Education
Arizona school voucher program growth explodes to $900 million for the upcoming school year
Arizona’s universal school voucher program that was estimated to cost only $65 million is now poised to cost the state $900 million over the next year, exceeding its available funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. John Ward, chief auditor for the Arizona Department of Education, said Wednesday the skyrocketing price tag is due to […]
Arizona schools chief moves to defend sports ban for trans girls
Less than a dozen trans students in the entire state have asked to play on girl’s sports teams’ in the past decade, but Republican Superintendent Tom Horne said that girls across the state are facing unfair competition, which is why he is vehemently defending Arizona’s trans athlete ban. “Imagine if Dennis Rodman, who likes to […]
Hobbs shoots down anti-trans pronoun ban
Arizona Republicans seeking to restrict how trans and nonbinary students are spoken to by their teachers were sharply rebuffed by Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday, who vetoed a measure forcing teachers to secure parental permission before students could have their pronouns and chosen names respected. “As politicians across the country continue to pass harmful legislation […]
A slew of GOP-backed anti-LGBTQ bills race towards Hobbs’ veto stamp
Arizona Republicans sent a spate of anti-LGBTQ proposals to Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday, forging ahead with the discriminatory legislation despite warnings that doing so endangers the lives of trans youth. Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, admonished GOP lawmakers for voting to pass Senate Bill 1001, which would prevent teachers from respecting their students’ name changes […]
Public school advocates decry failure to cap universal school vouchers, call for revised budget
Gov. Katie Hobbs’ failure to fulfill her promise to scale back universal school vouchers incensed public education advocates, who on Tuesday urged lawmakers and the Ninth Floor to reassess the latest budget proposal before it crosses the finish line. Late in the day on Monday, Republican lawmakers released the $17.8 billion dollar proposal crafted after […]
This is a jump-ball moment for the future of Arizona public schools
On Monday, legislative Republicans released a budget that utterly fails to prioritize public education and shows exactly where their priorities lie. Budget spreadsheets are crammed with line after line of pork-barrel spending for pet projects and a massive appropriation for ESA vouchers to subsidize private schools. For the first time in 14 years, Democrats — […]
Top Arizona Republicans ask to defend trans athlete ban in court
GOP leaders are hoping to defend Arizona’s trans athlete ban, which they helped pass, after the attorney general refused to do so. Last month, two trans athletes and their families filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify a 2022 law that bars them from joining school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. In the lawsuit, […]
Extension for AZ School for the Deaf and Blind signed into law, Hobbs critical of GOP lawmakers
Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill that will continue operations for the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind, but not before criticizing lawmakers for treating the deaf, blind and deaf-blind community with a “lack of respect” by subjecting it to a protracted and unexpected battle over the schools future. “The ASDB community was […]
The Arizona Department of Education doesn’t want to protect students from discrimination
State-funded hate has no place in our great state. Yet, that’s exactly what the Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher program continues to prop up — a wide network of religious and private schools that are taking hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars while deliberately excluding LGBTQ+ students, educators, staff and even families. These vouchers were sold […]
Indigenous student settles lawsuit against Arizona school district
Four years after being denied entry into her graduation ceremony because she wore an eagle plume on her graduation cap, Larissa Waln is finally getting a bit of justice as her family settled their lawsuit against the Dysart Unified School District. “My family filed this lawsuit to protect Native peoples’ right to honor our religious […]
Bill extending AZ School for the Deaf and Blind operations for four years goes to Hobbs
The Arizona House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday that will extend operations of the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind for four years, the culmination of an unexpected battle over the fate of the school in the state Senate. As part of the periodic sunset process for state agencies, lawmakers were tasked with […]
Biden administration warns U.S. House GOP debt limit bill would slash education
WASHINGTON — U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday said House Republicans’ debt limit proposal would cut vital education programs and harm vulnerable students across the U.S., such as those who are low income or have a disability. “It would be taking us backwards,” Cardona said on a call with reporters. U.S. House Speaker Kevin […]