Arizona State University (ASU) issued a feature story this week praising the accomplishments of a student operative from a Democratic dark money organization.
The ASU feature highlighted Anusha Natarajan, a Barrett Honors College student and council member, as one of their notable 2023 spring graduates. The university mainly focused on Natarajan’s ability to balance four majors, two minors, three certificates, and at least nine extracurriculars.
Those extracurriculars included her board membership with Campus Vote Project (CVP); volunteering for Girl Up, an equity initiative for women; reporting for ASU’s student newspaper, State Press; researching as a fellow for the Center on the Future of War; representing students on the Civic Engagement Coalition; working with Changemaker Central; serving as editor-in-chief and co-founder of the Digital Humanities Journal, where students publish their research.
Natarajan said she plans to become involved in combating “election misinformation” after graduation by enrolling in a data science program at Columbia University or Vanderbilt University.
The ASU feature didn’t delve into Natarajan’s role as a student operative with CVP, a progressive elections reform activist project. CVP traces back to the Arabella Advisors’ New Venture Fund (NVF), which launched the Fair Elections Center (formerly the Fair Elections Legal Network), which then launched Campus Vote Project (CVP).
NVF has also launched a scholarship fund for illegal immigrants. Arabella Advisors is one of the most powerful and well-organized leftist dark money organizations in the country.
Last year, Gov. Katie Hobbs (while secretary of state) named Natarajan as her pick for the John Lewis Youth Leadership Award.
CVP advocates for election reforms such as accepting student IDs as a valid form of voter ID, abolishing voter ID for online registration, allowing same-day voter registration, removing proof of campus residency, granting voting rights to all individuals regardless of past convictions or incarceration status, establishing universal mail-in voting, expanding early voting, and increasing drop box locations. Arizona doesn’t accept student ID as a valid form of voter ID.
According to an archived version of their website from 2019, CVP partnered with American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) American Democracy Project, American Association of University Women (AAUW), Andrew Goodman Foundation, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) Black Youth Vote, Campus Compact, Campus Elections Engagement Project, Circle, Democracy Works, Education Votes, Election Protection, Feminist Majority Foundation, NASPA, Generation Progress, HACU, iCitizen, Inspire US, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), National Campus Leadership Council (NCLC), Young Invincibles, United States Student Association, Rock the Vote, Roosevelt Institute, The Democracy Commitment, and Bridge Alliance.
CVP no longer lists its partner organizations on its website. Most recently, they announced MTV as a partner.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The state budget sits at $2.5 billion, an unanticipated increase, despite a leap in school choice enrollments.
Nearly 40,000 students have joined Arizona’s universal school choice program; 7,000 have joined this year alone. Prior to the Education Savings Account (ESA) Program extension to all students, there were just over 12,100 students enrolled. At present, there are over 51,800.
Yet, this addition of tens of thousands of students didn’t hurt the state budget; the surplus has only increased as ESA Program enrollment increased. The surplus hit $2.5 billion this month, where last June it was $1.1 billion.
The ESA Program has also reflected a cost-saving measure for the state. Each student in the ESA Program receives scholarship funds of about $7,000 — about half of what the average public school spends on each student. Based on current program participants, that means that these students originally cost the state $725 million on average while in public schools, whereas they cost just over $362 million within the ESA Program.
Following these latest figures, ADE opened up enrollment for the ESA Program for the 2023-24 school year.
Arizona’s first in the nation ESA program is officially open for the 2023-2024 school year! Every child deserves a quality education no matter their zip code, and ESAs allow parents from any income level to choose what is best for them! #InParentsWeTrusthttps://t.co/mEm56eKYd7
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) April 17, 2023
Gov. Katie Hobbs has rejected the cost-saving argument of the ESA Program. Shortly after taking office, Hobbs proposed rolling back the ESA Program, making the argument that universal school choice would bleed the state of $1.5 billion over the next decade. Yet, the Arizona public school system takes about $15 billion annually, or $150 billion over the next decade.
The Goldwater Institute, a public policy think tank who pointed out this disparity in an analysis defending universal school choice, argued that Hobbs’ arguments of frugality weren’t intellectually honest.
“To argue that taxpayers can afford the latter, but somehow not the former, defies basic common sense,” stated the organization.
We have a constitutional responsibility to fund our public schools. If we continue down the current path, we will not be able to fulfill that responsibility. That's why my budget called for a rollback of the ESA program to ensure Arizona has a sustainable https://t.co/JnVBGtxuvl…
The state legislature also increased public school funding by $600 million for this year. Anti-school choice activists continue to claim that the schools don’t receive adequate funding.
🔥 States across the nation are rejecting ESA voucher scams 👏 AZ's catastrophic rollout of universal ESA vouchers has become a cautionary tale — and in many states, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are waking up ⏰ #AZVouchersHurt#AZVoucherWatchpic.twitter.com/awhwjIdC21
The Common Sense Institute found that the state saved $500 million annually after about 31,000 students exited the public school system from 2019 and following the COVID-19 pandemic. They also projected an $8 million end-of-year surplus based on enrollment trends.
According to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) report issued last week, base revenue growth is projected at nearly nine percent – a nearly two percent increase from January’s forecast, or $750 million.
JLBC noted that this year’s fiscal growth rate reflected a 64 percent increase in corporate income tax collections, much higher than the 10 percent increase in the federal collections. Additionally, individual income tax refunds increased by 54 percent.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Maricopa County Public Library is stocking up on controversial LGBTQ+ and anti-racist children’s books.
Children’s books put on display at the libraries included those that teach that systemic racism is real, and that LGBTQ+ lifestyles and ideologies are healthy and cause for celebration.
Several of the LGBTQ+ and anti-racist books offered were board books: thick, durable picture books intended for infants through children up to four years old.
The controversial children’s books included the “Pronoun Book,” “My Two Dads,” “I’m Not a Girl,” “Antiracist Baby,” “Me & My Dysphoria Monster,” “My Maddy, “Call Me Max,” “Sparkle Boy,” “Jacob’s School Play: Starring He, She, and They” “10,000 Dresses,” “Jacob’s Room to Choose,” “Stella Brings the Family,” “Love Makes a Family,” “Lovely,” “Grandad’s Camper,” “What Riley Wore,” “My Rainbow,” “Prince & Knight,” “And Tango Makes Three,” “Mommy, Mama, and Me,” “Julian is a Mermaid,” “King & King,” “One Family,” “In Our Mothers’ House,” “Happy in Our Skin,” “Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress,” “Jacob’s New Dress,” “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” “Home at Last,” “This Day in June,” “Fred Gets Dressed,” “When Aidan Became a Brother,” “My Shape is Sam,” “Adventures With My Daddies,” “Papa, Daddy, 7 Riley,” “Except When They Don’t,” “Jack (Not Jackie),” “Mr. Watson’s Chickens,” “Old MacDonald Had a Baby,” “Rainbow: a First Book of Pride,” “One of a Kind, Like Me,” “Sam is My Sister,” “A Plan For Pops,” “From Archie to Zack,” “Bye Bye, Binary,” “My Shadow is Pink,” “It Feels Good to Be Yourself,” “The Truly Brave Princesses,” “The Bread Pet,” “Peanut Goes For the Gold,” and “Patrick’s Polka Dot Tights.”
LGBTQ and anti-racist children’s board books featured in a Maricopa County Public Library.
In “Call Me Max,” a little girl dressed like a boy scares another little girl as she enters the bathroom; her peer believes the little girl is actually a boy.
“When I went to the girls’ bathroom, a girl ran out,” read the book. “She thought I was a boy. I didn’t mean to scare her. But I liked that she thought I was a boy.”
In “Me & My Dysphoria Monster,” the protagonist grapples with his gender identity.
“Sometimes people are told they are a boy when actually that person knows they are a girl,” stated the book. “Or sometimes people are told they are a girl when they know they are a boy.”
The book then advises the reader that a “gender dysphoria monster” may visit, and warns that it “doesn’t like to be ignored.” The book teaches the reader that children who ignore this gender dysphoria monster will only result in it growing bigger, and that the only remedy for it is to identify as the opposite gender. The moment of triumph between the little boy and the “gender dysphoria monster” was when he was allowed to join the girls’ soccer team.
In “Antiracist Baby,” children are taught that they must see other people’s races rather than be “color-blind,” that not every race is treated equally in society, and that they should always be watching out for instances of racism. It also included depictions of same-sex couples, teaching that no lifestyles are better or worse.
Some of these controversial books were declared “award-winning” works at one point by the American Library Association’s (ALA) Stonewall Book Awards. The award-granting organization has issued awards for LGBTQ+ works since 1971, but only began issuing awards to children’s and young adult books since 2010.
Awards were granted to: “10,000 Dresses” (2010), “Mommy, Mama, and Me” (2010), “Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress” (2014), “This Day in June” (2014), “Julian Is a Mermaid” (2019), “When Aidan Became a Brother” (2020), and “Grandad’s Camper” (2022).
Some of the younger children’s books were given special recognition with their inclusion on the 2023 Rainbow Book List, organized by the ALA’s Rainbow Round Table. The list includes nearly 200 books discussing LGBTQ+ ideology published between 2021 to present.
“The importance of this list (and others like it) cannot be understated, especially in a time when we are seeing a record number of efforts to ban both materials and support for LGBTQIA+ young people and their families,” stated the ALA. “The suppression of these books is a detriment to all youth, and we cannot ignore the damage these challenges are having on the young people in our society.”
In addition to the ALA’s Stonewall Book Awards and Rainbow Book List, there’s the Walter Dean Myers Award and the Lambda Literary Award.
Click an image in the gallery below for more images:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) released polling results last week reflecting around 80 percent support for police presence on K-12 campuses.
ADE contracted OH Predictive Insights to conduct the poll on public support for school resource officers. In a press release, ADE Superintendent Tom Horne stated that officers serve as an integral part of a healthy K-12 environment, providing safety while teaching classes and bonding with the students.
“They not only provide safety, but teach classes, and become friendly with students, so that students learn to trust them, rather than viewing police as enemies,” said Horne. “The worst tragedy one can imagine would be if a maniac invaded a school and killed 20 children, as has happened in other states, and that school passed up the opportunity to have a resource officer present to protect the students and staff.”
According to the poll results, 78 percent of respondents considered school safety very important and 81 percent supported police presence on campus.
The poll data came out just before the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) voted to delay bringing back campus police. The vote came days after a high schooler at Betty Fairfax High School was arrested for carrying a gun onto campus.
Also in the press release, Horne urged PXU to hire school resource officers. It doesn’t appear that PXU plans to heed his call.
A poll completed last year with the PXU community reflected majority support for police presence on campuses. According to that poll, 80 percent supported officers on campus, and 82 percent testified to witnessing positive interactions between school resource officers and students.
PXU removed officers in 2021, following activist efforts associated with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and riots prompted by the death of George Floyd.
Last Saturday was the deadline for ADE’s school safety grant applications. However, ADE noted in its press release that it would grant exceptions for late applications through this Saturday, April 22.
Horne warned back in February that schools without law enforcement presence wouldn’t be recommended to the State Board of Education for school safety funding.
“Every school should have a law enforcement officer to protect students and staff, and this should be accomplished on an urgent basis,” said Horne. “Delay in implementing this goal could leave schools more vulnerable to a tragic catastrophe. Schools that currently have no armed presence yet submit grants applications that do not request an officer will not receive a recommendation from this Department to the State Board of Education.”
Superintendent Horne is urging schools to prioritize having armed officers from law enforcement or highly trained security on campus. Our office is accepting school safety grant program applications here >>> https://t.co/6bTNomHqvqpic.twitter.com/W4h4HVGStO
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) February 8, 2023
Along with the poll, ADE issued a letter to every mayor throughout the state asking for support in establishing law enforcement presence on every campus. ADE is also awaiting data from local police departments on the impact of school resource officers.
In order to handle this initiative, ADE appointed a director of school safety: Michael Kurtenbach.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona State University (ASU) featured prominent anti-racist proponent Ibram Kendi last Thursday, who proposed an authoritarian rule by anti-racist elite. Kendi said it wouldn’t be necessary for most of the country to support anti-racism — just those with power to mandate it. ASU characterized this solution and others presented by Kendi last week as the necessary steps for “meaningful change.”
“In order to create a society whereby we have policies and practices that are equitable and just and fair — and provide equal opportunity for all, and institutions that are built on those policies — we don’t necessarily need to create a critical mass of Americans who are anti-racist,” said Kendi. “We just need enough people who can get into positions of power, who will then institute [anti-racist] policies and practices.”
The campus venue for Kendi’s speech had to be relocated, reportedly due to outsized interest in the event. ASU estimated that about 1,200 individuals registered for the event. Kendi was the keynote speaker for the event: ASU’s annual A. Wade Smith and Elsie Moore Memorial Lecture on Race Relations. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as the School of Social Transformation organized the event.
During his speech, Kendi advocated for reparations for descendants of slaves. He also claimed that Arizona law impedes voting rights for “black, brown, and indigenous people.”
Kendi, a humanities professor and founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, has written several books promoting Critical Race Theory (CRT) concepts such as institutional racism and anti-racism. In his 2019 book “How To Be An Antiracist,” Kendi claimed that everything has to do with race.
“There’s no such thing as a non-racist or race-neutral policy,” wrote Kendi.
— Swapna Reddy, DrPh, JD, MPH (@SwapnaReddy01) April 14, 2023
Moderating Kendi’s speech were School of Social Transformation associate professors David Hinds and Lisa Anderson, also an associate dean in the Graduate College.
Anti-racism has support across the state’s university system. Last summer, a Northern Arizona University (NAU) teacher development affiliate made anti-racism the focus of its annual summer conference. NAU also trained faculty in anti-racism as part of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Support for anti-racism policies and practices has also dictated Arizona’s K-12 schools in the past — though the current Arizona Department of Education administration opposes it. Arizona’s first inductee into the National Teachers Hall of Fame declared that even “nice, white folks” could be racist if they didn’t subscribe to anti-racism, and that teachers opposed to anti-racism shouldn’t be allowed to teach black children.
School districts in recent years have established or supported policies and groups that subscribe to anti-racism, such as Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) and Litchfield Elementary School District (LESD).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
An education-related bill is receiving rare bipartisan support, though Republicans and Democrats still have major differences on a key part of the proposal as it moves through the legislative process.
HB 2456, sponsored by Representative Beverly Pingerelli, “continues the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) for four years.”
According to background provided by the State Senate, “the Arizona Constitution requires the Legislature to provide by law for the education and care of pupils with visual or hearing impairment. Originally established in 1912 within the University of Arizona, the Legislature established ASDB as its own agency in 1929 to provide schools and programs for the education of persons with visual or hearing impairment and serve as an optional resource to school districts, state institutions and approved educational programs.”
Over the past year, the Senate and House Education Committees of Reference held public meetings and “recommended that the Legislature continue ASDB for eight years.”
Pingerelli’s bill, which was originally introduced to continue ASDB for eight years, first sailed through the House Education Committee in January with a unanimous vote of 10-0. In February, it passed the full House chamber with a 60-0 result. It was then transmitted to the Arizona Senate and the Government Committee, where an amendment was adopted to reduce the number of years ASDB was continued from eight to two. The bill passed unanimously out of that committee, 8-0.
The full Senate chamber then amended the bill, led by Senator Ken Bennett, to continue the ASDB for four years. The body then officially considered the legislation and passed it 27-1, with two Democrat members not voting. Democrat Senator Juan Mendez was the only member to vote against the measure.
After the vote, the Arizona Senate Republican Conference tweeted out a statement, writing: “Senate Republicans are fighting to ensure students and families of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind receive the best education possible. On the other hand, Senate Democrats are pushing for inequities within this community by refusing to support the oversight needed to guarantee these students are being properly served. Absolutely disgusting!”
Senate Republicans are fighting to ensure students and families of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind receive the best education possible.⁰ On the other hand, Senate Democrats are pushing for inequities within this community by refusing to support the oversight… pic.twitter.com/lnKjX3Pp7N
The Senate Republicans shared a clip of Senator Jake Hoffman on the floor during the Committee of the Whole consideration of the legislation, explaining “why an 8-10 year continuation of these schools without proper oversight would be a big mistake.” In his remarks, Hoffman stated that “the Constitution gives us the authority and responsibility to provide educational services for deaf and blind children. Yet for some reason, we’ve been treating this incredibly important community within our state like we do the paper pushers at ADOA (Arizona Department of Administration)…. Our job, that the Constitution tasks us with, is to provide the best possible education to deaf and blind children in our state.” He championed the Legislature ensuring that oversight was happening more often at ASDB.
Count Arizona Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne in support of the continuation of the ASDB. Superintendent Horne told AZ Free News: “This school provides a unique curriculum that would be difficult to replicate in a traditional school setting. Braille instruction, direct communication in American Sign Language (ASL), and training in Orientation and Mobility are skills that are critical to the growth of sensory-impaired students.”
Although most of their members voted to clear the bill from the chamber, the Arizona Senate Democrats Conference was furious after the vote, tweeting the following response to the Senate Republicans’ statement: “Try talking to the community before you speak on their behalf. You know that the Conference Committee recommended 8yrs., the House passed 8yrs., the community asked for 8yrs. Senator Hoffman is dragging his caucus down with him.”
Try talking to the community before you speak on their behalf.
You know that the Conference Committee recommend 8yrs., the House passed 8yrs., the community asked for 8yrs.
— Arizona Senate Democrats (@AZSenateDems) April 13, 2023
Following the Senate’s amendments and action, the bill was sent back to the House to be reconciled before its final trip to Democrat Katie Hobbs’ office for her signature or veto.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
