The Daily Agenda: It's not all legislative theater
She can't veto everything ... 2023 is an election year, too ... And get down from there this instant.
A supermajority of lawmakers in the Arizona House yesterday voted for a bill to lift the education spending cap that threatens to force schools to make massive cuts midway through the school year.
The Senate, however, has still not taken up the bill after delaying for a second straight day yesterday. If senators can’t also muster a two-thirds vote to approve the legislation, the doomsday scenario for schools will become a reality.
Call us naive, but we have faith senators will pass the bill before the March 1 deadline, not necessarily because it’s the right thing to do, but because of self-preservation: The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the teachers’ union have both accused lawmakers of “holding schools hostage” by not passing it.
Much of what lawmakers are toiling away on this year is simply theater. As the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl recently noted, many of the bills generating headlines this year are dead on arrival at the Governor’s Office, including many education-related bills like a proposal to ban school COVID-19 vaccine mandates (which don’t exist), fine schools for not displaying an American flag and ban critical race theory in schools.
This year, we haven’t been closely following many of the most controversial bills simply because they won’t become law. If they make it out of the Legislature, they’re gonna get vetoed.
But a handful of education bills have earned bipartisan support from lawmakers. So today, as we wait for the Senate to lift the school spending cap, let’s look at five other education bills that are worth watching this year because they actually stand a chance of becoming law:
SB1209 from Republican Sen. Steve Kaiser would require schools to develop and maintain a “career action plan” for every high school student. The program, administered through a software platform, would help students identify their interests and skills and prepare for what comes after high school, whether that’s working, vocational apprenticeships or college. And unlike many new requirements for schools, it comes with $25 million in funding. The bill cleared the Senate Education committee with bipartisan support.
SB1231 from Democratic Sen. Christine Marsh would repeal Arizona’s results-based funding formula, which provides additional funding to already high-performing schools. Repealing the formula has been a priority for Gov. Katie Hobbs. The bill would redirect the $68 million Arizona spends on results-based funding to an early childhood development and health fund and would allow the Department of Education to offer early literacy grants to schools for prekindergarten students. Although the bill hasn’t received a committee vote yet, the fact that it is on the Senate Education Committee agenda today signals that it has some bipartisan support.
HB2291 from Republican Rep. David Cook would allow a school district governing board to fire its superintendent if they violate district policy or if the district has a single school that has a D or F grade for three years straight. It would only apply to future contracts. The bill cleared the House Education Committee with bipartisan support.
HB2460 from Republican Rep. Beverly Pingerelli would make it easier for schools to suspend a student in first through fourth grade so long as the suspension doesn’t exceed two days. Lawmakers recently put limitations on how schools can suspend kids in first through fourth grade, but Pingerelli and Democratic Rep. Jennifer Pawlik, a co-sponsor of HB2460 and former teacher, argued that the well-intentioned law created an unsafe environment for teachers. Pawlik voted for the original bill limiting suspensions, but said she regretted it. The bill cleared the House Education committee with bipartisan support.
SB1182 from Republican Sen. Ken Bennett would expand the Arizona Promise Program, which offers scholarships to students who graduated from Arizona high schools, to private colleges. Students attending a private college would only be allowed to receive an amount equal to the highest cost of in-state tuition with a state university, meaning students could be on the hook for any additional tuition or fees at a private college. The bill cleared the Senate Education Committee with bipartisan support.
Elections aren’t over: Two Phoenix City Council races will have runoff elections in mid-March. In District 6, where conservative councilman Sal DiCiccio is termed out, DiCiccio’s former chief of staff and Kari Lake’s policy director Sam Stone faces off against Kevin Robinson, who has the backing of Mayor Kate Gallego, the Republic’s Taylor Seely writes in separate profiles of the candidates. District 8 councilman Carlos Garcia, who joined the council in 2019, is running against Kesha Hodge Washington to keep his seat. Hodge has Gallego’s support in the race that will set a tone for the south Phoenix district, the Republic’s Elvia Díaz reports.
AZ ties to the big speech: At last night’s State of the Union Address, several Arizonans were on hand to represent parts of the Biden agenda or as visitors of Arizona’s congressional delegation. Lynette Bonar, a health practitioner on the Navajo Nation, and Paul Sarzoza, a small business owner, attended as guests of First Lady Jill Biden. Separately, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren was U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly’s guest, while U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema invited Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis. U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s guest was Pima Community College Chancellor Lee Lambert, and U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton invited Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner's agent.
NIMBYs on alert: An affordable housing project planned for a county island in Chandler continues to draw fire from neighbors who oppose it. The Republic’s Sasha Hupka breaks down the facts of the Landings at Ocotillo project and its opposition, while the Chandler Arizonan’s Ken Sain gets into what affordable housing means for this particular project.
Election-disrupting besties: Cochise County’s failed plan for a hand count stemmed from behind-the-scenes support and boosting from Recorder David Stevens, a former lawmaker who calls election denier Mark Finchem “one of (his) best friends,” Votebeat’s Jen Fifield reports in a profile of Stevens and the county. Stevens is also the director of an election nonprofit run by Finchem.
“Finchem and Stevens share an inclination for cowboy hats and election doubts, but project different personas,” Fifield writes. “Stevens is a towering man, standing 6-foot-5 but is soft-spoken and accommodating. Finchem, in contrast, is combative and rambling.”
We’ll give you this, it is a big house: This story with a truly perfect headline (“Town’s approval of big house angers neighbors”) from Gilbert Sun News’ Cecilia Chan talks about how Gilbert neighbors are upset that the town approved a tall, large house that could become a party house, saying the big house “threatens their quality of life.”
Cold means fires: As winter temperatures in Phoenix dipped below freezing on occasion, people living in The Zone encampment in downtown Phoenix face different safety threats than they do during the sweltering summer months, KJZZ’s Lauren Gilger reports. During these chilly months, fires regularly break out, burning through people’s tents and limited belongings.
Arizona to Arkansas pipeline: The University of Phoenix, the online for-profit college behemoth based in Phoenix, could be purchased by a nonprofit that would then affiliate the college with the University of Arkansas system, the Arkansas Times’ Debra Hale-Shelton reports. The school would attempt to become a nonprofit and boost online enrollment for the Arkansas system.
The new water bigwigs: As a handful of key water players left the scene, other water managers, lawmakers, experts and tribal representatives are joining water talks or taking on bigger roles, the Republic’s Joanna Allhands writes. But the water community needs leaders who can come together with “a unifying message that can drive action.”
Didn’t see this one coming: Democratic Rep. Amish Shah’s House Bill 2741 would make it illegal for any kangaroo parts to be bought or sold in Arizona, which is designed to prevent shoe companies from using leather from kangaroos in their shoes, Capitol Media Services’ Howie Fischer reports.
Selective outrage: The Scottsdale Unified School District is again under fire by Republican state lawmakers. This time, three lawmakers — Reps. Joseph Chaplik and Alex Kolodin and Sen. John Kavanagh — publicly called for the district’s superintendent, Scott Menzel, to resign from his job after they found an interview he did in 2019, which was recently re-publicized by Fox News, the Scottsdale Progress’ Tom Scanlon reports. In the 2019 interview, Menzel discussed equity and identity issues.
“My response to the state legislators' engagement: Fix the AEL,” one Scottsdale school board member, Libby Hart-Wells, told the Progress.
