Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, a product of private schools, revealed on Monday that she plans to reverse Arizona’s universal school choice if elected.
Hobbs appropriated pro-school choice phrasing to describe her 13-page anti-school choice plan. She omitted her private school attendance from the plan.
“Zip code shouldn’t determine the quality of public education our Arizona students receive,” wrote Hobbs. “As governor, I will always fight for students, teachers, and parents to have the resources they need to succeed.”
Zip code shouldn't determine the quality of public education our Arizona students receive. As governor, I will always fight for students, teachers, and parents to have the resources they need to succeed. Read more about my plan to do it here: https://t.co/bGY2Bn2oe3pic.twitter.com/REuHF3308W
In 1988, Hobbs graduated from Seton Catholic Preparatory High School, a private high school in Chandler. As one of the most expensive private schools in the state, SCP tuition sits around $17,700 currently, with a discounted rate for proven Catholic families of $13,300.
Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs just released her education plan opposing school choice.
In her education plan, Hobbs called the funds from Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program “vouchers.” However, the ESA Program funds are not “vouchers” — they are education scholarship accounts. Vouchers may only be used at private schools, whereas education scholarship account funds may be used for a greater variety of educational needs, such as tutoring.
“Vouchers should not have been expanded to provide an unaccountable means of enriching private schools and defunding our local public schools,” reads the plan.
In a 2019 interview celebrating her alma mater’s 65th anniversary, Hobbs toldGilbert Sun News that attending a small private school gave her the positive experience of a more intimate, tailored learning experience, such as her teachers encouraging her to discover timeless truths in classic literature.
“It really felt like a family,” said Hobbs. “You really had a chance to get to know the people that you went to school with.”
AZ Free News asked Hobbs’ campaign whether Hobbs’ children have attended any private schools. They didn’t respond by press time.
Both of Hobbs’ children attended Arizona School for the Arts, a charter school.
Hobbs’ plan also seeks to eliminate the aggregate expenditure limit (AEL). The AEL limits K-12 public schools’ expenditures every year based on the calculation of the aggregate expenditure of all districts, adjusted for student counts and inflation. The state legislature increased the AEL this past session so that schools could spend their budgets in full.
Early this morning, I joined teachers at Kenilworth Elementary to bring attention to the AEL and the school funding crisis. I continue to demand that all Arizona lawmakers get rid of an outdated rule so we can fully fund our schools and our kids can keep learning. pic.twitter.com/7bE4gnqxNR
The rest of Hobbs’ education plan pledges to establish free preschool and kindergarten, especially for low-income and minority families; reduce child care costs and increase options; increase teacher pay by up to $14,000 to match the national average; reduce teacher health care costs; increase fundings for school renovations; restore the special education cost study; increase funding for special needs care; and nearly-free, if not totally free, college education for students that live in state — whether they’re American residents or illegal immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) rule.
I’m a proud first-generation college graduate and can tell you firsthand just how many incredible opportunities arose due to access to a higher education.
As governor, I'll work to ensure every Arizonan has access to an affordable, world-class education.
Further, Hobbs’ pledged to increase funding to the Arizona Teachers Academy to grow enrollment; increase school funds to hire more mental health professionals and social workers; establish permanent funding for Northern Arizona University’s Teacher Residency Program; increase funding to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to establish new STEM grants and scholarships, particularly for women and “people of color”; expand Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment programs to all schools; establish a refundable tax credit for career and technical education pursuits; fund start-up medical program costs; and establish health care training programs.
Additionally, Hobbs promised to increase oversight of charter schools through increased funding to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools and the Auditor General. She also pledged to require charter schools to participate in the Auditor General’s annual classroom spending report, prohibit charter schools from making a profit from the sales of land and buildings, and publicize charter corporate boards through their inclusion in open meeting and public records laws.
Absent from Hobbs’ plan was any mention of additional funding for homeschooling families. Hobbs didn’t respond to our questions about that by press time, either.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Kathy Hoffman is facing a lawsuit for advertising links to chat rooms where minors discuss sex and gender with adults present and without parents necessarily knowing.
The lawsuit, case number CV2022-093889 filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court, requests that ADE remove the chat space from its website. Judge Peter Thompson was assigned the case.
The chat room website advertised by the ADE, Q Chat Space, targets LGBTQ+ youth 13 years and older. It offers a “quick escape” feature that masks a child’s visit to the site by redirecting from the Q Chat Space site to Google’s homepage. The adults facilitating discussions, “Q Chatters,” don’t have to be licensed professionals.
Some of the upcoming chat rooms are: “Sex and Relationships Q&A,” “FOR TRANS/NON-BINARY YOUTH: Activism and Allyship,” and “FOR TRANS/NONBINARY YOUTH: Sex Ed.”
The site has minors offer personal information when signing up, including their sexual orientation, romantic interests, gender identity, email address, birth date, ZIP code, and race.
According to the ADE, Hoffman developed the LGBTQ+ resource page with her Equitable and Inclusive Practices Advisory Council (EIPAC) before launching it last June as part of Pride Month.
The citizen behind the lawsuit, Peggy McClain, claimed that Hoffman violated the Parents’ Bill of Rights provision prohibiting any attempts to encourage or coerce minors to withhold information from their parents. McClain further asserted that the children’s data was vulnerable to hacking and could therefore be sold on the dark web to child predators, noting that some of the adult chat facilitators could be child predators as well.
“By doing the things set forth above, Katherine Hoffman is encouraging the grooming of young children,” stated McClain.
Q Chat Space is a collaborative effort of Planned Parenthood, the LGBTQ+ support network organization PFLAG, and LGBTQ+ community center organization CenterLink.
ADE also directs minors to another chat site similar to the one contested in the lawsuit: Gender Spectrum. That chat site is open to minors aged 10 and older.
Calling trans-feminine youth! Check out the live chat for trans-feminine youth on Q Chat Space on September 11. Always be your true self in a bully-free online community of LGBTQ+ teens. Check out the time in your time zone at https://t.co/johUgsFSNTpic.twitter.com/qmDoCOiC7m
The University of Arizona (UArizona) announced this week that it would establish a Center for East Asian Studies. East Asia includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. UArizona is the only higher education institution in the state with an East Asia NRC.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) awarded UArizona $5.9 million to launch the program under its Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) Title IV National Resource Center (NRC) grants.
The purpose of Title VI NRCs is to instill understanding of the countries featured by the center and teach one or more of those countries’ languages. Additionally, these centers maintain relationships with foreign higher education institutions and other organizations that contribute to each center’s teaching and research.
Other East Asia NRCs are located at Columbia University, Stanford University, Ohio State University, University of California – Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Hawaii, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Washington, and University of Wisconsin – Madison.
For the 2022 fiscal year, OPE appropriated over $25.5 million in funds to NRCs.
The establishment of a center focused on East Asian studies comes about two years after the mass forced closures of Chinese government-backed Confucius Institutes: a trio consisting of the Chinese government, a Chinese higher education institute, and an American higher education institute.
Confucius Institutes pushed Chinese propaganda without academic freedom under the guise of teaching Chinese language and culture. In all, the Chinese government had a foothold in 118 higher education institutions.
Along with UArizona, Arizona State University (ASU) once had a Confucius Institute. Under changes to federal law under the Trump administration, both universities closed their institutes.
Lecture, “For Study and for the Dao: Explaining the Principles of Taiji Training,” 《为学与为道：解说太极拳的训练原理》 pic.twitter.com/RgOT9jbvAL
However, both universities have maintained their ties to China through other avenues. UArizona continues its relationship with China and their Confucius Institute partner Shaanxi Normal University through other departments, such as the Center for Buddhist Studies. Likewise, ASU continues its relationship with China’s Sichuan University.
While it had a Confucius Institute on campus, UArizona shared a comfortable relationship with the Chinese government. Three years into the institute’s founding, the university shared a news feature on their institute from CCTV: the Chinese government-controlled news station.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Phoenix City Council gave $5 million of the city’s COVID-19 recovery funds to the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) Foundation.
The millions will be distributed to around 400 students with financial need through a newly-launched tuition assistance program, the Phoenix Promise Program. However, the program won’t end once the $5 million of American Rescue Plan Action (ARPA) funding is spent. The city stated last month that they would partner with the MCCD Foundation, along with other, unnamed education institutions, the business community, nonprofits, local governments, and philanthropic organizations to perpetuate the program.
One of the nonprofits that assisted the city of Phoenix and MCCCD in developing the Phoenix Promise Program was Aliento, an illegal immigrant activist organization. The Arizona House awarded a proclamation to the organization for its service to “mixed-document” backgrounds in June.
Phoenix Promise Program will benefit historically marginalized students, low-income, BIPOC, single parents, and returning students who are residents of Phoenix. pic.twitter.com/G9NoFfVaXQ
The city first approved this initial $5 million allocation in early June, followed by a contract with MCCD Foundation at the end of August. The first tuition assistance payments will be awarded for the upcoming Spring 2023 semester, and will be awarded each semester through Spring 2025. About $280,000 of the $5 million will go to administrative costs.
🎓NOW: Council unanimously approves a $5M Phoenix Promise Program that my office developed in partnership with @AlientoAZ, @MCCCDF & @PhxDistrict4.
Now, we work to provide 400 students with tuition assistance & wraparound support to any @mcccd. https://t.co/GOX0KUKhj6
— Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari (@District7PHX) August 31, 2022
Each Phoenix Promise Program recipient will receive $965 each semester. In addition to tuition, recipients may use their funds to pay for books, fees, technology, supplies, transportation, food, and childcare.
The program will also provide recipients with an academic advisor; exclusive access to workshops, boot camps, tutoring, counseling, and other support services; and personalized assistance from MCCCD’s career services.
During Wednesday’s city council meeting, Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari lamented that illegal immigrant students with deferred deportation — namely Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, also known as DREAMers — don’t qualify for the funding. Ansari disclosed that city and county officials are researching how to secure funding for them.
“Because this is federal funding, we are unable legally to support our DACA students with it but something we’re looking to do very soon, now that we’ve launched the program, is bringing in other partners,” said Ansari.
The application deadline for Phoenix Promise Program’s Spring 2023 awards is October 31.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
One of Arizona’s top charter school chains, Legacy Traditional Schools (LTS), began allowing boys into girls’ bathrooms this semester under its new “Title IX Gender Identity Policy” — and didn’t notify parents.
AZ Free News spoke to some of the families impacted: several said they’ve pulled their children out of safety concerns, while others are seeking accommodations. Despite the ongoing controversy over their updated policy to accommodate gender identity, LTS canceled its August 25 board meeting. They claimed that there was “no new business requiring board attention.”
Vertex Education, the education management company behind LTS, discussed and shared their updated Title IX policy with AZ Free News. It appears from what Vertex Education spokesman Sean Amir shared that LTS made the policy change to align with anticipated changes to Title IX under the Biden administration. Amir added that LTS didn’t include their new Title IX Gender Identity Policy in their parent handbook because it was part of their internal documents.
“As a public charter school, Legacy must abide by all state and federal laws. Likewise, it does not discriminate against any student. Our notice of non-discrimination in the Parent/Student Handbook (page 38) is available on our website, and provides the federal statement as mandated by law,” wrote Amir. “The school’s internal documents describe how to carry out what Title IX sets forth, and are made available upon request.”
Vertex Education didn’t answer our questions about the lack of notification to parents about the policy update, nor did they answer as to whether community backlash prompted LTS to cancel its last board meeting.
The company also didn’t answer whether their leadership discussed the high school sexual assault that made international headlines last fall and moved deep-blue Virginia to vote for a Republican governor for the first time in nearly a decade. In that case, a high school boy wearing a skirt sexually assaulted a freshman girl in the girls’ bathroom.
One LTS mother, Jennifer Leslie, shared with AZ Free News that they learned about LTS’ gender identity policy the week of August 2, when school started. Another parent’s child reportedly came home saying that a middle-school boy attended school dressed up as a girl and wearing a wig, and that he was uncomfortable with what he saw.
“They normally blast out so many emails about changes. Not once was this mentioned,” said Leslie. “It’s just disheartening. I don’t have a better way to explain it. I just wish there was more transparency. They could’ve handled this so much better.”
According to Leslie, LTS claimed that the gender identity policy has been in place since 2015. The Google Doc version of the policy we reviewed, supplied by Vertex Education, was created July 28. The company’s spokesman also didn’t mention the age of the policy. Leslie also shared that many LTS staff were unaware of the policy’s existence.
In addition to allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms designated for the opposite sex, the LTS gender identity policy directs parents to coordinate a gender transition plan with their school principal and administrators.
As part of this plan, students may adhere to the opposite sex’s dress code, staff must use the student’s preferred names and pronouns, students may participate in sports designated for the opposite sex (unless prohibited by the Canyon Athletic Association), and staff may communicate a student’s gender transition to other students. However, LTS won’t voluntarily disclose to families whether any of their children’s peers are transitioning genders.
Leslie noted that she pulled her two children from LTS due to the policy and the administration’s subsequent unwillingness to accommodate them. Leslie described the ordeal as overwhelming.
“They were not very receptive at all. We first asked for our girls to use a single user restroom. We asked if they could use a health restroom. They said no, that is for children with special needs or kids who have a 504 plan,” shared Leslie. “The only option was, the girls had to use the bathroom with the other individual who is transitioning into a girl and allow him into that same bathroom. All kids deserve safety. The concern is boys being in the girls’ bathroom.”
Leslie said that her children miss their friends, having attended LTS since kindergarten, but that the change was for the best. While her eldest was admitted into another school, the youngest is on a waitlist and attending an online program.
“It’s disheartening and disappointing,” said Leslie. “It’s not even the teachers [who are to blame], it’s not even the administration. It’s the managing company of Legacy Traditional Schools, which is Vertex Education.”
Another mother, Diana Fitzgerald, shared that she also learned about the policy change from another parent and not LTS. Fitzgerald’s child attends a different campus from where the incident occurred.
Fitzgerald said the new policy alarmed her, prompting her to request an accommodation for a single-stall restroom. Since parents may never be informed about the presence of a transgender student on campus, Fitzgerald secured a precaution for her daughter. She said the whole ordeal was a disheartening travesty.
“I’m concerned about the gender identity issue. It does create a head-on collision with parental rights. I’m grateful I was made aware of this,” said Fitzgerald. “That’s all any parent wants is transparency so they can feel safe that their children are in a healthy learning environment.”
Another longtime LTS mother, Jacqueline Parker, said that she also pulled her three children from their schools over the policy. She said that the concerns posed by her and others over the new policy were largely dismissed by LTS, which she said was “extremely frustrating” and caused her to believe that her family was nothing more than a dollar sign for funding.
Though it’s been over a month, Parker informed AZ Free News that LTS still hadn’t supplied a copy of the gender identity policy to her.
“Multiple parents have emailed the district office to get clarification on how each campus is to handle this situation. The verdict is that our children would be the ones singled out, by us as parents filling out a form to allow them to use a grown-up bathroom,” said Parker.
Parker shared that LTS sent out multiple emails for a variety of other topics, such as COVID-19 mitigation plans and a new math curriculum, but chose not to disclose its gender identity policy.
“The safety of our children has been put in jeopardy and there was not one email or communication of any sort to inform parents of such a big change. The lack of transparency about this policy is unacceptable,” said Parker. “Not only were we concerned about the safety of our children but also truly disheartened that Legacy, whom we held to such high standards of morals and values, would conform to such an unconservative policy.”
Since its inception in 1972, Title IX protections prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex. In July, the Department of Education (DOE) notified Americans that it would extend Title IX protections to ban discriminations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The deadline for public comment on the potential new Title IX protections is next Monday, September 12. As of press time, there were over 152,900 comments on the proposed changes, with just over 48,000 available for review.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
While gathering signatures for a ballot initiative overturning Arizona’s universal school choice, Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) activists informed passersby erroneously that the state doesn’t review school choice expenditures until participants leave the program. These claims were exposed by one of those passersby, Stewardship Pro founder Grant Botma, who later posted an audio recording of the activists’ remarks online.
The signature gatherers also claimed that the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program gives participants a “debit card” with $20,000. Under the universal expansion, children likely receive about $6,500 each: less than a third of the amount SOSAZ was claiming.
“They give you a debit card with $20,000 for you to use. They do have you do, like, an expense report, but they don’t really review it until you leave the program,” stated the SOSAZ woman.
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) requires program members to submit expense reports on a quarterly basis in order to maintain eligibility. If ADE wasn’t reviewing these expenditure reports until the program member leaves, that would be due to Superintendent Kathy Hoffman’s oversight.
Hoffman is a vocal opponent of the ESA Program and supporter of the SOSAZ ballot initiative. Hoffman, who is up for reelection this November, echoed SOSAZ’s claim in a July tweet that the ESA Program she oversees has “zero accountability.”
Although Hoffman and SOSAZ call Arizona’s school choice funds “vouchers,” they are actually education scholarship accounts. Vouchers are education funds for use at private schools only. The ESA Program universal funds may be applied to a variety of education-related things on top of private schooling, such as: tutoring, supplemental curriculum, online learning programs or courses, standardized testing fees, and community college.
Yesterday my friend @NicholasAyers & I talked to Save Our Schools representatives trying to collect petition signatures to stop a school choice bill in AZ. We got video & audio clips that I am going to share with you.
In other clips, SOSAZ signature gatherers expanded on their claim that the state exerted no oversight of the school choice funds. They also issued the outdated claim that the ESA Program issues Bank of America prepaid debit cards. The ESA Program transitioned to ClassWallet in 2019.
“No transparency,” said a woman. “They give you a card from Bank of America[.]”
One of the signature gatherers then asserted that the main reason to defund the universal school choice program was to ensure that private schools don’t benefit from funds formerly slated for public education.
“Basically it will keep a billion dollars in public education and away from the private schools,” stated one of the women.
The $1 billion estimate wasn’t an official estimate discussed by the state legislature. Rather, it came from SOSAZ.
In advancing the narrative that the ESA Program recipients lack oversight, the activists claimed that they could run a Prenda home microschool out of their house with multiple dangers present, like an unfenced pool and a child molester. Prenda is a tuition-free K-8 microschool program, comparable to outsourced homeschooling or the old one-room schoolhouses.
“Not hypothetical. True. Prenda home microschools: they do not do any investigations on the facilities, the people involved,” said a woman. “It’s in my living room. I’ve got a pool that isn’t fenced, and I’ve got a creepy uncle that’s a child molester.”
The women also claimed that private school families who applied for ESA Program funds didn’t actually need the funds. Approximately 75 percent of the first 6,500 universal ESA Program applicants had no prior enrollment in public schools.
“It’s just putting the money into their pockets when they don’t super need it,” said one of the women.
They also believe that all families that go to private schools are rich and “don’t super need” money. As if they know the finances of private school families. They believe public schools should be funded for educating children that they don’t actually educate. Listen to this pic.twitter.com/QcevJ1vDx0
School choice proponents criticized the SOSAZ claims as lies, and asked for an official investigation into the legality of their speech. One Scottsdale father, Kevin Gemeroy, tweeted his concerns.
“When you lie about money to induce payments, that’s fraud. When you lie about money in exchange for signatures, what crime is that, exactly?” wrote Gemeroy.
When you lie about money to induce payments, that’s fraud. When you lie about money in exchange for signatures, what crime is that, exactly?
