A bill to require K-12 schools to post all curriculum and learning materials on their website passed the State Senate along party lines, 16-13. It now heads to the House for consideration.
Senate Democrats argued that the bill would hinder teachers’ ability to have flexible, constantly changing lesson plans. State Senator Christine Marsh (D-Phoenix) said that while she agrees “100 percent” with transparency, she said that the bill would result in a slew of unintended consequences. Marsh claimed that teachers would be too busy uploading curriculum data to spend additional time with students.
Some Arizona teachers complained that they can’t meet the requirements of the bill because there would be no way to have their curriculum done in time for review. The bill sponsor, State Senator Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix) rebutted that claim during the Senate’s vote on Monday, explaining that what was required of teachers concerned a list of material titles “like a syllabus.”
“It’s been even testified by opponents, teachers who oppose the bill, even in their testimony they were saying they already do something like this,” said Barto. “What it will require is merely putting up the title of what they’re teaching of their lesson plans every week. And not the entire year in advance, which some somehow translate this bill as requiring. Nope. It’s within seven days after, so they just have to use something like a Google Doc, which many are using already — it was testified over and over again.”
Barto cited a study that teachers spend an average of four hours a week searching for material to use in their classrooms.
Nobody expects, and sadly our children don’t deserve, an inquisition… but that is exactly what #SB1211 is – an unjustified, backwards, and blatant example of big/authoritarian government overreach that would hurt AZ’s children.
Some Republicans expressed reluctance to have their vote fall in line with the party.
State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) expressed that the bill was a step in the direction but failed to get at the root of the problem with Arizona’s school system. Ugenti-Rita claimed that the problems concerned leadership, teacher’s unions, and nonpartisan school board members.
“Putting up loads and loads of information isn’t really going to solve the problem we have in K-12,” said Ugenti-Rita. “This is really not enough to get at the problem. This will leave parents with the impression that something is done when nothing is done. I don’t know what our obsession is with putting things online but you need to really go after the sacred cow, and it’s not the materials online, it’s the elections — these nonpartisan school board elections.”
Ugenti-Rita also expressed concerns that the bill was “intense and overkill.” She asked for commitment from House leadership to make the legislation implementable.
“To me, this is like a supplement. It’s like if you had real, deep health problems, a vitamin isn’t going to fix it. You need to diet, you need to exercise. This is helpful, but it’s really not going to get at the problem at our schools. This isn’t going to keep schools open. This is really going to do very little than look as though we’re doing something,” said Ugenti-Rita.
State Senator Tyler Pace (R-Mesa) said bills like Barto’s were the reason he took heartburn pills over the summer. Pace said he disliked the broad scope of what information educators would have to upload. However, Pace admitted there was a need for curriculum transparency, citing his own experience in which he learned a teacher allowed his kids’ class to play games like “Cupcake Vampire Princess Makeup Tutorials” after they finished an exam.
Other Republicans normally on the fence with certain party initiatives supported the bill wholeheartedly. State Senator Paul Boyer (R-Glendale) rebutted that the legislation wouldn’t be a burden on teachers, citing his own experience. Boyer insisted that it would alleviate current burdens on parents as well as benefit teachers looking to improve their curriculum by looking at what teachers are using at successful schools.
Passage of the bill comes over a month after the Senate Education Committee approved the bill.
NOW: SB1211 Academic Transparency passes the AZ senate! Now headed to the House. This bill let’s parents know what’s being taught in their kid’s classroom @GoldwaterInst@NancyBartopic.twitter.com/Or3xi1AYta
A Phoenix-area Antifa member, Arizona State University (ASU) graduate, and certified nursing assistant (CNA), Marysa Leyva, made death threats against prominent investigative journalist Andy Ngo, who rehashed details about Leyva’s Antifa involvement and criminal history.
Leyva’s comments were associated with claims that Ngo was behind the shooting that took place at an Antifa meeting in Portland, Oregon earlier this month. Ngo reported that Leyva resides in the Portland area, consistent with the location listed in one of her Twitter account bios.
Disinfo #antifa accounts are spreading false claims about the shooting in Portland. They falsely claim I posted a flyer about their event & that I was involved in the shooting.
Marysa Leyva says it is time for me to die. Felony suspect Alissa Azar says I have blood on my hands. pic.twitter.com/6RrBm1iZ5G
Marysa Leyva, a Phoenix-area militant #antifa member & a traveling nurse who is now in Portland, is calling for me to be killed. She used to run @antifash_m but was so extreme that she was permanently suspended. Now she's evading that ban with a new account calling for violence. pic.twitter.com/s4KAXP9Y18
As Ngo reported, Leyva’s original account, @antifash_m, was suspended for violating Twitter rules. Leyva then made her backup account, @BirdAppFugitive, private after Ngo discovered it; sometime that same week, that secondary account was also suspended. Leyva’s bio describes the account as a slander account for Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel, who is under investigation by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and the State Bar of Arizona for her sobriety and absence at work.
Leyva was one of 15 individuals who received controversial and later dropped street gang charges for her involvement in the August 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest, which included assisting a criminal street gang, aggravated assault on an officer, rioting, unlawful assembly, resisting arrest, and obstructing a public thoroughfare. As AZ Free News reported, ASU graduate student Sarra Tekola was among those charged. Leyva toldABC15 Arizona that although the felony charges against her were dropped, the ordeal caused her to lose her patient care technician job with Tempe St. Luke’s emergency room.
“We were like, this is just so outrageous,” said Leyva. “How are they ever going to prove this in a court of law? We know Phoenix Police Department is bad, but man, they, like, really were just seeing how much they could get away with.”
Leyva also tweeted that the survival of the five officers who were ambushed by a shooter earlier this month while trying to rescue an infant was a “missed opportunity.”
According to the Arizona State Board of Nursing, Leyva’s nursing license was issued December of last year, and won’t expire until March 2024.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona House unanimously passed a bill Friday ensuring veterans will receive in-state tuition rates, following unanimous support in the Senate last month. The bill, SB1115, also eliminated requirements that veterans needed to enroll in a college or university within three years of their discharge.
Out-of-state students pay tens of thousands more for tuition: around $18,000 at Arizona State University, over $24,000 more at University of Arizona, and nearly $15,000 more at Northern Arizona University.
The bill now heads to Governor Doug Ducey to become law.
Ducey proposed that veterans’ spouses should receive a higher education tuition-free as well.
Currently, veterans may receive free tuition if they have a 50 percent or more disability rating, received a Purple Heart medal, and was a resident of Arizona or stationed in Arizona at the time of their injury. Spouses of military members who died in the line of duty or from injuries obtained while serving are also eligible.
In Arizona, we celebrate and honor our veterans. Veterans in Arizona can attend in-state universities and community colleges free of charge. Now, let’s extend the same courtesy to their dedicated husbands and wives. #AZUnstoppablepic.twitter.com/mT2dhnUCwB
An effort to pass an emergency state law limiting what information can be disclosed about a child’s immunization records and to whom is expected to move forward in the State Senate this week.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has long utilized a Child Immunization Reporting System to collect, store, analyze, release and report immunization data. Identifying information in the system is confidential as per state law, while the federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) also addresses privacy standards for the electronic exchange of medical information.
The State has also approved Health Current, a non-profit, to serve as the health information exchange organization that connects more than 500 Arizona healthcare entities, including first responders, hospitals, labs and providers of community behavioral health, physical health, post-acute care, and hospice providers.
Senate Bill 1167 was introduced by Sen. T.J. Shope in January to allow Health Connect to “receive, use and redisclose confidential information regarding child immunizations and communicable diseases.” The bill initially passed the Senate’s Health & Human Services Committed last month with bipartisan support, but has received recent pushback.
Critics of the bill argue Health Connect should not be allowed to receive data from the Child Immunization Reporting System unless a parent or guardian specifically opts-in. There is also concern that the data could be used for inclusion in a federal vaccine database or to infringe upon the rights of individuals due to their vaccination status.
Senator Nancy Barto (R-LD15) proposed an amendment to Shope’s bill last Thursday to address those concerns. Her amendment failed, but Shope (R-LD8) then proposed his own amendment without a parental or guardian opt-in provision.
Shope’s amendment was adopted on the Senate Floor. The current language of SB1167 limits Health Connect’s use of confidential child immunization and communicable disease information “to only the purposes permitted by HIPAA privacy standards.”
In addition, the organization would be prohibited from “using or disclosing” identifying information from the childhood immunization reporting system for inclusion in a federal vaccine database. Health Connect would also be prohibited using or disclosing data “for any purpose that serves to discriminate against individuals based on their vaccination status.”
SB1167 would become law effective immediately upon the governor’s signature due to the inclusion of an emergency provision that the legislation is necessary “to preserve the public peace, health or safety.” But to get there, SB1167 needs to clear the Senate and then the House by a two-thirds margin in both chambers.
Several healthcare organizations support SB1167, including Banner Health Arizona, United Healthcare Services, and the Arizona Hospital & Healthcare Association.
On Thursday, three State Senate Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against HB2696, a bill increasing sentencing for those who sexually abuse, smuggle, or traffic children. They argued that illegal immigrants or those transporting illegal immigrants around the state — not bringing them across the border — might be unfairly swept up under this bill.
The bill sponsor, State Representative Leo Biasucci (R-Lake Havasu City), explained during committee that the legislation would afford children with greater protections while creating disincentives for would-be perpetrators. Last month during the House Judiciary Committee consideration of the bill, Biasucci noted that current law allows criminals impacted by this bill to be released on probation after a few months. He described his bill as “put[ting] the hammer down.”
“It’s insane to think we continue to allow these people to walk our streets. And until we send a message that you’re going to go to prison for a very long time, it’ll never stop. It’s very simple and, in my opinion, not even debatable,” said Biasucci.
In opposition to the bill, State Senator Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-Tucson) said that human smuggling charges should be addressed in a separate bill.
Minority Whip Martin Quezada (D-Glendale) concurred with Stahl Hamilton, calling the broadness of the bill “troubling and scary.” Quezada added that those transporting illegal immigrant children to various day-to-day activities like doctor’s appointments shouldn’t fear a human smuggling charge.
“These are family members that people are going to be transporting, you know taking to school, taking to the doctor, visiting other family, taking to the park — and now they’re going to be charged as human smugglers?” said Quezada. “Is this making the anti-immigrant culture in our community, is it making it better or is it going to make it worse? Is it going to further divide our community, or is it going to bring us together more?”
On the side of the committee Democrats was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona. They didn’t speak on the bill during any committee consideration of the bill.
In the House, only State Representatives Morgan Abraham (D-Tucson), Melody Hernandez (D-Tempe), Pamela Powers Hannley (D-Tucson), and Minority Whip Domingo DeGrazia (D-Tucson) voted against the bill. They didn’t explain their votes.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Senate Government Committee is scheduled on Monday to consider HB2616, a bill requiring governments to receive parental consent in order to require a minor to wear a mask. That applies to political subdivisions and entities like public and charter school districts as well.
.@JosephChaplik’s HB2616 prohibits any government entity from requiring anyone under 18 to wear a mask without parental consent. Parents, not government bureaucrats, should decide when/if their child wears a mask. Great bill to protect individual liberty. We support HB2616. pic.twitter.com/HsCXehcl2e
The masking choice bill passed the House last month along party lines, 31-28.
House Democrats insisted that the bill worked against science. State Representative Marcelino Quiñonez (D-Phoenix) cast Republicans as those inviting discrimination by not normalizing mask-wearing.
“There seems to be a hesitancy to accept the science and go with the science. Instead of doing that, we continue to create barriers to ensure that people feel othered by wearing a mask, instead of following the science,” said Quiñonez. “The legislation to create another barrier, another bureaucracy, is overdue. And so with that, I encourage my colleagues to follow the science and vote ‘no.’”
Parents win! #HB2616 gives the rights back to parents on making medical decisions about their children wearing masks.
31 Republicans vote Yes, every Democrat votes against parental rights. (including the ones not wearing masks while voting) #azlegpic.twitter.com/nJUf2EIxtc
