by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 16, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Over the past three years, many parents in a number of school districts across the nation have demanded more transparency and involvement with their children’s education. The Republican-led Arizona Legislature has been working on solutions, and Members have introduced new bills this session to give parents the access and information that they have been requesting.
Representative Justin Heap has introduced one of those bills, HB 2786, which deals with requirements for parental notification for teacher training. The bill “mandates a school district governing board develop parental notification and access procedures if the school district is involved with a training for teachers or administrators,” according to the bill overview provided by the Arizona House of Representatives. If passed by the Legislature and signed into law, the bill would “require a school governing board to notify parents of these trainings and give parents access to any printed or digital materials used for the training.” It also stipulates that the governing boards adopt “a policy to provide parents the information contained in its parental involvement policy in an electronic format.”
In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News on why he introduced this legislation, Representative Heap stated, “Transparency will have the added benefit of bringing school district and school boards back into alignment with the values of the parents of the students they serve. The knowledge that their training materials must be made public will discourage school districts from implementing policies that are hateful to the parents of students in their districts. If any school district official, any school board member, principal, or teacher believes that what is going on in their schools should be hidden from the parents in their district, then they have no business being involved in education.”
The legislation currently has ten co-sponsors: Representatives Neal Carter, Lupe Diaz, Liz Harris, Rachel Jones, Teresa Martinez, Cory McGarr, Barbara Parker, Jacqueline Parker, Michele Peña, and Beverly Pingerelli.
On Tuesday, February 14, HB 2786 cleared the House Education Committee with a 6-4 party-line vote. Republican Representatives David Cook, Liz Harris, Lupe Diaz, Michele Peña, David Marshall, Sr (Vice Chairman), and Beverly Pingerelli (Chairman) voted in favor; while Democrat Representatives Jennifer Pawlik, Laura Terech, Judy Schwiebert, and Nancy Gutierrez voted against passage.
Representative Pingerelli gave the following statement to AZ Free News on why she decided to hold a hearing on this bill in her committee: “Parents should have information readily available about what teachers are learning as part of their professional development programs. Are they receiving instruction about better ways to teach reading, math, or science? Or, as was pointed out during the February 14 hearing and testimony, are the topics covered controversial, ideological or morally objectionable to parents? As I’ve always stated, the focus in K-12 education should be academics. Since it is a reasonable assumption that the training teachers receive is translated into classroom instruction, parents should have the right to be informed. That’s why I decided to hear House Bill 2786 in my committee.”
HB 2786 generated much opposition leading up to and during the hearing in the Education Committee, starting with the Arizona House Democrats. They posted that Representative Heap’s bill demands that “parents get to review every type of training teacher gets (including copyrighted materials),” adding that “he was upset when he learned teachers can get training about equity, inclusion and cultural sensitivity. The Arizona Education Association tweeted that “teachers need to focus on students’ learning – not spend all their time trying to satisfy the demands of people who see our classrooms as a way to score political points.”
Representative Heap disagrees with these analyses of the bill, saying, “I believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant. My bill does not ban this teacher training, or any training, which a school district wishes to implement. It simply requires that if a school district requires, endorses, recommends, funds, or facilitates teacher training programs then they must make all those materials used (Digital or Physical) in that training available for parents to review.”
Due to the partisan breakdown of HB 2786s support and opposition in the early stages at the Arizona Legislature, it is highly likely that Democrat Katie Hobbs would veto this bill should it pass through both chambers and reach the Ninth Floor later this session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 15, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Public schools who refuse to have armed officers on campus won’t receive grant money for school safety.
In a press release last Wednesday announcing the latest round of $80 million in funding from the School Safety Grant Program, Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne told schools to prioritize having armed law enforcement. Otherwise, the superintendent said that ADE wouldn’t recommend the school for funding to the State Board of Education.
“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.”
Under former Superintendent Kathy Hoffman, funding from the grant program could be applied to school resource officers or counselors. One of Hoffman’s main priorities during her first term and re-election campaign was to shrink the disparity between the number of students and counselors.
Hoffman stated that her administration slashed the student-to-counselor ratio by 20 percent. However, Horne’s administration noted that school violence has increased in recent years.
The ADE cited an increase in reported incidents of school threats, real and fake weapons found on campus, and “disturbing” social media posts inferring school violence. ADE also reported numerous receiving phone calls from Phoenix-area high school teachers about fights that, in at least one instance, risked a female teacher’s safety.
Horne noted in the ADE press release that this push for schools to have armed officers wasn’t in order to exclude other school safety measures that the program funds, such as counselors. He recalled his support for counselors as far back as 1978 during his services as a school board member, when he voted against eliminating counselors from their district.
“Schools still ought to have counselors but providing a safe school atmosphere that requires an armed presence is the first priority,” said Horne.
Horne later told ABC 15 that there wasn’t any reason why schools should refuse police protection on campuses.
“I can’t understand how anybody doesn’t understand how important it is that we be sure we don’t have any massacres in Arizona,” said Horne. “The first priority has to be the safety of the students and we don’t want a situation where 20 or 30 students are killed because no one was there to defend them.”
In a tweet, ADE posed a hypothetical, asking what a school would do if an armed “maniac” invaded a school that only had counselors and no armed officers.
Several days after ADE announced its decision on school safety grants, a 13-year-old Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District student making a “kill list” was arrested; school officials determined that the student posed a credible threat.
State Rep. Jennifer Pawlik (D-LD13) called Horne’s decision “disappointing.” Pawlik also criticized the decision to make the announcement during National School Counselors Week.
The ACLU of Arizona asserted that school safety couldn’t be achieved with police presence on campus.
In addition to this funding, ADE is working with former Phoenix Police Department leaders to provide additional safety resources and procedures to schools.
Opposition to armed officers on campus often comes from concerns over a racial divide. Tensions heightened in one school district last year over discussions of funding school resource officers (SROs), about one month after the Uvalde school shooting. Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) Board Member Lindsay Love said that she and too many others, including children and parents, felt uncomfortable with having more police officers on campus.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 14, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
It’s been just over a month since new Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, was sworn into office, and his hire to run the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program has been delivering significant results for Arizona families.
Christine Accurso, the new ESA Executive Director, has been a longtime pro-life and school choice advocate in the East Valley. Her family has benefited from the ESA program for years – well before the Arizona Legislature expanded its scope in 2022. After the bill was signed into law by former-Governor Doug Ducey, Accurso singlehandedly led a grassroots army of moms and dads from around Arizona to defeat a campaign meant to refer ESA expansion to the ballot and delay the implementation of school choice and freedom for tens of thousands of children in our state.
Since coming on with the Arizona Department of Education, Accurso has been hard at work to save the expanded ESA program a second time, bringing staffing up to the levels intended by the legislature, handling the huge backlog of funding and reimbursement requests, vetting and approving new applications for the program, and ensuring that parents are receiving timely and relevant information from her office.
To that end, Accurso has been extremely diligent in sending out weekly emails to account holders, explaining what her program is working on, clarifying any previous misconceptions about ESAs, and giving updates on the number of students benefiting from school choice in Arizona. Her first email, sent January 3 (which was her inaugural day leading the program), alerted parents and guardians that there were 45,170 students receiving an ESA. In her email this week, that number was up to 46,971 – and Accurso briefed readers that the program is “receiving a minimum of 150 new applications a day.”
Accurso’s latest email also gave an update on her processing que, which is very helpful for account holders to realize the reasons behind some delays in payment processing or approval of desired resources for students. The Marketplace has a backlog of 4,578; Direct Pay of 4,032; Reimbursements of 24,409; and pre-paid debit cards of 63,125 – and there are 4,000 orders coming in each day to be processed. These numbers are significantly down from the original backlog Accurso inherited from the previous administration (and shared in her January 13 email), which was 171,575 orders.
The ESA Executive Director has also been planning and executing the formation of a parent advisory committee – an action she forecasted in her January 13 email to account holders. Accurso announced in her January 25 email that the application process for this committee was open – with 15 to 30 members selected to serve in a volunteer capacity. There were 140 applications received by the ESA Program for this committee, per Accurso’s February 8 email, and she informed interested readers that “we will be finalizing the candidates and communicating with them soon.”
The February 8 email to account holders was lengthy, which Accurso apologized for, but it was filled with necessary information. Accurso explained that she had “spent her first month as the executive director adjusting our office’s approach to everything in the ESA program to align with the state law.” She clarified the law and requirements for an “individual vs facility/business offering tutoring or teaching services,” and she gave an update on “accessing your ESA funds.” She gave a lot of information on the four ways account holders could access their ESA funds, including some new directives on using the pre-paid debit card. Accurso warned that her office “does plan to cancel the use of debit cards for all accounts that have not submitted the appropriate receipts by the (required) deadline or have purchased unallowable items with the card (For example: Chevron, Chick-Fil-A, Taco Bell and Dillard’s).”
Accurso realizes that one of the deadliest attacks toward ESA programs is the lack of oversight by those entrusted to distribute and steward the funds, and the propensity of some account holders to misuse funds that have been earmarked for specific educational purposes – whether intentionally or unintentionally. This is why she appears to be laser focused on bringing the Arizona ESA program into conformity with the law and the original intent of the legislature. Her weekly updates will continue to provide much-needed guiderails for parents and guardians as the program moves forward under the watchful eyes of Superintendent Horne.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 14, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has made no secret of her desire to dismantle the state’s school choice benefits for tens of thousands of children and their families, and this weekend, she was challenged on her desires by Fox News Sunday host, Shannon Bream, during an exclusive interview leading up to the Super Bowl in Glendale.
During the interview, Bream asked the governor why all students shouldn’t have a chance to have the educational opportunities that she had growing up – a reference to Hobbs’ high school graduation from Seton Catholic Preparatory. Governor Hobbs appeared to embrace the rhetoric of school choice proponents as she searched for justification for her positions, responding that her parents “made that choice” and that they “sacrificed a lot” to give her the chance at a private education.
Hobbs went on to say that she wants every student in Arizona to have access to high-quality public education – access that she claimed would not happen under Arizona’s historic Educational Scholarship Account (ESA) program, which was passed last year by the Arizona Legislature. Bream followed up by asking the governor if students should not have a chance to go elsewhere if their school system was failing. Hobbs’ reply was that “the schools are failing because we are failing to invest in them.”
But Governor Hobbs’ rampant claims of the ESA program bankrupting and failing Arizona schools were met with facts from several individuals. Corey DeAngelis, one of the nation’s premier “evangelists” of school choice, tweeted thanks to Shannon Bream for citing his January Wall Street Journal article, showing that Arizona’s ESA program could actually save the state more than $100 million.
And Andrew Clark, Executive Director of Yes. Every Kid. Foundation, tweeted, “The average cost for a family to homeschool is year is about: $2k per kid. Micro-schools and pods are about $5k. Private schools average $10k, charters around $12k. Public schools clock in around $15k. But sure it’s a spending problem for public schools…let’s ignore the facts…”
Governor Hobbs’ answers on school choice quickly went viral after the recorded interview went live Sunday morning, and Arizona Republicans, who are at the front lines of protecting the landmark ESA program, wasted no time in making their thoughts known.
The Arizona Senate Republicans Twitter account posted: “.@GovernorHobbs response makes absolutely zero sense, other than reinforcing why expansion of ESA school choice is so desperately needed.”
Senator Justine Wadsack tweeted, “So #HypocriteHobbs attended PRIVATE school, and her parents made “sacrifices” to put her there. Even found themselves on food stamps! Had #ESA/#SchoolChoice existed back then, her parents would have been given $7,000 to help with the cost of Katie’s education.”
Representative Quang Nguyen stated, “So if your parents afforded you this great opportunity, shouldn’t you make it possible for other parents to give their children the same opportunity you received as a child? Asking for Arizonans.”
Representative Cory McGarr disagreed with Governor Hobbs’ characterizations of district school funding, saying: “Our government schools are failing because we are supposedly starving them of resources?? 73% increase in funding since 2016… Perhaps they are failing because they focus on woke sexualization, feelings and racism and have no accountability because of politicians like this.”
Representative Matt Gress underlined the foundation of the school choice argument, writing: “.@GovernorHobbs’ parents struggled to provide her with an education THEY thought best. It’s unfortunate she wants AZ families to choose between being on food stamps or sending their kids to the school they choose. Let’s help families. Give them a choice, not push them down.”
Representative Austin Smith said, “Booed at the Phoenix Open, health nominee failed in the senate committee and called out for her hypocrisy on school choice on national Sunday show. Bad weekend for Hobbs. Is there anyone who thinks she’s actually an effective leader?”
Representative Justin Heap tweeted: “@katiehobbs is committed to ending Az’s ESA program which allows thousands of Arizona children to receive the same private school education she received. Katie Hobbs definitely believes in pulling the ladder up behind her.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 13, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Northern Arizona University (NAU) will provide free tuition regardless of income to Native Americans from Arizona tribes but requires other races to fall below a certain financial threshold to qualify. NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera described the arrangement as a cornerstone for the university’s equity work.
“Ensuring access to an affordable, high-quality education is a key part of NAU’s vision to deliver equitable postsecondary value,” stated Cruz Rivera.
This arrangement falls under NAU’s financial aid program “Access2Excellence” (A2E) which launched last April. However, the university didn’t offer this free tuition for Arizona tribal members until last November, after NAU’s Native American Advisory Board pushed for its creation.
Initially, A2E was intended to provide tuition-free college for all students, regardless of race, if their household incomes were at or below $65,000. When A2E launched last spring, approximately 50 percent of Arizona households met that threshold.
NAU stated in a press release that the special free tuition offer for Native American students was part of its “strategic priority” to be the leading university serving Indigenous people nationwide. Ann Marie Chischilly, vice president of the Office for Native American Initiatives, said that this offering represented NAU’s commitment to prioritizing Native Americans.
“We are dedicated to being the nation’s leading institution serving the indigenous peoples and providing a clear and affordable pathway to an exceptional education,” said Chischilly.
Free tuition is one of the latest in NAU’s latest initiatives focused on uplifting Native Americans. In January, NAU pledged $10 million to prioritize Native American and Indigenous people in curriculum and recruitment efforts.
Last March, NAU launched multiple initiatives totaling $1.3 million to increase the number of both Native American and Hispanic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates. These initiatives focus on training STEM faculty in anti-racism, revising graduate admissions processes to increase inclusivity and diversity, creating additional supports exclusively for Indigenous and Hispanic students, offering exclusive campus opportunities for Indigenous and Hispanic students’ families.
Department of Biological Sciences professor Catherine Propper predicted that these initiatives would increase anti-racist educational practices in education beyond NAU.
“In this way, we can bring about equity-oriented change in STEM fields by building leadership among faculty to contribute to institutional change, eliminate structural barriers and reduce disproportionality and systemic inequities in STEM fields,” said Propper.
Cruz Rivera asserted that greater funding and research efforts for recruitment, training, and placement on Native American and Hispanic students was an equitable necessity to spur these groups’ economic mobility.
“Together, we can propel more low-income, first-generation students and students of color to the middle-class and beyond,” said Cruz Rivera. “Support for HSIs will pave the way for less inequality, more social mobility and broader economic prosperity in America.”
In June 2021, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) awarded NAU with $1 million to advance culturally responsive Native American pre-K-12 educators.
The A2E program goes into effect this fall. Those admitted to NAU for fall 2023 or spring 2024 semesters qualify.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 11, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
This week, Desert Mountain High School (DMHS) put on a play exploring the sexuality of kids. It’s the latest display of the school’s promotion of minors’ sexualization.
The play, “She Kills Monsters,” tells the story of a high school senior, Agnes, discovering a journal containing the sexuality-based confessions of her younger, 15-year-old sister, Tilly, who died in a car accident.
The play comes in two editions: the traditional script for adults, and a “young adventurers” script intended for minors. The DMHS newsletter and flyer advertising their rendition of the play didn’t disclose whether the school would use the traditional or “young adventurers” version. The minor-oriented script retains frequent descriptions of and innuendos to sexual behaviors along with frequent expletives. The play displays the younger sister fantasizing about lesbian relationships with various “sexy” fictional female characters from a role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, including a demonic, leather-clad “dominatrix,” succubuses, and an elf.
The script describes Agnes as an overwhelmingly “average,” “drab” teenager who lacks creativity and understanding for her sister, while Tilly is depicted as an adventurous, bold, creative, and wise individual.
DMHS sold the play tickets for $10 to $12 each.
In a 2020 review of the play, New York Times described the minor-oriented script as a “hot school play” for youth to enjoy.
“This is a story in which girls wield swords, queer kids are cool, and nerds rule the earth,” stated the review.
DMHS is friendly to the exploration of children’s sexuality on campus, though they’re not as friendly to the parents who question what occurs during this exploration. In 2021, AZ Free News reported how DMHS delayed responding to parental inquiries about the Gender & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) chapter on campus.
Last year, a DMHS psychology teacher, Mackenzie Onofry, taught students unapproved material on the findings of debunked sexologist Alfred Kinsey. The material declared that only four percent of men and two percent of women were exclusively heterosexual, that sexuality is a continuum, that homosexuality spans human history and is a natural part of the animal world, that sexual orientation isn’t a choice and is immutable, that conversion therapy doesn’t work, that women have more erotic plasticity (sexual interests) than men, that homosexuality is a gene location on the X chromosome, that fetal testosterone exposure causes attraction to women, and that chances of male homosexuality increase by one-third with each son born.
Onofry remains employed by the district, according to her LinkedIn page.
DMHS’ district, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) is aware and supportive of the high school’s initiatives for exploring minors’ sexuality and proclivity for keeping parents in the dark. Last month, it was discovered that SUSD falsely denied the existence of a transgender support plan for nearly a year.
Last year, SUSD’s social justice professionals promoted a drag queen storytime.
That summer, SUSD unintentionally provided a parent with blank transgender patient intake forms for a Phoenix hormone and gender transition facility in response to a records request regarding communications concerning DMHS librarian and GSA Club advisor Michelle Schulke.
Earlier that year it was discovered that Schulke was behind plans for sexuality and anti-racist programming for minors. Schulke also remains employed by the district.
SUSD Superintendent Scott Menzel has defended the normalization of sexualized campuses since joining the district in 2020. In response to parents upset by kindergarten and elementary school staff members discussing gender ideology to their children without consent, Menzel issued accusations of Civil Rights violations.
“To target an individual publicly for their personal identity — in this case the individual against whom this complaint was filed does not identify as either male or female — is overt discrimination and inconsistent with state and federal law as well as school district policy,” said Menzel.
Menzel also admonished parents and community members opposed to the district’s GSA clubs, calling them “bullies.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
