by Staff Reporter | Dec 11, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Maricopa Superior Court dismissed a challenge to a school district’s dual language program, citing lack of standing.
The plaintiff, Patricia Pellett, is a Scottsdale Unified School District parent, and not part of the district she challenged, Creighton Elementary School District (CESD). Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne’s wife, Carmen Chenal Horne, represented Pellett in the case.
Back in August, Horne said that it was irrelevant that Pellett didn’t have a child in CESD schools.
“Under a provision in the initiative that said that a student of any parent in the state could bring an action against any school district in the state that violates this initiative,” said Horne.
The challenge to CESD arose from Horne’s crusade against dual language programs. Horne’s aim is to have all schools teach only through immersion programs. Dual language models teach students subjects in languages other than English for part of their education, whereas immersion has students taught their subject matter entirely in English.
State law enacted through a voter initiative (Proposition 203 passed in 2000) requires that public schools teach the English language through English-spoken courses and English language classrooms, unless parents are eligible to provide prior written informed consent for bilingual education techniques or those educational methodologies permitted by law.
“[A]ll children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English and all children shall be placed in English language classrooms,” states the law.
Eligible circumstances include parents with children who already know English, older children, and children with special needs.
The Arizona State Board of Education has determined that parental waivers for immersion aren’t required, a finding affirmed by Attorney General Kris Mayes last year. Mayes published that opinion in response to a request on legal clarity from state representatives as to whether the language models used by seven school districts — Glendale Elementary, Kyrene Elementary, Phoenix Elementary, Mesa Public Schools, Laveen Elementary, Creighton Elementary, and Mexicayotl Academy — warranted corrective action by ADE.
Horne dismissed Mayes’ opinion as “ideologically driven” and not based in law.
Horne turned to Pellett to challenge schools’ dual language programs after Maricopa County Superior Court ordered Horne to pay over $120,000 in legal fees earlier this year.
The judge, Katherine Cooper, ruled that state law didn’t authorize Horne to ask the courts to rule on school district compliance with Proposition 203. Cooper ruled that only the State Board of Education possessed authority over dual language programs, citing the board’s responsibility for developing and approving immersion models. Cooper further declared that Horne had no justiciable claim, either, and ruled that parents and guardians had the power to file lawsuits to enforce the proposition.
“The school districts, like all public and charter schools, are required to follow a model as approved by the State Board,” ruled Cooper.
Horne’s response was to accuse the ruling as avoidant of the merits of the case. He reiterated that the voter-approved initiative (Proposition 203) required children to be taught in English.
With Horne’s continued challenges to the existence of dual language programs and advocacy for immersion programs, the Arizona School Boards Association says it will advocate for greater reliance on 50-50 models.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Dec 11, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Maricopa County Republicans no longer wish to challenge the voter-approved transportation sales tax.
The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuit against Proposition 479 on Sunday.
The attorney for MCRC’s lawsuit, Bryan Blehm, filed the motion to dismiss on behalf of plaintiffs Craig Berland (chairman) and Shelby Busch (first vice-chairman).
Proposition 479 was styled as a continuation of a half-cent sales tax first established in 1985 and last renewed in 2004. The tax revenue funds Maricopa County infrastructure and will last until 2045.
Just short of 60 percent of voters passed Proposition 479. Polling months ahead of the election indicated this to be the case. The proposition came out of a Senate bill advanced by Republican leadership in both legislative chambers, SB 1102, which Senate President Warren Petersen hailed as “the most conservative transportation plan” in Arizona history.
Not all Republican leaders agreed. Arizona Freedom Caucus members expressed opposition to the Senate bill, as did the “conservative watchdog groups” they referenced.
“[This proposition is] a massive win for Hobbs and the Democrats,” said caucus member State Representative Justin Heap.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Goldwater Institute also opposed Prop 479. The two entities claimed in remarks of opposition submitted to the county that the proposition would mostly fund transit.
Per the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), 40 percent of the sales tax revenues is slated for the construction of freeways and highways, 22 percent for arterial roads and regional transportation infrastructure, and 37 percent for transit.
Democratic leadership at all levels stood in support of the proposition’s passage and opposition to the MCRC lawsuit, from Governor Katie Hobbs to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
MAG Regional Council also joined the county to argue for dismissal of the lawsuit. Kevin Hartke, MAG chairman and Chandler mayor, said in a statement to InMaricopa that the lawsuit went against the majority of voters and their desire for transportation funding.
“We won’t let a flawed claim stand in the way of our 40-year legacy of building one of the best transportation systems in the country,” said Hartke. “The transportation plan unanimously approved by the region’s elected leadership, sent to the ballot by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and overwhelmingly approved by the voters of Maricopa County, is critical to the quality of life of our residents and the continued strength of our local economy.”
MAG predicts the tax will generate up to $15 billion in revenue (using 2020 dollars) and slash commute length to an average of 30 minutes through 2050, even with an estimated influx of 1.7 million residents and 900,000 jobs.
MAG Executive Director Ed Zuercher indicated that county officials weren’t going to cease moving forward with their transportation plan, even if the lawsuit had progressed.
“The regional transportation plan that was unanimously approved by MAG’s mayors, tribal and county leaders, and supported by business leaders and the voters, will be implemented on schedule,” said Zuercher.
In reporting from last week, Arizona’s general contractors also sided with the efforts to protect the sales tax. The Arizona Chapter of Associated General Contractors of America had criticized MCRC’s lawsuit as “frivolous” and based on political contentions advanced by “disgruntled partisans.”
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 11, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona’s charter schools are about to receive a fresh infusion of taxpayer dollars in a federal grant from the United States Department of Education. The grant is expected to fund the establishment of two dozen new charter schools and bolster another 23 already in operation.
As reported by The Center Square, the state of Arizona has received approximately 24% of the $143 million awarded across the nation by the Expanding Opportunities Through Quality Charter Schools Program, a total of about $34.8 million. The outlet noted that although the funding originates from fiscal 2024 it will be distributed in annual disbursements through 2029.
In a press release from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said, “I am extremely pleased that we have received this federal grant that will create 24 new high-quality charter schools and help another 23 existing schools with models and practices that result in academic growth. I want to commend the department staff who competed for this funding. Their work has resulted in the state receiving the largest recipient of this grant, per capita, in the country.”
Horne added, “Arizona is the leader in the country on school choice and charters are a major component of that. These dollars will serve a vital purpose in making sure that an estimated 10,000 students in traditionally underserved areas will have a chance to select a high-quality charter school. Every student in every part of our state, urban or rural, rich or poor, deserves this opportunity and I am very pleased to be a part of this effort.”
Speaking with AZ Capitol Times, Horne explained Arizona’s long-term history of fostering charter schools saying, “The charter schools in Arizona go back to the 1990s.” Then, he noted that as a state legislator, he championed charter schools and their purpose. “Even a good district school may not necessarily meet the needs of all the students,” Horne told the outlet. “And so the parents should have the ability to find a school that does meet those needs.”
In the release, ADE stated that it has already begun work on the upcoming project “which aims to increase the number of high-quality charter schools focusing on educationally disadvantaged students.” It added that such students are identified by their economic disadvantage, disability status, as non-English speakers, and as “other demographic groups.”
The statement outlined the grant’s purpose stating:
“The grant also seeks to close achievement gaps in academic scores, provide technical assistance to educators to improve teaching and learning and encourage dual or concurrent enrollment in college level courses. The expectation is that students will experience at least one year of academic growth on state tests for math, reading and language arts with a long-term measurement of cumulative three-year growth.”
At present, approximately 560 charter schools are in operation throughout Arizona serving about 231,000 students. The Center Square report cited the Arizona Charter Schools Association. Under Arizona law, all charter schools are open enrollment and as a result enjoy wide adoption. The outlet reported that the California Department of Education, Colorado League of Charter Schools, New York State Education Department, Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, and Rhode Island Department of Education also received 2024 grant funding as well.
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 Matthew Holloway | Dec 10, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Congressman Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) introduced a resolution Friday to award U.S. Marine Corps. Veteran Daniel Penny with the Congressional Gold Medal for his “courageous actions taken in response to the threat to his community.” The resolution was introduced three days before his acquittal on charges related to the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely on a New York City subway in 2023.
Penny, 26, was charged with second degree manslaughter and negligent homicide after he restrained the erratically behaving Neely, a schizophrenic homeless man with 42 prior arrests and an active warrant, in a chokehold until police could arrive. Neely had threatened other passengers on the train telling them, “someone’s going to die today.” As Penny fought to restrain the man with the help of other subway riders, he held the hold for about six minutes.
Neely later died at an area hospital. Authorities would later find that he had the synthetic drug K2 in his system at the time of his death, according to Fox News.
Prosecutors, fearing a hung jury amidst a deadlock, withdrew the manslaughter charges Friday and upon the juror’s return Monday, they found Penny innocent of the remaining lesser charge.
Speaking with the outlet, Crane, himself a retired Navy SEAL Sniper, told reporters, “Daniel Penny’s actions exemplify what it means to stand against the grain to do right in a world that rewards moral cowardice.”
“Our system of ‘justice’ is fiercely corrupt, allowing degenerates to steamroll our laws and our sense of security, while punishing the righteous. Mr. Penny bravely stood in the gap to defy this corrupt system and protect his fellow Americans. I’m immensely proud to introduce this resolution to award him with the Congressional Gold Medal to recognize his heroism.”
In the text of his resolution Crane wrote, “Throughout President Biden’s term as President, local governments across various cities and States failed to adequately protect residents and their property from violent criminals.”
He described Penny’s actions on the subway saying he, “protected women and children of the city of New York, New York, from violence on May 1, 2023.”
Crane added, “Daniel Penny, with others, acted to save New York City subway riders from threatening behavior by restraining a criminal – who had 42 prior arrests and an active warrant – until the police came. The courageous actions taken in response to the threat to his community by Daniel Penny, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran, went beyond the civilian call of duty.”
“It is the sense of the Congress that Daniel Penny, with integrity and honor that is characterizstic of who he is and of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps, stepped in to protect women and children from an individual who was threatening to kill innocent bystanders, and he is a hero.”
Following the not-guilty verdict on Monday, Crane called the decision a “massive vibe shift and a huge win for our nation.” He also criticized left-wing responses to the verdict writing, “The left has a completely backwards view of justice.”
Crane also reposted a Thursday comment on X comparing Penny’s case to the pardon of Hunter Biden writing, “A spoiled elite with a decade of crimes gets off scot-free while a selfless Marine who acted with courage gets put through the wringer. A radical realignment of our “justice” system is long overdue.”
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 Staff Reporter | Dec 10, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
None of Arizona’s schools have fully implemented and tested their emergency plans, nor did they fully meet the state’s minimum standards.
The Arizona Auditor General published a new report on Monday finding that no schools throughout the state met Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) Minimum Standards. Those standards were developed jointly by the Arizona Departments of Education (ADE) and Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA). The auditor general determined that some of the standards were “too vague, may be impractical, or lack a clear purpose,” therefore hindering adequate adherence.
In its report, the auditor general found that most schools had fewer than half of EOP Minimum Standards, and some charter schools didn’t have any EOPs.
“Most schools we visited had not provided emergency procedures training to all staff, including substitute teachers; had not conducted all required safety drills; and had not posted certain safety reference materials, which could affect their preparedness to respond to emergencies,” read the auditor general’s report summary.
The auditor general determined that all schools needed increased outreach, guidance, and training on emergency planning.
Schools don’t have the entire burden of change on them, however. The auditor general also determined that ADE and DEMA had greater responsibilities ahead of them to ensure improved EOP Minimum Standards compliance: ensuring charters know their responsibilities to develop EOPs, analyzing staffing and resources needed to initiate compliance monitoring processes, communicating the monitoring plan and authority resource needs to the governor and legislature, evaluating what additional guidance is needed for school compliance and providing necessary assistance, and completing a comprehensive standards review with stakeholder involvement and working with stakeholders to clarify emergency response agencies’ roles in EOP development.
While ADE agreed to the changes recommended by the auditor general, DEMA did not.
In its response, DEMA said it didn’t have the opportunity to review the entire unredacted auditor general’s report, nor did it have an opportunity to review any of the EOPs the auditor general reviewed to reach its conclusion. The auditor general issued a response clarifying that the confidential draft report provided to DEMA only redacted those references concerning other entities unrelated to DEMA and its responsibilities, and that three other entities were given similarly-redacted reports.
DEMA further asserted that state law didn’t authorize its agency to develop EOPs for every district or charter; rather, DEMA said that the State Board of Education and ADE bore statutory responsibility for supervising and regulating public school conduct.
“Industry practice is to develop generalized planning standards which set a minimum threshold that allow each school district the flexibility to tailor their EOP to their unique circumstances or particular needs,” said DEMA. “As the primary agency responsible for enforcing standards with school districts, DEMA contends that it is ADE’s responsibility to inform districts of statutory requirements to adopt EOPs meeting the minimum standards. DEMA understands that ADE has full-time school safety and preparedness planners that can support this purpose and has an opportunity to communicate any additional resource needs to further effect this recommendation through their Audit response process.”
The auditor general’s response also addressed these refusals from DEMA, noting that it hadn’t required DEMA to develop school EOPs but rather evaluate whether additional outreach, guidance, and training would help schools better plan for safety emergencies.
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools also refused some of the auditor general’s recommendations. The charter board said that it agreed with the auditor general and the state on the importance of EOPs, but that it lacks the “resources or subject matter expertise” for monitoring and enforcing compliance with minimum EOP standards.
“The Charter Board believes it is appropriate for a state-centralized review process to be established to monitor whether EOPs meet the required minimum standards. This process would ensure that both charter and district schools are held to the same standards of review and oversight,” said the board. “Furthermore, it would assign the responsibility of evaluating whether EOPs substantively meet the Minimum Standards to the appropriate agency—one with the necessary resources and expertise to effectively monitor compliance.”
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 10, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizonans, treated with the spectacle of satellite launches from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara just over 500 miles away, may soon be able to enjoy the view from launches much closer to home in Yuma.
The Arizona city is reportedly working to bring another spaceport to Arizona, buoyed by interest from commercial launch companies seeking a new launch site, according to interim City Administrator Jay Simonton.
As reported by AZ Family, Simonton said “These smaller companies are needing to test their equipment. The market is dominated by the big guys so in Cape Canaveral, (Florida), and California, they can’t get time or space to launch.” He told the outlet that the spaceport would be geared toward providing services to these smaller firms who are effectively squeezed out from larger facilities on the coastlines of Florida, California and Texas.
“We’re talking about very small rockets to launch small commercial satellites for research,” he added.
“Yuma is an ideal location. We are really close to the Sea of Cortez and then we have the Pacific Ocean. It’s a perfect location to launch solar polar orbits. If this comes into fruition, all the launches would launch over the Sea of Cortez and over the Pacific Ocean,” said Simonton.
Yuma is also home to a robust aeronautical infrastructure and controlled airspace as the site of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground, and the adjacent Barry M. Goldwater Range, managed jointly by the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army.
The Greater Yuma Economic Development Corp, received a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for a land feasibility study to prove Yuma County’s ability to house a spaceport in early 2020.
According to the outlet Yuma estimates that the new spaceport, attracting firms from one of the fast growing industries in the world, would create more than 2,000 jobs and drive approximately $2 billion in growth.
“You bring in those high-tech operations, that brings in high-tech jobs and higher paying jobs,” Simonton said.
As it stands: Yuma is working to obtain an operating license from the Federal Aviation Administration and is seeking outside investors and grants to launch the spaceport’s development. The city was also selected as a finalist for a National Science Foundation Engines Program alongside 71 other teams including the Arizona cities Nogales, Sierra Vista, San Luis, and Somerton. As leader of the Southwest Regional Aerospace Innovation Alliance it could receive up to $160 million over 10 years toward building the spaceport.
Simonton also noted there is support from the project on the state level and cited support from Democrat Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly. “We’ve had discussions with our senator, Sen. (Mark) Kelly. He’s a former astronaut. He is very interested in this project and very supportive of that. He would love something like this to come to Arizona,” he told AZ Family.
In a post to X, Interorbital Systems announced that the firm has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Yuma “to conduct NEPTUNE orbital rocket launches from the new Arizona spaceport.”
Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls told KYMA that the development is a major step for a potential new industry in Yuma. “It changes the way one the world perceives us, but two the industries that to want to locate here, so those that are building rockets and those that are building that industry are going to want to be close to where the launches happen.”
Nicholls also stressed that the city would need to work closely with Mexico to make launches work saying, “We’ve got to communicate with them, let them know what we’re doing, make sure they’re comfortable with that because as I showed the council those rockets will be heading south over Mexico, over the Gulf of California and over the Pacific Ocean.”
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.
