In her speech, Hobbs said, “The current program is unchecked, flawed, and rife with exploitation. Three years ago, it went far beyond its original purpose, which was to support kids with special needs and military families. Today, it has ballooned into a billion-dollar boondoggle increasingly scamming Arizonans. Other entitlements funded by taxpayers have strict oversight and income requirements. Yet the ESA program has the privilege of virtually no safeguards.”
Hobbs proposed changes to the ESA program for a “balanced solution that supports families and finally brings real and effective guardrails to ESAs.” Her solution was to “institute responsible income caps, ensure taxpayers know where their money is going, and create real accountability for taxpayer dollars.”
The governor’s remarks were met with immediate criticism from Republicans and others who support the expanded ESA program. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said, “Under my leadership, the department has done a full-court press against waste and fraud. I hired both a program auditor and an investigator, which had not been done before. I require that every expenditure be for a valid educational purpose and have been attacked for doing that. The Governor needs to pay more attention to what is going on. She gets an ‘F’.”
Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope added, “We will also protect parental choice, so that every child in the state has the ability to succeed in the classroom, no matter their zip code or financial status.”
Common Sense Institute Arizona wrote, “In her State of the State address, Governor Hobbs asked lawmakers to compare Arizona’s ESA program to other government entitlement programs with respect to accountability and transparency. Luckily, we already did! And it turns out that improper payment rates in the Arizona ESA program are a fraction of those in other government programs like Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, and SNAP.”
Jason Bedrick said, “The voters made their will clear by re-electing those who supported ESAs and expanding their legislative majority. The legislature should reject Gov. Hobbs’ attempts to undermine ESA families.”
On the flip side, Governor Hobbs’ comments received support from her allies, who have long attempted to shrink, regulate, or eliminate the historic ESA expansion program in Arizona. Save Our Schools Arizona Executive Director Beth Lewis responded, “It is time to end the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the universal ESA voucher program. We commend Governor Hobbs for championing public education and pushing for much-needed voucher reform. We sincerely hope legislators like Senate President Petersen who name ‘fiscal responsibility’ their top priority will bring long-overdue guardrails to this irresponsible program, which now costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion annually.”
Hobbs and legislative Republicans will continue to bicker about the future of school choice in Arizona, but not much – if anything – will be done this year (and likely the next) to regulate ESAs per the governor’s insatiable desire. Over the past two years, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen successfully fended off ferocious political attacks that targeted ESAs and other school choice opportunities for Arizonans. He will again be counted upon, along with his Republican colleagues in the Arizona House and Senate, to protect one of the top states in the country for school choice.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 12, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The newly elected Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) board president is a conservative mother, declining to re-elect the sitting president.
PUSD elected its new president, Heather Rooks, during Thursday’s regular board meeting following their 8-hour study session. Members Janelle Bowles, Jeff Tobey, and Becky Proudfit voted for Rooks, with only board member Melissa Ewing voting against. Ewing didn’t provide an explanation for her “no” vote.
Proudfit attempted to re-elect herself, but only Ewing voted for her.
Public comment on the board president election expressed hope in the prospect of new leadership.
One mother and community advocate, Nikki Eancheff, explained that Rooks helped her navigate school procedures after her daughter encountered a boy in a girls’ restroom at Liberty High School.
“What Mrs. Rooks said earlier today in the retreat, that she was elected by parents to be our voice and be our champion and advocate here in the board room and the district level is the truth,” said Eancheff.
Several other mothers also expressed their overt support for Rooks due to her prioritization of parents while backing public schools.
Kristen Balthis with the Peoria Principals’ Association said that while their organization didn’t endorse any one candidate, they supported the candidate that “can facilitate the education environment that allows our children to thrive.”
Teddy Todd, who has spoken out against PUSD board policies before, expressed her pleasure with the makeup of the governing board for this year, and said she hoped the president would foster “trust, hope, and collaboration” among all members.
However, those aligned with the teachers’ unions disagreed with some parents’ desire for change.
Trina Berg, president of the Peoria Education Association (PEA), asked for the reelection of Becky Proudfit for board president. PEA is part of the Arizona Education Association and the National Education Association. Berg questioned whether Rooks’ lawsuit against PUSD presented a conflict of interest.
In September 2023, Rooks sued PUSD for prohibiting her from quoting Bible verses during board meetings. The First Liberty Institute is representing Rooks in her case, which is ongoing. The Arizona District Court scheduled in-person oral argument for Friday in the case.
Berg also said that Rooks didn’t exhibit the qualities of a president, citing her past decisions to step out of executive meetings she felt should be public as well as Rooks’ decision to not silence certain speech from her supporters.
“Allowing misconceptions and sometimes downright misinformation to flourish and move through your group of supporters on social media without any correction is not leadership material,” said Berg.
Devon Moseler, vice president of PEA, also asked for the reelection of Proudfit for board president.
“We may not always agree with decisions that have been made, but we have appreciated the transparency and willingness to discuss challenging topics in an effort to understand the needs of our educators, administrators, and students,” said Moseler.
Proudfit’s husband, Taylor Proudfit, urged the board members to change their minds on Rooks and vote for his wife. Taylor claimed that board members supporting Rooks weren’t voting in accordance with their constituents.
Rooks’ rise to the leadership position came, in part, from the elections of new members Bowles and Tobey, ensuring the board’s flip to a majority of more conservative-minded members.
In recent years, the PUSD board came under community and even national scrutiny for adopting policies that favored progressive ideologies. This included the alignment with the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX which ordered schools to allow bathroom or locker room access based on gender identity. Ewing was one of the defendants of that policy, arguing that discrimination based on gender identity violates Title IX protections.
Rooks attended PUSD and graduated from Sunrise Mountain High School. Rooks first took office in January 2023.
Rooks’ campaign platform prioritized parental rights, academics, and organizational transparency. She ran in opposition to mandates for masks and COVID vaccines, Critical Race Theory ideology, and sexual content materials in classrooms.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 10, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
James Badger, 45, a Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) teacher was arrested for sexual exploitation of children.
Badger taught at Tucson High Magnet School (THMS). He was arrested on Tuesday by the Tucson Police Department and charged with ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The statement of probable cause for Badger’s arrest cited child sexual abuse material (CSAM) images downloaded to his computer.
“On a computer belonging to James the Sandra series from BitTorrent download was located on this computer, along with other CSAM material. A manual preview of the device showed there was a large amount of CSAM on the computer,” read the statement. “10 images were selected that met the criteria of sexual exploitation of a minor. These images included prepubescent females below the age of 15 that were nude in sexual poses where their genital area was the focus. They lacked breast development or pubic hair.”
Badger formerly taught at Parker High School, where he oversaw the drama club. Badger left after an undisclosed controversy, apparently concerning his inclusion of “anything gay” within the drama department’s productions.
In March 2023, Badger posted the following on his Instagram with a partial picture of an email depicting a threat to him:
“For the record: I didn’t get fired, but someone wants to fire a gun at me, and they’ve said so very explicitly. I didn’t resign, but I did tell admin[instration] that I will not be coming back after this year. I won’t be on campus for a while, but I will finish out the year,” wrote Badger. “To those who have been kind and welcoming to us over the years: thank you. To those who let bigotry and pointless political divisions cloud your judgement: grow up. To those who have mocked, gossiped, and threatened: go f**k yourselves.”
Badger then moved on to teaching at THMS.
In a February 2024 post depicting the “second annual drag show” at THMS, Badger shared his satisfaction with THMS tolerance to LGBTQ+ ideologies for minors. That drag show was sponsored by the school’s Q Space club. Q Space clubs encourage students to adopt LGBTQ+ identities and ideologies.
“Interesting to see such an event proceeding with full support of the school’s administration,” wrote Badger. “For years I wondered what that would be like, and now I know: it’s super normal.”
The THMS Q Space club advisor is a transgender man, Sunday (formerly April) Hamilton. It was Hamilton and another former THMS counselor, Zobella Brazil Vinik, who began organizing THMS drag shows featuring the high schoolers. Vinik was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl in 2022.
According to various posts on his Instagram page, Badger was a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, along with mainstream progressive ideologies: Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, LGBTQ+ ideologies, and abortion.
In another post in the weeks leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Badger expressed his fear of Donald Trump winning the presidency and his belief that the government would murder him and his family under a Trump administration.
“Trump will win this election, and fascism will take hold in America. Nothing matters, and nothing can be done,” wrote Badger. “When you come to kill me, please don’t let my wife and children see. When you come to kill my wife and children, please don’t let them see it coming. #notkidding #thesearethestakes.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 2, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
A review of Arizona State University (ASU) professors’ voter registration data found that there were 15 times more Democratic professors than Republican ones.
According to an analysis of voters by The College Fix, nearly 300 professors out of over 500 total were registered as Democrats — or, 52 percent of the professors.
Comparatively, just under 20 professors were registered as Republicans, just over a dozen were registered with a third party, about 140 were unaffiliated, and just under 100 were unidentified.
The outlet identified voter registrations using Maricopa County records. Their study excluded lecturers, adjunct, and emeriti faculty.
One significant finding noted by The College Fix: a vast majority of psychology professors were Democrats: 48 to one Republican.
The English department displayed a similar disparity: 64 Democrats to six Republicans. More professors were unaffiliated in that department (about 20) or unknown (just over 10).
Sociology also had a similar disparity: 38 professors registered as Democrats compared with just two Republicans. Nine were unaffiliated, 11 were unknown.
History professors were 22 in number registered as Democrats, with just two Republicans.
Politics and global studies professors were 25 in number unaffiliated, 21 registered as Democrats, and two registered as Republicans.
In a similar prior study by The College Fix, the University of Arizona was also found to have a predominance of Democratic professors.
The predominance of Democratic registrations among professors would explain last year’s faculty controversy over a watchlist of professors accused of discrimination against conservative students.
The university had shut down the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development within the Barrett Honors College after its principal funder withdrew funding due to the “left-wing hostility and activism” of Barrett Honors College faculty.
39 of the 47 faculty members in the college had launched a campaign for action to be taken following an event featuring three conservative speakers on campus: Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of Turning Point USA; Dennis Prager, a radio talk show host and founder of PragerU; and Robert Kiyosaki, an author and presenter with PragerU.
ASU removed on-campus marketing of the event following the Barrett Honors College faculty opposition campaign.
Those faculty members also recruited students to oppose the event beforehand.
Following the controversial event featuring the three conservative speakers, ASU let go of two faculty members: Ann Atkinson, who had been the executive of the Lewis Center, and Lin Blake, who had been the operator of the venue where the event was held, the Gammage Theater.
The predominance of Democrats within ASU faculty hasn’t deterred students from registering Republican and turning out for president-elect Donald Trump this year.
About a month before the election, thousands of students and young adults turned out for a voter registration event, “Greeks for Trump,” spearheaded by Turning Point USA. Spectators observed a sea of students donning “MAGA” hats.
The surge in youth support for Republican candidates translated to the state flipping back red this election from the last, and the state legislature expanding its Republican majority.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 26, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Earlier this month, Gov. Katie Hobbs sent a letter to Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, rebuking him for the implementation of a risk-based auditing approach to approving Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program reimbursements. A few days later, Horne responded by suggesting that Hobbs “should start reading what she signs.”
In a statement, Horne reminded the Democrat governor that the process the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is now employing is explicitly called for under a bill she signed into law herself. He notes further that Hobbs is also directly responsible for creating the situation that necessitated the change when she signed a bill permitting private school tuition to be paid under reimbursement rather than the previous third-party vendor.
The move has come as a backlog of reimbursement requests for the ESA program has exceeded 85,000. The Department of Education, unable to utilize third party provider Class Wallet, which was previously the procedure, will now automatically approve the requests up to $2,000 and then audit them after the fact.
In the initial letter to Horne, Hobbs pointed to recent indictments and allegations of fraud and abuse of the ESA program and claimed that the implementation of the risk-based auditing approach “is a complete dereliction of the ADE’s responsibility to ensure the appropriate use of public funds.”
Horne replied in a statement saying:
“The method we are instituting, known as risk-based auditing, is specifically provided for in the budget statute that the Governor signed last session. Maybe she should start reading what she signs.
Equally startling, is that she herself created the problem we are trying to solve by signing a bill to permit private school tuition to be paid under the reimbursement method, rather than going through our vendor, Class Wallet, which was previously required. This played a major role in increasing the delays and reimbursements from 30 days a year ago to over 100 days now.
The Governor played a major role in creating a problem that we now must solve by using a method provided for in a Bill that she signed.
Part of the problem appears to be that staff in the Governor’s office are slow learners.”
In a press release, Horne referred to Arizona Law under A.R.S. 15-2403 (B), which explicitly permits this method stating, “The department, in consultation with the office of the auditor general, shall develop risk-based auditing procedures for audits conducted pursuant to this subsection.”
The Superintendent also stressed the accountability of the program saying, “The ESA program is among the most accountable programs in the State. It’s responsible for demonstrating accountability through reporting that is required by statute, rules, and ad hoc requests from seven government agencies and bodies, including: Governor’s Office; Legislative Leadership; Joint Legislative Budget Committee; Attorney General’s Office (multiple units); Auditor General’s Office (multiple divisions); State Board of Education and the State Ombudsman.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Hobbs was recently fact-checked by Citizens For Free Enterprise, who publicly criticized her for attacking the ESA program. The group stated, “FACT CHECK: Arizona’s universal school choice program is a model of accountability, transparency, and security, according to CSI Institute Arizona. The over 83,000 Arizona families using ESAs just want the best for their children – and Katie Hobbs should stop attacking them.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Dec 17, 2024 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Amid an increased flurry of attacks on Arizona’s school choice opportunities, a prominent organization is countering with the facts.
Citizens For Free Enterprise responded to another derogatory statement about Arizona’s historic Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) azprogram from the state’s Democrat Governor, Katie Hobbs. Earlier this week, Hobbs posted, “ESAs are rife with waste, fraud and abuse, and this will only make it worse. This empowers bad actors who are spending taxpayer dollars on ski passes, luxury car driving lessons, and grand pianos. We need accountability and transparency for this almost billion dollar program.”
Hobbs was reacting to a recent news story about the Arizona Department of Education’s new policy to automatically approve a vast majority of outstanding reimbursement requests from parents in the program, which was announced by Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, at a Board of Education meeting.
The response from Citizens For Free Enterprise stated, “FACT CHECK: Arizona’s universal school choice program is a model of accountability, transparency, and security, according to CSI Institute Arizona. The over 83,000 Arizona families using ESAs just want the best for their children – and Katie Hobbs should stop attacking them.”
Others weighed in on the governor’s attack ahead of the 57th State Legislature, starting in January. State Representative Travis Grantham said, “I wish Democrats cared this much about government waste across the board. Why do they only care about it when it’s privatized and / or it gives the citizenry more choices?”
Fellow legislator Austin Smith added, “Not only was Katie Hobbs education agenda rejected; she lost seats in the house and senate. Bold move Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.”
Not everyone was opposed to Hobbs’ statement. Democrat State Representative Oscar De Los Santos replied, “From forging documents to scam taxpayers to abusing funds for luxury items, the private school voucher program is filled with waste, fraud, and abuse. Every Arizonan should be outraged. The DOGE committees should take a look at this disaster.”
Matthew Ladner, a school choice advocate, weighed in on De Los Santos’ statements, saying, “The waste, fraud and abuse in the ESA program is a small fraction of programs you support. If you’d like to eliminate all the programs with ESA level or higher abuse you will make Ron Paul a very happy man!”
In addition to its statement, Citizens For Free Enterprise shared a document of facts from the Common Sense Institute Arizona (CSI) to counter the myth that “ESA’s are subject to rampant fraud and abuse.” On that document, CSI highlighted that there was more than $2 billion of “Medicaid billing fraud in Arizona revealed by a single investigation into pandemic-era relaxed program standards,” and that “Arizona’s share of estimated pandemic-era fraudulent U.S. Unemployment Insurance payments” was $2.3 billion. On the flip side, according to CSI, “the sum-total of all specific, public allegations of ESA fraud …identified to-date, since universal eligibility expansion” was just around $650,000 – a far cry from the fraud in other state programs and handouts.
CSI concluded that “there are specific statutory requirements governing the use of ESA monies – including guidelines on permissible expenditures and a requirement that ADE conduct random and regular audits to ensure compliance. Within that framework, the program has been able to run well, especially compared to similar programs.”
While officials and organizations may have again successfully pushed back on Demcorats’ renewed, false detractions of the ESA program, Horne’s handling of this significant portion of the department he was entrusted to oversee continues to present major headaches for Republicans and school choice proponents. Since Horne’s first ESA Director, Christine Accurso, left the office last summer, he has been faced with a rising number of reimbursement requests and other issues that he has struggled to address with his team. Horne also capitulated to Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes earlier this year, when she challenged him about the lack of “curriculum” attached to certain requests, adding additional regulations for parents to comply with the attorney general’s threats. Horne’s backsliding here came after he had repeatedly stood up to Mayes and Hobbs’ saber-rattling against the school choice program.
Additionally, Horne recently blamed a number of external factors, including Arizona state legislators, for the skyrocketing number of unfulfilled reimbursement requests. In a November press conference, Horne noted a fix to the ESA program that allowed parents to bypass ClassWallet to obtain reimbursements, stating, “Somebody went to the Legislature last year and got them to pass a bill saying they could do it by reimbursement… We’ve asked the Legislature, in the future, ‘Please ask us before you pass something so we can tell you what the consequences will be.’”
While the program has continued to grow over the past two years, Arizona Education Department officials have failed to satisfactorily explain why the processes put in place by Accurso before her departure were unable to suffice for smooth management and processing of reimbursements and other factors of ESA program oversight and delivery going forward. Accurso was able to save the program from massive and glaring issues created by Horne’s Democrat predecessor, adding staff to her team and reducing the backlogs to almost nothing, while accounting for an exponential increase in students and families realizing the benefits of ESAs.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
