by Staff Reporter | Aug 15, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A state senator instrumental to protecting vulnerable children is also key to Republican control of the Arizona Legislature.
State Senator Shawnna Bolick is hoping her constituents give her the green light to return for her first full term in the Arizona Legislature after returning from a brief hiatus. Bolick was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in July 2023, when then-State Senator Steve Kaiser surprisingly resigned from his office. The Phoenix-area mother of two had previously served for two terms in the Arizona House of Representatives (2019-2023).
Earlier this year, Bolick authored SB 1372, which “proscribes a court from ordering family reunification treatment that requires certain conditions for participation unless both parents consent,” according to the overview from the Arizona House of Representatives. The bill overwhelmingly passed the state senate with a 19-9 vote (with two members not voting), and it cleared the House with a 32-27 result (with one member not voting).
Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, signed the bill in April.
In a statement after the bill’s signing, Bolick said, “A number of families reached out to me with their horror stories surrounding reunification camps, and I was compelled to take action. Unqualified individuals have been profiting off of the disfunction being forced upon countless kids, and the judicial system seems to be none the wiser to this scheme. Many times, these kids are taken in the middle of the night, sent to seedy locations like motels, sometimes out of state, and are basically brainwashed into agreeing to spend time with a parent that is either mentally, emotionally, or physically harming the child, while having no contact with the parent that the child actually feels safe with.”
Bolick added, “I’m thrilled this bill was signed into law, but I’m utterly appalled nine out of 14 Senate Democrats and nearly all House Democrats voted ‘no’ on protecting our children from this heinous victimization. Their vote against this legislation shows their true colors. Democrats are more concerned with partisan games than following their conscience and doing what’s right for the safety and well-being of these vulnerable kids.”
Hobbs said, “I was glad to sign this bill to codify current best practices of the courts and prevent vulnerable children from being in potentially unwelcome and unhelpful situations.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, a representative from Arizona National Organization for Women, usually a champion for progressive candidates and causes, endorsed the bill, showing its broad appeal.
The effort on this family reunification legislation follows another from Bolick at the end of her first tenure in office. In 2022, Bolick sponsored HB 2134 to appropriate $150,000 for the award of school safety grants from the Arizona Department of Education, which was approved in that year’s budget. Bolick said, “As a mom of a teenager, I know how much our kids rely heavily on technology. This school safety grant is a small investment in addressing bullying and student safety in our schools. According to a November 2021 Arizona Child Fatality Review Annual Report, bullying is a top reason for children taking their own lives. Teens have told me they have tried to report an incident on their school campus with a trusted adult but were never taken seriously. It is my hope that the responsible use of this technology will lead to safer school campuses for our students.”
Bolick has also championed school choice proposals to protect children who are being bullied in their places of education. In 2019, Bolick wrote an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic about the unfortunate instances of her daughter being bullied and assaulted, leading to her parents looking to relocate schools “because we no longer felt the school would protect her.” She stated that her daughter “is just one of the thousands of children across our country who are victims of a crime on a K-12 public school campus.”
These episodes with her daughter, coupled with her vast experience in the New York City public school system, led Bolick to introduce the Lifeline for Student Crime Victims Act “to expand Empowerment Scholarship Account eligibility to include public school students who have been victims of battery, harassment, hazing, kidnapping, physical attack, robbery, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, threatening, intimidation, fighting, sex trafficking or human trafficking.”
The first-term lawmaker (at that time) closed her piece, writing, “As a freshman legislator, I had the choice to be a wallflower or jump into the fray solving problems facing our state. At the end of the day, I side with victims’ rights over the establishment.”
Judy Schwiebert signed in on the legislature’s Request to Speak system to oppose the bill – along with a representative from Save Our Schools Arizona.
If Bolick is given the chance to continue in the legislature for the next term, she is already looking at more opportunities to protect vulnerable children across the state. In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News earlier this summer, she said that she is looking at options to “deal with the bullying in our schools” and to “get to the root of the problem because bullying continues to get worse leading to kids missing weeks of school.”
Arizona Legislative District 2 is one of the most competitive in the state, with a 3.8% vote spread in the past nine statewide elections. It is very winnable for Republicans, however, as the party has emerged victorious in six out of those nine elections.
Senator Bolick will face off against Judy Schwiebert in the November General Election, who is running unopposed in the Democrat primary election.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jul 29, 2024 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A powerful Arizona organization is attempting to coax the state’s once-invincible champion for school choice into fighting back against one of its most fierce opponents.
Last week, John Thorpe, a Staff Attorney with the Goldwater Institute, sent a letter to Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, over his office’s continued capitulation to Attorney General Kris Mayes over the interpretation of certain laws pertaining to the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.
The letter from the Goldwater Institute sought “to bring some clarity to the issues of (1) whether the use of ESA funds for ‘supplementary expenses’ requires an explicitly documented ‘nexus’ to a curriculum approved by the Department of Education, and (2) whether ESA funds are subject to the AG’s authority under [state statutes].”
This communication addressed an earlier email from Arizona Department of Education ESA Executive Director, John Ward, to parents within the program, informing them about a letter he had received from Mayes’ Solicitor General. According to Ward, that letter “stated that some ESA program practices are inconsistent with State law and result in payment of ESA funds without authorization of law, [and that] the Solicitor General’s Office has directed the ESA program to address the issues it identified.”
The Attorney General’s Office cited two Arizona statutes to bolster its argument that “the Arizona Department of Education has approved certain supplemental items and textbooks without requiring curricula, which may result in ‘illegal payment of public monies.’” Ward told parents that “ADE has no choice but to comply with the Solicitor General’s determination,” forcing families to “submit a curriculum with all supplemental materials requested or purchased” – something that he even noted was a practice “in place since before the current ADE administration.”
Horne’s acceptance of Mayes’ interpretation of the law was surprising to many members of the public, being that his office has been at odds with the Attorney General’s Office on almost every issue related to this program. Previously, Horne issued several statements expressing his unabashed opposition to the Democrat Attorney General’s persistent attacks on the ESA program and vowing to match her office step for step in defense of parents.
In Thorpe’s letter, he argues that “the law does not condition families’ rights to buy supplemental materials on an explicitly documented ‘curriculum nexus,’” and that “Arizona families’ ESA dollars are not ‘public monies.’”
Thorpe concluded his letter to the state’s schools chief, writing, “The AG’s power to investigate misuse of public monies does not give her the authority to prevent your office from allowing Arizona families to use their ESA funds for statutorily permitted uses. Nor does the law require you, or those families, to justify every textbook or ‘supplementary expenditure’ with a Department-approved curriculum nexus or documentation from a private school.”
On the same day of the Goldwater letter, Ward sent another email to ESA families in response to questions of his department “to provide additional guidance on what is required to use Empowerment Scholarships to purchase supplemental materials” – perhaps signaling that Horne and the Arizona Department of Education would not be backing down from its surrender to Mayes. Ward stated that “ADE would like to provide you with an updated template of Parent-Prepared Curriculum that you can use to submit with your requests for supplemental materials.”
One of the state’s most ardent and effective advocates of the ESA program, Christine Accurso, linked to the Goldwater letter on her social media platform, adding her own commentary about how parents should react to the decision from the Arizona Department of Education on these supplemental materials for their ESA accounts. She said, “ESA parents should have absolutely no fear with submitting orders (for direct purchase or for reimbursement) that includes items that are obvious supplemental educational materials. If an order gets rejected, then email asking them to approve it. If you get an email or communication about your order that says it is the ‘department’s final administrative decision’ then you can go to the State Board of Education and file an appeal. However, you must have proof that the department has given its ‘final administrative decision’ before submitting an appeal to the SBE.”
The Goldwater Institute’s public foray into this controversial action from the Republican Superintendent’s Office follows a letter that was previously sent to Horne from Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, a fellow Republican. In his letter, Toma wrote, “I understand that you may have no choice but to cooperate with the Attorney General’s politically-motivated investigation. However, ADE is best situated to determine how to implement its policies in a way that fulfills legislative intent but does not burden parents with unnecessary bureaucratic requirements.”
Toma added, “As you implement your Department’s policies, I urge you to scrutinize Attorney General Mayes’ unsolicited legal advice expressed in her July 1, 2024, letter, consider how her interpretation of Arizona statutes would impact parents throughout the state, and reject her interpretation of the law that would lead to absurd results.”
In a blog post for the Goldwater Institute, Matt Beienburg referenced Toma’s letter, stating, “As noted by Arizona Speaker of the House Ben Toma, the unprecedented intrusion and second-guessing by the AG’s office into ADE’s administration of the ESA program is just the office’s latest attempt to advance a novel legal theory in order to hijack the legislative deliberations and decisions of state lawmakers. Indeed, just days before firing off its attack against ADE for its application of state statute, the AG’s office was forced to concede and drop its efforts to override the provisions of the recent bipartisan state budget agreement. The AG’s demands against the ESA program should similarly be rejected by the state department of education, the state board of education, and the judicial system of Arizona.”
A few days removed from the Goldwater Institute letter, the Arizona Department of Education sent another email to ESA parents, informing them of a virtual meeting with Horne, Ward, and others from the department to “provide account holders with an opportunity to have their questions answered regarding the new curricula requirements for supplemental materials.” However, families will not be able to ask their questions live and unfiltered. Instead, as per the electronic notice, “the format for the virtual meeting will be the Department of Education reading and answering questions that have been submitted to it by ESA Holders.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jun 23, 2024 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Last weekend, the Arizona legislature completed its constitutional duty and finally passed a state budget, concluding its business for the year. Looming over the entire process was a budget deficit that needed to be filled—fluctuating from around $1.6 billion to just over $2 billion over the 3-year budgeting period.
Though the left and the media wanted to blame historic tax cuts and landmark school choice expansion for the shortfall, the real problem was record spending that resulted in Arizona’s budget growing by over 50% in the last five years. So, when lawmakers gaveled into session in January, the solution was to right-size state spending. Our organization even provided a roadmap for a successful budget process:
- Cut spending to align with current and future funding projections
- Don’t raid the rainy-day fund
- Don’t use budget gimmicks to balance the sheets
- Don’t roll back our school choice programs
- Don’t raise taxes
So how did the legislature do? Here is a breakdown of the good and the not so good results from the budget:
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Daniel Stefanski | Jun 18, 2024 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
For the second year in a row, Republicans protected the state’s historic school choice program from Democrats seeking to regulate or end it.
This past weekend, the Arizona legislature passed the 2024-2025 state budget, adjourning for the session.
House Speaker Ben Toma, who was instrumental in the negotiations and approval of the budget, addressed his caucus’ defense of the Empowerment Scholarship Account program, writing, “I’m most proud of the fact that this budget fully protects the state’s universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program which provides educational freedom for Arizona families. Democrats have long vowed to dismantle the program. As the sponsor of the universal expansion of ESAs, I was never going to let that happen. Eligibility for the program is unchanged and we have included several smart, commonsense reforms that improve this popular school choice program and increases accountability.”
“What’s not included in the $16.1 billion budget is an elimination of the historic Universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program or our School Tuition Organizations program providing tens of thousands of Arizona families the freedom to pick the best schools to meet their children’s unique learning needs,” said Majority Whip Sine Kerr. “We are continuing our commitment to providing every family in the state of Arizona with a quality education, no matter their zip code or economic status. Additionally, we said ‘no’ when Governor Hobbs and Democrats proposed eliminating our Arizona Freedom Schools at our public universities, which are dedicated to civics education and ensuring students are equipped down the road to lead our state to a brighter tomorrow.”
Christine Accurso, one of Arizona’s foremost advocates for the ESA program, shared an update on the state of the program in the aftermath of the legislature’s action with the budget. She said, “For the second year in a row, Governor Hobbs failed to live up to her campaign promise of gutting the Empowerment Scholarship Program. ESA students will see the full funding in the program in 2024-2025 school year… The legislature prioritized parents and students over bureaucratic vendors… “
Accurso’s comment about Hobbs harkened back to the passage of the 2023-2024 budget process, where the then-first-year governor disappointed Democrat legislators and allied interest groups with her failure to break through a Republican blockade of the ESA program on behalf of Arizona families. Hobbs spent the remainder of 2023 and a good portion of the first half of 2024 taking more overt political swipes at ESAs in, what appeared to be, an attempt to win back favor from her base.
Hobbs may have sensed a renewed crescendo of disappointment and outrage from her side after the budget was passed by the legislature. In her statement about the agreement, Hobbs said, “…I know we still have more work to do. While this bipartisan budget delivers reforms to ESAs, there are not enough. I stand committed to bringing much needed accountability and transparency to the unsustainable ESA program.”
Marisol Garcia, the President of the Arizona Education Association, issued a statement following the latest budget passage, in which she previewed the road ahead for her side as they regroup and try to win Democrat seats for a legislative majority come January. Garcia wrote, “…There’s only so much that pro-education lawmakers can do when they’re outnumbered by an extremist majority. This budget is a call to action – it’s up to us to elect a new legislature this November and start making Arizona a state that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.”
Save Our Schools Arizona also released a statement to oppose the budget and echoed the sentiments of the Arizona Education Association, stating, “Failing to touch Gov. Ducey’s unaccountable ESA voucher giveaway is an incredibly irresponsible use of taxpayer funds… This budget makes the path forward abundantly clear: No progress can be made for Arizona public schools until the balance of power is shifted at the legislature.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | May 26, 2024 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Nobody likes a bully, and yet some people relish playing such a role. Here in Arizona, perhaps no person has taken on that persona quite like Kris Mayes. When she began her political career with the Arizona Corporation Commission, Mayes quickly gained a reputation for bullying other people around, but since becoming Arizona’s Attorney General (AG) in January 2023, she has taken it to a whole other level.
Within months of occupying the AG office, Mayes began using her post to target and investigate the very people and entities she is constitutionally obligated to defend. First in her crosshairs was the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), a state agency she is legally obligated to represent and provide legal advice to. But because she wants to score political points with her radical environmental allies, she decided to threaten legal action against ADWR unless they provide her with documentation showing that the agency is in compliance with its water management responsibilities.
Mayes then turned around a few weeks later and went after the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program at the Department of Education. In a public tirade, she falsely claimed that the budget agreement that protected universal school choice would bankrupt the state, despite the expenditure data showing that the ESA program actually saves the state money. When that didn’t stop the Republican budget bill from being signed by Governor Hobbs, Mayes doubled down on her ESA assault by threatening legal action against her own client, the Arizona Department of Education, over the program.
And now that she has had more time to get comfortable in office, Mayes is discovering new and creative ways to abuse her power, including collusion and the usage of dirty tactics to target political opponents…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
