A liberal Democrat is attempting to return to the Arizona State Legislature for the upcoming session to give her party control of the House of Representatives.
Kelli Butler is running for election to the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 4. Butler previously served in the Arizona Legislature from January 2017 to 2023. Currently, she sits on the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board as a Member At-large.
Though she is running in a centrist district in the Phoenix-metro area, Butler boasts of several endorsements from left-leaning organizations for her campaign, including the Arizona Education Association, Moms Demand Action, Arizona List, Save Our Schools Arizona, National Organization for Women Arizona Political Action Committee, Human Rights Campaign, Emilys List, and Sierra Club Grand Canyon.
The former lawmaker does not have an “issues” page on her campaign website, yet her “about” section makes clear that she would be legislating with an anti-school choice agenda should voters return her to the House of Representatives chamber. She writes, “We know public schools are underfunded, but universal vouchers send tax dollars to private schools with no accountability.” She also mentions abortion being one of her top focuses, highlighting that “attacks on women’s reproductive rights seem to be the priority.” Butler promises that “with a new majority, those priorities will change.”
On May 3, Butler reposted an endorsement from Save Our Schools, adding, “So proud to earn this endorsement! I’m looking forward to working to strengthen our neighborhood public schools.” Save Our Schools and the Arizona Education Association have been two of the top organizations opposed to school choice and educational freedom opportunities, working against efforts to give Arizona parents and guardians more choices when it comes to their children’s’ education and future development.
During her last term in legislative office, Butler voted against HB 2853, which expanded the state’s empowerment scholarship accounts program, giving tens of thousands more Arizona families enhanced opportunities to maximize the potential of their children’s education.
Butler also took a stand against Republican attempts to help the state secure the border and give law enforcement officers additional resources and authority they require to better protect communities and unsuspecting families. When the state legislature debated whether to pass HCR 2060 and send it to the ballot for the consideration of Arizonans, she posted, “I agree federal immigration reform is needed, but HCR 2060 is not the answer. It will divert local law enforcement resources, result in taxpayer funded lawsuits, give AZ another black eye nationally and further strain our state budget.”
I agree federal immigration reform is needed, but HCR2060 is not the answer. It will divert local law enforcement resources, result in taxpayer funded lawsuits, give AZ another black eye nationally & further strain our state budget. https://t.co/85qjurqyTv
The three-term legislator has also been a champion of gun control measures and would be a vote to dismantle Arizonans Second Amendment rights at the state capitol.
Pleased to join my #LD4 House running mate, Karen Gresham, for @MomsDemand Action Advocacy Day. The GOP majority at #azleg refuses to hear sensible bills to help make our children safer-instead, the GOP is pushing to allow guns on college & university campuses again. pic.twitter.com/ItzBEyBpZF
In 2022, Butler decried the lack of action on gun control bills introduced by her fellow Democrat legislators.
⬇️ a list of the gun violence prevention legislation @AZHouseDems introduced this year. All have been blocked from getting hearings & debate by the GOP majority. We call on our Republican colleagues to work with us & take sensible steps to make our communities safer. https://t.co/6cvkrHk4HF
Back in January 2022, Butler slammed then-Republican Governor Doug Ducey’s commitment to keep Arizona schools open for in-person learning – more than a year after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Butler said, “Gov. Ducey is again punishing schools that take action to shut down to protect the health of students and staff. He’s using this pandemic to defund our already stressed-to-the-brink public schools. Instead, he should provide PPE, paid sick days, substitutes, ventilation.”
Gov. Ducey is again punishing schools that take action to shut down to protect the health of students and staff. He’s using this pandemic to defund our already stressed-to-the-brink public schools. Instead, he should provide PPE, paid sick days, substitutes, ventilation. https://t.co/gKsFuIYYLQ
She also attacked Governor Ducey’s assertion that “there [was] no mask mandate in Arizona” in December 2021 – again, more than a year after COVID-19 pandemic pinnacle swept the nation, framing Ducey’s statement as bragging about “ignoring public health guidelines.”
While #Covid_19 is the leading cause of death in #AZ, Gov. Ducey brags that he’s ignoring public health guidelines. Thank goodness @POTUS is sending federal medical support teams to address the crisis caused by our governor’s failure to lead. https://t.co/5eQp41S3JW
Additionally, in September 2021, Butler pounced on a lawsuit from then-Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich over one of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine orders, calling it a “PR campaign” and accusing the state’s top prosecutor of “want[ing] Arizonans to get sick and stay sick.”
Remember when AG Brnovich wasted our tax dollars suing to destroy the Affordable Care Act & protections for preexisting conditions? Now we’re paying for his new PR campaign/lawsuit to fight efforts to require COVID vaccine.
Butler ran as a team for the state House with fellow Democrat Karen Gresham, who serves on the Madison Elementary School District’s governing board as its president. In the just-completed primary election, Butler finished first, receiving 20,918 votes, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. Gresham obtained 18,930 votes. They will face off against incumbent state Representative Matt Gress and his running mate, Pamela Carter, for the Republicans. Gress received 24,329 votes in the July 30 primary election, compared to 19,432 for Carter.
According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, Legislative District 4 is one of the most competitive in the state, with a 3.4% vote spread between Republicans and Democrats in the past nine statewide elections. In those elections, Republicans have won five of the contests, compared to four for the Democrats.
Currently, there is only one legislator representing Legislative 4 (Gress) due to a Democrat’s resignation this summer. Butler was one of three Democrats nominated to fill the seat (with Gresham and Eric Meyer) to be considered by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. One of those individuals will be selected by the Board to serve for the duration of the term (until early January 2025).
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A Republican State Senator is speaking out against the Arizona governor’s decision to veto one of his education-related bills.
Last week, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1151, which would have allowed state teachers or administrators in all schools to “read or post copies or excerpts of the Ten Commandments.”
Hobbs, in a veto letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, explained that she had “serious concerns about the constitutionality of this legislation,” adding that she also felt it “is also unnecessary.”
The sponsor of the bill, Senator Anthony Kern, expressed his outrage over the governor’s action, writing, “I’m appalled the state’s top elected official is abandoning God and the very foundation our country was built upon by not allowing teachers to expose their students to the morals and ethics outlined in the Ten Commandments. When you look at some of the garbage being forced on our children in the classroom, it’s no wonder rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide among youth are at their highest levels ever recorded. When children are exposed to good, noble, honest, and righteous ideas, they are more prone to being better human beings with sound character, able to navigate life’s problems with grace, and have a greater chance of treating each other with respect and dignity throughout life. Sadly, Katie Hobbs’ veto is a prime example of Democrats’ efforts to push state-sponsored atheism while robbing Arizona’s children of the opportunity to flourish with a healthy moral compass.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, the proposal drew a significant amount of opposition, including representatives from the Arizona Association of County School Superintendents, Arizona Education Association, American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Save Our Schools Arizona, Arizona School Boards Association, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
SB 1151 had first passed the State Senate in February with a 16-12 vote (with two members not voting), before being approved in the State House earlier this month with a 31-28 tally (with one member not voting).
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
If any business owner saw 450% growth in one of the company’s products or programs during a 15-month period, they would be ecstatic. And it’s safe to say that whatever that program was doing must be working. But for Governor Katie Hobbs and her allies in the teachers’ unions, who have never been known for their math skills, it’s a completely different story when it comes to the ESA program.
Back in July 2022, when then-Governor Doug Ducey signed universal school choice expansion into Arizona law, 13,400 students were enrolled in the ESA program. That number has now grown—as of January 16, 2024—to an astounding 73,415 students—a near 450% growth. Clearly, the program is in high demand, and it is definitely working. But after signing the Republican budget bill last year, without any cap or restrictions on ESAs, Hobbs is now trying to push a barrage of regulations that would effectively dismantle the popular program…
In September 2023, four DUSD high schools were named 2023-2024 Best High Schools by U.S. News & World Report. Three of the four were also named A+ Schools of Excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation. Although DUSD has a lot of work to do, school board members across the Valley now have a model for governing with sense and sensibility.
Of course, every free-thinking, constitutional, conservative board member will have progressive dogs nipping at their heels. Such is the case with the uprising of emotional activists after DUSD opted to not renew Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.
Save Our Schools Arizona—a leftist group that identifies as a “nonpartisan community based organization”—led the campaign of oppression by posting a hack opinion editorial on social media. Anxiety-ridden constituents (including the director of an anti-God organization) manifested in the comment section with cries of outrage. Wow. I didn’t know saving Arizona schools meant converting every campus into psychiatric medical facilities!
With sensational clarity, Arizona’s Family reported that DUSD’s decision came amid “a fiery exchange after [board] members voted to eliminate the role of social workers within their school district.” Did anybody in the bullpen even watch the November 16 board meeting? I did. Of course, I don’t have a predisposition to rage, so I viewed it as a thoughtful discussion with differing opinions. Board Member Jo Grant blessed me with her deliberate and persistent, social-emotional vantage point. She got outvoted. Where’s the fire?
Board Members Dawn Densmore and Jennifer Drake personally assured me that because ESSER funds were drying up, it was in the district’s best interest not to renew without a financial plan to supplement looming deficiencies. They also confirmed the district would retain numerous student support positions, including psychologists, counselors, and behavior interventionists.
Densmore said, “For me…it’s not a slam on the profession of social workers. I genuinely don’t think all of them [have a leftist agenda]. But at the same time…places of education should not be healthcare institutions. If parents have children who go through issues where they need additional support—and I [personally] had one child who needed it—take them out of school and get them into counseling. I would have never expected the school to take care of that and replace me as a parent in that situation.”
Drake agreed, “It is the parent’s responsibility [to take care] of the health and wellbeing of their child—not the school. When a child is at school, their priority is safety and education. If your child needs mental health or medical services, then as a parent, it is your responsibility to provide that. The school can get outside resources, but having these services inside the school is unacceptable. Taxpayers should not be paying for this.”
Densmore and Drake also emphasized that educators should not bear the consequences of attendance deficits and low test scores when emotional needs become disruptive to learning environments.
In response to the small faction of obnoxious critics who branded DUSD “cruel” and “irresponsible,” Densmore and Drake said, “Parents need to start parenting. Stop using schools as a crutch—for vaccinations, for dental work, etc.…If your kid is sick, whether it’s physical or mental, take them to the doctor. If your kid is suffering mentally, why would you rely on a school [district] for something like that?”
I’ll wrap this up by pointing out that 2020 was America’s Enlightenment period where we discovered a supposed new and improved job function for social workers. According to the National Association of Social Workers, these mental health warriors are now equipped to practice a more inclusive, equitable, anti-racist approach. And they want us to rest assured that no matter what issues students face inside or outside the classroom, affirming their gender-identity and empathizing with their skin color is sure to be the cure.
Seriously, parents, why haven’t you pulled your kids out of Arizona public schools?
For nearly two decades, Tiffany Benson’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed all other interests. When she’s not investigating Kennedy Assassination conspiracy theories, she enjoys journaling and contributing to her blogBigviewsmallwindow.com. She encourages average citizens to take on an active role in the grassroots fight for future generations.
Save Our Schools Arizona (SOS) and some Dem lawmakers were up in arms last week. And anytime that happens, you know you’re probably doing something right.
Last Wednesday, the Republican-led legislature passed the $17.8 billion budget, and it was a big win for students, parents, school choice, and Arizona’s taxpayers. Despite the fact that Governor Katie Hobbs made it clear that she planned to dismantle school choice for all with a full repeal of the beloved Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA), Hobbs signed the budget without any cap or restrictions on the historic program. This should be cause for celebration—unless, of course, you’re SOS or certain Democrat lawmakers.
Predictably, SOS got right to work on spreading lies about the popular ESA program, claiming it would drain K-12 public schools of funding, hurt Arizona’s economy, and even bankrupt the state. That last lie is particularly absurd, but then again SOS has a history of such desperation when its back is against the wall. (Can you imagine being this bent out of shape that children from all walks of life can get an education that best fits their needs?)
The reality is that the ESA program has absolutely exploded during this fiscal year…
