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Issue: Noah Karvelis

A tale of two votes: One will walk, the other won’t – yet

Thousands of teachers, students and public education advocates rallied at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Thousands of teachers, students and public education advocates rallied at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Cheryl Foster is ready to walk out of her classroom.

She’s afraid it could mean the end of her 26-year career, and she worries deeply about what that could mean for her students.

But she’ll do it. She’ll do it for them, said Foster, who was among the wave of protesters who carried handcrafted signs during Red for Ed demonstrations at the Capitol in recent weeks.

But for Foster and her fellow teachers who carried the signs, anxiety about their careers and their students, and frustration over the voting process grew as they weighed whether to strike in spite of Gov. Doug Ducey’s plan for a 20 percent raise by the 2020 school year.

The decision on whether to walk out of schools across the state went to a three-day vote organized by Arizona Educators United and the Arizona Education Association that began April 17.

Cheryl Foster has been a teacher for 26 years. Though she fears that leaving her classroom could mean the end of that career, she supports a statewide walk-out for Arizona Educators United's demands. (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Foster)
Cheryl Foster has been a teacher for 26 years. Though she fears that leaving her classroom could mean the end of that career, she supports a statewide walk-out for Arizona Educators United’s demands. (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Foster)

Foster, a fourth grade teacher at Kyrene de la Sierra Elementary School, voted in favor.

She cast her vote after she and 12 other teachers met with the governor on April 17.

She said the meeting felt “impersonal” and “calculated. She said it seemed like a PR stunt rather than a genuine discussion about solutions that weren’t his own and that he “did it for the tweet” he later sent about the meeting.

She said he missed the heart of the movement, missed that their passion lies in the children they serve every day.

“Teachers are not just teachers of science and social studies and math,” she said. “We become caregivers, and we become so connected to our students.”

Ducey’s teacher raise proposal does not include dollars for additional school counselors or pay increases for school support staff or increased per pupil funding, so Foster was not satisfied.

Tiffany Huisman, a ninth grade teacher in the Phoenix Union High School District, was also among the teachers who met with Ducey, but she left feeling a bit more optimistic, and she ended up voting against a walkout.

“I added my own box that said, ‘not right now,’” she said.

She said she thinks the effect on end-of-year activities and graduations would be too great.

Huisman said she would support a walkout at a future time, though, if Ducey and the Legislature prove not to be committed to funding public schools beyond this election cycle.

She felt the governor was genuine and more candid then she expected, even if he did not seem to fully grasp that his plan addressed but a “sliver of the problem.”

Tiffany Huisman, a ninth grade teacher, was left cautiously optimistic about Gov. Doug Ducey’s plan for teacher raises after meeting with him and a dozen other teachers on April 17. She’s not yet sure she’ll stand with her colleagues if they choose to walk out of schools statewide. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Huisman)
Tiffany Huisman, a ninth grade teacher, was left cautiously optimistic about Gov. Doug Ducey’s plan for teacher raises after meeting with him and a dozen other teachers on April 17. She’s not yet sure she’ll stand with her colleagues if they choose to walk out of schools statewide. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Huisman)

Huisman said the move to vote felt rushed, and not enough was known about how the decisions to proceed with it or the voting process were made.

“I know we have momentum, but we must be thoughtful in our approach and look toward a longer-term strategy,” she said. “I’m just not sure this is the right approach.”

Huisman took what she called a Red for Ed field trip, meeting not just with Ducey but also with Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, and Rep. Lela Alston, D-Phoenix, to learn about the legislative process.

The experience was energizing, she said, and she wished more of her colleagues would take it upon themselves to do the same.

Instead, they were taking a vote on whether to leave their schools without a clear plan: how long would a walk-out last, when would it even begin, what would happen to their students?

“This is stressful. This is my life. This is my livelihood. These are my kids,” Huisman said. “And I will do everything for them to ensure they get the best possible education in Arizona. Right now, they are getting substandard leftovers.”

Board of Education delays discipline discussion for striking teachers

Teachers rally outside the Arizona House of Representatives Monday, April 30, 2018, in Phoenix on their third day of walk outs. Teachers in Arizona and Colorado walked out of their classes over low salaries keeping hundreds of thousands of students out of school. It's the latest in a series of strikes across the nation over low teacher pay. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Teachers rally outside the Arizona House of Representatives Monday, April 30, 2018, in Phoenix on their third day of walk outs. (AP Photo/Matt York)

The state Board of Education won’t be weighing whether to discipline tens of thousands of teachers who walked out during the #RedForEd strike — at least not yet.

Board President Lucas Narducci on Friday yanked the subject of the board’s authority to sanction educators from the agenda for Monday’s meeting, calling any discussion of the issue “premature at this time.”

`The board does not have enough information or legal advice to have a constructive discussion,” he said in a statement, saying the board will “seek more guidance through legal counsel in due course.”

Narducci’s move is a setback for state schools chief Diane Douglas.

It has been Douglas who, even before the strike started, that teachers should be investigated — and, if appropriate, disciplined — for breaching their contracts. And while it was Narducci’s decision to examine the issue, Douglas said it was with her backing, and that the call for a discussion was a “mutual” determination.

But the superintendent of public instruction has made no secret for months of her belief that teachers who didn’t show up in class were acting illegally and should be punished in some way, saying Friday she told teachers “right from the beginning” that a strike is illegal in Arizona.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas (Photo by Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services)
Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas (Photo by Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services)

Only thing is, Douglas, by herself, is powerless to do anything: Only the full Board of Education, on which she serves, has the ability to take disciplinary action, whether a reprimand or censure, at one extreme or the more severe suspension or revocation of someone’s teaching certificate.

But Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, said there’s nothing for the state board to investigate about individual teachers.

“The district made a decision to close the school,” he said, though he conceded that took place when administrators found there would be too few staffers in attendance to open a building. But Thomas said if the school was closed — whether for lack of staff or simply bad weather — a teacher who doesn’t show up has done nothing wrong.

As to other cases of teachers who did not show up, Thomas said school districts all have various policies that allow teachers to take personal time.

From his perspective, he said the whole push to look at the issue of whether teachers should be disciplined is political.

“If there wasn’t an election in November, this wouldn’t be an issue,” he said, referring to the fact that Douglas is seeking reelection.

“This is saber rattling,” Thomas said. “The superintendent is playing to her base.”

The issue does have political overtones. In fact, it came up Wednesday during a televised debate among the five Republicans who hope to be state schools chief for the next four years.

“They didn’t strike,” said Tracy Livingston. “The doors were closed.”

“The doors would have never been closed if the teachers didn’t vote to walk out,” Douglas responded.

Livingston, who is a teacher, said while she didn’t support the walkout, she does not believe those who did stay away from class should be disciplined.

And Jonathan Gelbart said while he, too, did not support the walkout, he said there’s “no realistic way” to discipline those who stayed away from their classrooms, some for more than the week that some schools remained closed.

On Friday Douglas conceded the practical problems of trying to discipline teachers who did not go to work.

It starts with how to separate out those teachers who stayed away on purpose to strike versus those who may not have wanted to strike but simply found their schools closed. But Douglas said there was a way — if only teachers would have followed her advice.

“I very, very loudly and clearly for a week before that strike told any teacher who disagreed with this and didn’t want to walk out that they should very clearly, in their personnel file, make sure their district is aware of their thoughts and their intent to come to school and work,” she said. Still, Douglas has no idea how many actually followed her advice.

There’s an even more basic issue: Should the state consider suspending or revoking the teaching certificates of those who went on strike given that Arizona already has a shortage of certified teachers.

“I don’t know,” Douglas responded. “That’s a very theoretical question.”

But the superintendent told Capitol Media Services she remains convinced that some sort of sanction is necessary, at least to set a precedent.

“Do we let our teachers just walk out on children any time they feel like it at the behest of any political operative who comes along and pulls their strings?” Douglas said. And Douglas said it would be wrong to see the issue of teacher discipline in this case as something special or unusual.

“We routinely censure teachers who walk out on their contracts,” she said. “I guess the rhetorical question is, if you do something wrong that you normally get disciplined for, if you do it with enough people, do we then just say it doesn’t matter anymore?”

As much as Thomas sees the push by Douglas for discipline as political, she has her own take on the issue, calling the whole walkout ” a political stunt.” She said the governor’s offer of a 19 percent pay hike by 2020 “was already on the table before they even voted to strike.”

But Thomas said that’s telling only half the story, noting that lawmakers had yet to consider the matter by the time teachers and other staff showed up in front of the Capitol.

“You had thousands of educators that wanted to see this process all the way through,” he said.

“I don’t think that anyone could have guaranteed that that would go through,” Thomas continued. “I think it went through because we were out there.”

 

Ducey to meet with ‘decision makers,’ not teachers to talk about salaries

Arizona teachers walk into the senate building as they protest for higher pay at the capitol Wednesday, March 21, 2018, in Phoenix. The protest comes as educators try to persuade the Legislature and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to boost their pay significantly. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona teachers walk into the senate building as they protest for higher pay at the capitol Wednesday, March 21, 2018, in Phoenix. The protest comes as educators try to persuade the Legislature and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to boost their pay significantly. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Gov. Doug Ducey won’t meet with the leaders of two teacher groups to talk about salaries and related issues even as they are taking the first steps toward a walkout.

The governor’s statement comes less than a week after a request by Noah Karvelis of Arizona Educators United and Joe Thomas of the Arizona Education Association “to begin a negotiation process to resolve the #RedForEd demands.” That includes not just the 20 percent salary increase to compete with neighboring states but also restoring education levels to where they were a decade ago.

It also comes as Arizona Educators United is working with its member teachers to set a date for walkout to get the attention of Ducey and legislators and show they are serious.

Ducey, in essence, has written off both groups as irrelevant to his own education funding plans.

Noah Karvelis
Noah Karvelis

“We’re meeting with the decision makers,” the governor said, meaning school superintendents and other officials. “And we’re going to continue to meet with the decision makers.”

Karvelis told Capitol Media Services the decision is disappointing — but not entirely a surprise.

“We feared that,” he said.

“We hoped that wasn’t true,” Karvelis continued. “We thought maybe he would come to the table on this. But he’s continuing to ignore us.”

Meanwhile, Ducey is sticking with his plan to give teachers a 1 percent pay hike this coming year on top of a 1 percent increase for the current school year.

Ducey’s position could have implications — and soon.

Karvelis said Tuesday his newly formed group is “about to hit the numbers we are looking for” in terms of job actions. That includes both walk-ins where teachers remain outside until the start of the day and all enter at once to show solidarity, and actual walk-outs where they simply do not show up.

“We will be taking escalated action and plan to set a date shortly if we do not see any response from him,” Karvelis said.

Ducey said late Tuesday he doesn’t want a strike.

“We would love to avoid a walkout,” he said. “We want our teachers inside the classroom teaching, we want our kids learning, and we want more dollars in their paycheck.”’

But the governor also does not have a plan of what he intends to do if thousands of teachers call in sick. Instead, it comes down to trying to get his spending plan approved by the Legislature.

“The idea right now is we want to move the budget forward so we can get these dollars to them,” Ducey said.

Gov. Doug Ducey, flanked by education officials and legislative leaders, announces his plan to put $100 million into additional assistance for districts in the 2019 budget. (Photo by Rachel Leingang, Arizona Capitol Times)
Gov. Doug Ducey, flanked by education officials and legislative leaders, announces his plan to put $100 million into additional assistance for districts in the 2019 budget. (Photo by Rachel Leingang, Arizona Capitol Times)

He also suggested that teachers are unhappy because they don’t understand what he’s already done for them — and what he’s prepared to do in the future. And he said that it’s wrong to say his plan is simply that 1 percent pay hike.

For example, he said the state has added 9 percent in funds that are available for teacher pay since 2015.

More than half of that, however, is for new teachers necessary just to stay even with student growth.

There’s also the $1.7 billion cumulatively that Ducey said has been added to K-12 funding since he took office in 2015.

But here, too, that reflects money the state is required to add simply to keep pace with inflation and student growth. It also includes more than $300 million a year the state is providing to make up for money illegally taken from schools in the first place in violation of state law requiring annual inflation adjustments.

He also disputes that teacher pay in Arizona is as bad as some have suggested, contending that the rankings are misleading. Ducey has said Arizona is no worse than No. 43.

But Dan Hunting, senior policy analyst of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said for 2017 elementary school teachers ranked 49th in the nation, up one notch from 2016, when the cost of living is factored in. There also was a one-spot increase for high school teachers, to 48th.

And Ducey said a lot of the furor among teachers is being stirred up by some who are more interested in making waves than actually dealing with the issue.

Exhibit No. 1 for Ducey is the AEA’s Thomas who used a #RedForEd event to endorse Democrat David Garcia for governor. And Karvelis is running the campaign of Kathy Hoffman who is a Democrat contender for state school superintendent.

“Why would I want to sit down with someone who wants to play politics?” he asked.

While many teachers find the governor’s plan wanting, Ducey said the package has the backing of more than two dozen school superintendents. These are the individuals who turned out for a January press conference when Ducey agreed to restore $100 million the state had shorted schools in what it was supposed to provide them for things like textbooks, computers and school buses.

That actually is less than Ducey himself cut from the same account his first year in office. But the governor said he is committed to restoring the full funding of $371 million during the next five years.

It is that work with the superintendents that the governor said has been his focus, rather than with the teacher groups.

And Ducey said he believes that any new money for those expenses should free up dollars that schools can then use for salary increases.

Karvelis derided that suggestion.

“We don’t have paper towels. We don’t have new textbooks. We don’t have tires for the bus,” he said. “So to think that there’s some sort of extra money here or that him giving more money to capital is going to open up all these different opportunities to increase our teacher wages is ridiculous.”

Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, said any money helps — up to a point.

“Gestures like that are a step in the right direction,” he said. “But that doesn’t solve the problem.”

The bottom line, Ogle said, is Arizona has a “crisis” in attracting and retaining teachers.

As to that walkout, while Ducey has no specific contingency plan, school officials are taking the threat seriously.

Ogle said his organization scheduled a “webinar” for school officials on how to handle both walk-ins and walkouts. That includes dealing with the remaining staff on site as well as the needs of parents.

The list of what #RedForEd wants also includes a demand that the state not approve additional tax cuts until teacher pay in Arizona reaches the national average. Ducey has rebuffed that one, too, and is pushing his own proposal to cut state income taxes owed on military pensions, a change that eventually will reduce revenues by $15 million a year.

Ducey said, though, his plan should be adopted.

“I’m on the teachers’ side,” Ducey said, saying he wants to see they get more money in their paychecks. “This is the best and quickest way to get it there.”

The problem of teacher pay is not specifically of Ducey’s making.

He came into office on the tail end of the Great Recession where lawmakers, looking for ways to balance the budget even as they approved tax cuts, made major slices in state funding, with K-12 education taking a huge hit.

In the 2007-2008 school year, the state provided $4,959 in per student funding. That dropped as low as $3,814 by the 2011-2012 school year, according to legislative budget analysts.

When Ducey took office, the figure was $4,154. It now is $4,720.

That goes to the teachers’ demand to restore state funding to pre-recession levels.

It will take more than getting Arizona back to that $4,959 figure: With inflation, that figure is now worth less than $4,200.

Ducey, legislative leaders arrive at teacher pay deal

Gov. Doug Ducey announces a plan to give teachers a 20 percent raise over the next three fiscal years. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Gov. Doug Ducey announces a plan to give teachers a 20 percent raise over the next three fiscal years. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Arizona House and Senate leaders have reached a deal with Gov. Doug Ducey on a plan to fund his proposal for a 20-percent pay hike for teachers, but they won’t disclose how they’ll pay for it.

After reiterating his vow to deliver on a pay raise even as teachers marched to the Capitol, Ducey issued a joint statement with House Speaker J.D. Mesnard and Senate President Steve Yarbrough on Friday afternoon that the plan is now a “reality.”

“Today, we are pleased to announce that this plan is a reality. Arizona is delivering on its commitment to our students and teachers,” the leaders said.

But the announcement, which came on the heels of the “Red for Ed” movement announcing Arizona teachers will press on with their strike next week, didn’t include details. Leaders said they want to brief their members first. Leaders still have to persuade members to support the deal.

The development also followed the filing of a ballot initiative pushed by the state’s teachers’ union and education advocates that seeks to raise income taxes on the wealthiest Arizonans and earmark those new revenues for K-12 public schools.

Teachers were wary of Ducey’s proposal because it didn’t include a new revenue source, and it relied on rosy economic projections for funding. Other critics noted that the plan, as originally proposed, would sweep funding from other programs to pay for the salary hike. They also doubted whether Ducey can get it through the Legislature.

Ducey makes promises he can’t keep, said “Red for Ed” leaders Joe Thomas and Noah Karvelis. All they have seen is a news release and a tweet from the governor, and that doesn’t indicate a deal, they said in a news release.

“We have no bill. We have no deal,” they said.

The announcement signifies that legislative leaders have not only agreed to Ducey’s teacher pay raise plan, but have also come to a consensus on how to fund it, said Mesnard, R-Chandler.

But they still haven’t finalized a full budget – something Ducey said they will work through the weekend to complete.

When asked about details of the plan, Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said the governor’s office will likely have more to share after budget analysts and appropriations staffers work through the weekend to fine-tune the details.

“We feel this is a sustainable plan. You’ll see the total package is one that is fiscally responsible,” he said.

Mesnard would not share details of the deal until he can brief rank-and-file Republican legislators. But one breakthrough that helped GOP leaders reach an accord is a new levy on vehicles that Ducey signed into law earlier this week. Mesnard said he’s confident the budget will have the necessary votes to pass in his chamber.

Legislative Republicans are counting on the new fee to generate more than $160 million annually, which is higher than the previous estimate of $148.9 million.

That will free up dollars that, in the past, have paid for the state’s Highway Patrol operations and funding for road maintenance and construction. The director of the Department of Transportation will be responsible for setting a fee to generate the necessary budget amount Republican lawmakers are targeting.

Legislative analysts estimate that the new vehicle fee will free up $107 million in state revenues, which can then be spent on education.

Presumably, those dollars will be combined with higher-than-expected state revenues to fund the pay bump for teachers.

Legislative leaders plan to introduce a budget early next week. Scarpinato said the goal is to have a complete budget introduced on Monday.

“I’m excited to have a deal with the governor and the president,” Mesnard said. “Now we’re going to work on finalizing the details of the overall budget, and we’ll be doing that through the weekend.”

Yarbrough, R-Chandler, could not immediately be reached for comment. But he has long indicated that Senate Republicans fully support Ducey’s plan.

Ducey’s pay boost for teachers includes a 9-percent raise for teachers this fall — on top of 1 percent this year — and subsequent raises of 5-percent increments in the following two school years.

Reporters Ben Giles and Paulina Pineda contributed to this report.

Education groups consider measure to tax rich – and poor

 

Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, speaks at a July 5, 2018, press conference to explain why teachers and their allies decided the best way to get new money into the classroom was a tax on the richest Arizonans. A court kicked the measure off the ballot and now education leaders are considering a measure that would include a sales tax hike. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)
Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, speaks at a July 5, 2018, press conference to explain why teachers and their allies decided the best way to get new money into the classroom was a tax on the richest Arizonans. A court kicked the measure off the ballot and now education leaders are considering a measure that would include a sales tax hike. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)

The activists behind last year’s Invest in Education Act are considering a comeback – they’re eyeing a sales tax hike, an idea they have routinely rejected in the past as regressive and detrimental to the poor.

After seeing their proposal thrown off the ballot last year, they’re making other major changes aimed at garnering broader support, maybe even from foes.

Several education groups familiar with the plan said the coalition shifted its focus to a hybrid of income and sales tax increases that would raise roughly $1.2 billion annually. Of that amount, $500 million would come from raising the state sales tax by four-tenths of a penny, bringing the sales tax dedicated to education to a full cent.

The 2018 effort, which collected more than enough signatures but failed to overcome a legal challenge, relied purely on raising the state income tax on the richest Arizonans to add more funding for education.

Also unlike last year, the coalition – which includes the Arizona Education Association, Stand for Children and the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, among others – will first ask legislators to approve the tax hike, instead of immediately gathering signatures to put the proposal on the ballot.

‘One way or another’

More than a year after the original Invest in Ed initiative was kicked off the ballot, the coalition still hasn’t set ink to paper on a formal plan, and has yet to begin conversations at the Legislature.

AEA President Joe Thomas confirmed that the coalition is considering adding a sales tax hike, though he wanted to leave the group’s options open about exactly how much of a sales tax increase versus raising the income tax.

“A hybrid model is definitely an option, but the ink is not dry on any of this, so it could look like a few different things before it’s over,” Thomas said.

Invest in Ed supporters considered a hybrid model while drafting the 2018 initiative, but they didn’t have polling at the time to show whether voters would support it, he said.

“The thought was you’re either gonna double your enemies – some people aren’t gonna like this tax, some people aren’t going to like that tax – or you’re going to cut through some of the criticism that you’re only targeting high-income people or low-income people,” he said.

They’ve since had some time to poll different scenarios and “the voters seem fine with [a sales tax increase],” he said.

And a hybrid tax increase has a much better shot of winning support from lawmakers, Thomas said.

While Thomas is not holding his breath, he said he’s optimistic lawmakers will “do the right thing” if given the opportunity. Still, AEA and its allies are prepared to go to the initiative route if the Legislature doesn’t send their proposal to the ballot, which would take a simple majority vote in each chamber.

The Republican-led Legislature is traditionally wary of any tax hike. Gov. Doug Ducey has also forsworn tax hikes.

“We’re going to see if the Legislature will do what they should do, what they’re constitutionally bound to do, but the voters’ appetite is they’re fine with a billion dollars,” Thomas said. “This will be on the ballot, one way or another.”

Bipartisan opposition 

Neither Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, nor Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, supports the new effort, but for different reasons.

Both senators also said they cannot officially commit either way without knowing what the referendum will say.

Sen. Kate Brophy McGee (R-Phoenix)
Sen. Kate Brophy McGee (R-Phoenix)

Brophy McGee, who balks at income tax hikes, said she found it interesting the AEA might be pushing for a sales tax hike after arguing it is too “regressive.” And, after she and Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, each sponsored an education funding bill this year that would bring in roughly $500 million by increasing the Proposition 301 sales tax to a full penny. Their measures also included a provision for low earners to receive a tax credit. Neither bill went anywhere due to lack of support from Democrats and “conservatives not wanting to entertain such a tax increase,” she said.

Thomas and the AEA opposed Allen’s effort, too, arguing it didn’t provide enough funding to make up for the regressive nature of a tax increase that harms Arizona’s poor.

At the time, Thomas said that those efforts “put the biggest burden on the lowest income Arizonans, and the total revenues raised is not enough to solve the teacher shortage crisis or remedy crumbling school facilities and classrooms without enough computers, books or desks.”

For Thomas and allies, a sales tax hike is regressive since it disproportionately affects low-income earners because they already spend more of their income on sales taxes than wealthier earners do.

Last year, he cited a recent study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which said the lowest-income Arizonans pay nearly three times more in taxes as a percentage of their income compared to the state’s wealthiest residents.

David Lujan, the center’s director, told Phoenix New Times in January it’s good that conservatives and rural Republicans are pushing for more education funding. But he criticized a sales tax hike.

“I mean, that’s progress. But when you talk about raising a billion dollars in new funding, it’s short,” Lujan said. “It really only raises less than $400 million for new schools, and we have a problem with the regressiveness of a sales tax.”

Allen’s bill never got a full vote in either chamber, but it advanced through her Senate Education Committee down party lines and received support from Rep. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa, her House counterpart. Neither Allen nor Udall returned calls for comment.

Quezada still believes a sales tax hike is “regressive taxation.”

“What it sounds like to me is they are trying to get a lot of the opposition [to last year’s attempt] to back off their effort,” he said. “I don’t think that’s going to work. People who are opposed to it are going to be opposed no matter what.”

Quezada was one of the three Democratic senators on the Senate Education Committee who voted “no” on Allen’s attempt to expand the Prop 301 tax by four-tenths of a penny, arguing a sales tax hike isn’t the way to fund education.

Martin Quezada
Martin Quezada

Quezada hasn’t changed his mind, even if allies – not foes – are now pushing the idea.

He believes the public would support a rerun of sorts of the 2018 initiative, since it was thrown off the ballot for a technical reason. Still, he said that voters are aware of the need to fund education and they would be willing to “vote in a way that hurts themselves to help the schools because that’s how big the need is.”

Brophy McGee said if the plan raises income tax, it’s safe to say she won’t back it.

“It has been shown that taxing the wealthy has a lot of unintended consequences,” she said.

Ask legislators first 

Thomas said if the Legislature won’t send a tax hike to the ballot, then the AEA and its allies will go for an initiative.

Last year, the Invest in Education Act collected 270,000 signatures when it only needed 150,642 of registered voters.

Thomas said a plan that includes a sales tax may not fire up the Democratic base as much as a “tax the rich” proposal would, but he said that criticism could be offset by offering low-income tax credits, much like Prop. 301 does.

Approved in 2000, Prop. 301 appropriates roughly $667 million annually from the state sales tax to fund K-12 schools, universities, community colleges and others. The tax was set to expire in 2021 until the Legislature last year extended it until 2041.

“The larger that [percentage coming from a sales tax hike] gets, the more difficult it gets for our membership to support it. What addresses that is an offset,” Thomas said.

About $25 million from Prop. 301’s revenues annually go toward low-income tax credits.

“I think that’s healthy and I think we could set aside that kind of money again,” Thomas said.

The Invest in Ed 2.0 may have some competition at the Legislature.

The Helios Education Foundation is also pushing its own efforts for education funding. That plan would raise $1.5 billion, two-thirds of which would come from property taxes, and the remaining third from sales taxes. Its backers said the plan is to ask the Legislature to refer the proposal to the ballot. If lawmakers balk at the proposal, Helios does not plan to go for an initiative..

Regardless of either effort at the Capitol, education advocates will at least have the chance to weigh in on a Prop. 301 expansion effort from the Senate.

Brophy McGee said she still has to consult with Allen, but she plans to reintroduce last session’s bill which, in addition to funding K-12 education, would appropriate funds to universities and community colleges, saying they have been “terribly short sheeted the last few years.”

Yellow Sheet Report editor Hank Stephenson contributed to this report. 

 

Grassroots teachers’ push sidelines union in pay dispute

Arizona Educators United spokesman Noah Karvelis stands beside dozens of teachers and public education advocates protesting on April 10 as Gov. Doug Ducey gave his monthly KTAR interview. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Arizona Educators United spokesman Noah Karvelis stands beside dozens of teachers and public education advocates protesting on April 10 as Gov. Doug Ducey gave his monthly KTAR interview. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Arizona teachers are done, fed up, over it.

They are willing to take action for their demands – 20 percent raises, competitive pay, additional per pupil funding and no new tax cuts until it happens – and they don’t want to wait much longer.

At 40,000 strong, Arizona Educators United pushed aside the Arizona Education Association, the political group typically charged with imposing their will at the Legislature.

They’re showing the union and others how to organize.

Arizona Educators United and the Red for Ed movement invited public education employees and their supporters to vent their frustrations publicly on Facebook. Within 24 hours, thousands had joined the conversation and many asked the same question: Will Arizona be the next to strike?

At first, Tres Rios Elementary School music teacher Noah Karvelis only envisioned inspiring action in his own district – wearing red on a Wednesday in a show of solidarity. But the Facebook group he created did something no press conference or letter to the Legislature or impassioned call for change had managed to do before.

It harnessed the energy of teachers desperate for more, and its leaders have repeatedly warned that they will soon set a date to walk out of their classrooms and strike.

Their demands and the series of demonstrations at the Capitol with hundreds of teachers clad in red seemed to catch the attention of Gov. Doug Ducey and lawmakers, who offered plans to increase teacher salaries on April 12.

Karvelis (who doubles as campaign manager for Kathy Hoffman, a Democratic candidate for state superintendent of public instruction) said the roughly 40,000 members of the movement sweeping social media remain driven by their demands and a lack of faith in anyone but themselves to see that they’re met.

The Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest union representing about 20,000 public school employees, has taken a backseat, a supportive role, offering infrastructure and advice while Arizona Educators United leads the way forward.

“There are no political parties pulling the strings. There are no candidates pulling the strings or unions behind the scenes pushing agendas,” Karvelis said. “It’s just educators advocating on behalf of other educators and families and their students.”

And that’s where they found the “magic.”

“Something has changed here,” Karvelis said. “Some sort of dynamic has brought people back in to reengage.”

Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas at a press conference Wednesday. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)
Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas at a press conference Wednesday. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)

AEA President Joe Thomas called it a reawakening of public education employees and advocates, who have realized that “if we’re going to fix this, we have to fix it ourselves.”

The movement is bigger than AEA, he said, and the union has stepped aside in recent weeks to give Arizona Educators United the space to lead the way.

“It helps the individual recognize that the story of your classroom is what’s going to move people to action,” Thomas said. “Your story is the authentic story of what all of those policies look like in action.”

When teachers understand that, he said, they’ll understand they can leverage change.

Arizona teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Arizona elementary school teachers earned a median wage of $43,280 in 2017 and high school teachers $46,470, the third and sixth lowest in the nation, respectively. Adjusted for the local cost of living, federal figures show elementary teachers actually rank 49th in earnings and high school teachers 48th.

Most of the comments left on the group’s Facebook page have laid blame on Ducey and the Legislature’s perceived apathy toward teachers’ complaints.

But others have pointed to AEA and what some see as a history of ineffective actions.

Russ Cannizzaro, whose Facebook profile page indicated he is the education department chair at Tempe Union High School District, wrote, “The reason why we (are) near last in the nation for teachers’ salaries is because we are near last when it comes to doing anything about it.”

And Kasey Kerber summed up some of her peers’ fear that the window of opportunity is quickly shrinking: “Can we strike already? I feel like we’re a bunch of hamsters on a wheel.”

Thomas recalled a recent encounter with a man who said the union should be ashamed. The man told him the governor and the Legislature had been allowed to cut education funding on AEA’s watch.

But Thomas rejected that.

“They did that on all of our watch,” he said. “It wasn’t just AEA’s watch. It was every teacher in the state. You can’t just say one group or one entity let that happen. We all let that happen.”

But Karvelis said AEA taking a backseat in this moment has been part of the dynamic that seems to be working.

AEA members and non-members make up Arizona Educators United’s ranks. Democrats and Republicans. District and charter school employees.

Karvelis said they don’t align with a specific candidate or a specific stance, and that’s fine. That’s what makes it work.

That’s what it has taken to gain the trust of people all across the state.

“They saw that educators and teachers were standing up,” Karvelis said. “They felt safe in that place, and that’s been powerful for us.”

Jennifer Samuels marches with dozens of her peers, students and other supporters of the Arizona Educators United movement on April 10. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Jennifer Samuels marches with dozens of her peers, students and other supporters of the Arizona Educators United movement on April 10. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Jennifer Samuels, an eighth grade English teacher at Desert Shadows Middle School, marched outside of the KTAR 92.3 studio on April 10 while Ducey gave his monthly interview. Her sixth grade daughter joined her in matching red shirts, carrying signs as temperatures hit 100 degrees – the first triple-digit day of the year.

Samuels has been teaching in Arizona for six years. She said she works with about 90 kids every day, and she’s fighting for them. It’s her obligation, she said.

She doesn’t want to strike, but she said she will because “the short-term plan of leaving our class for a little while is so much better than” the alternative of sitting idle.

She’s a member of AEA and said the union has done all it could with what they have.

But she said it took Arizona Educators United to give teachers the courage to rise up.

“Every day, the people involved in Red for Ed are escalating our action,” she said. “Every day we get stronger. Every week we get stronger. As Noah Karvelis says, our backs are against the walls.”

If they’re going to strike, they have an ever-shrinking window of time to do it while it can still make a difference. The budget is already being negotiated, and the Legislature is nearing the 100th day of session.

But Karvelis said all options are still on the table, including a walk-out.

“We have to win no matter what,” he said, adding that if it does not get done this year, they’ll start next school year by taking action.

For now, Arizona Educators United leaders are waiting to see what Ducey will do.

“If they don’t respond to the citizens, if they don’t respond to the educators, they’re making a terrible mistake,” he said. “We’ve organized 40,000 people who need answers. To ignore that is to ignore your duty as an elected representative, especially a governor.”

Ducey’s office did not return requests for comment.

Hoffman says she’ll assemble moderate staff

Kathy Hoffman
Kathy Hoffman

Kathy Hoffman was buoyed by the Red for Ed movement and Democratic energy across Arizona, but now, she’s looking for moderate voices to guide her administration.

The Associated Press declared Hoffman victorious in the race for superintendent of public instruction on Nov. 12, nearly a week after the polls closed. Her win marked the first time Arizona elected a Democratic schools chief since C. Diane Bishop, who took office in 1987. As of publication, she was ahead of Republican Frank Riggs by about 54,000 votes.

Hoffman, a certified speech therapist, ran as an educator who could represent frustrated teachers across the state, teachers who rallied at the state Capitol on strike earlier this year. Noah Karvelis, a lead organizer behind Red for Ed, served as Hoffman’s campaign manager in the movement’s early stages, and she threw her support behind the effort, showing up at the Capitol to rally alongside her peers.

But she told the Arizona Capitol Times that her campaign was about more than Red for Ed – it was about a deep concern for public education and funding for public schools.

“I wouldn’t qualify my tenure or my role as being the Red for Ed superintendent,” she said. “I would say I’m the pro-public education candidate.”

Now, she said she wants to make it clear that she’s not just looking to pad her team at the Arizona Department of Education with people who fall far to left on the political spectrum – and no, Karvelis won’t be joining her administration.

She said she hasn’t yet picked a chief of staff, but she wants someone who would be considered more moderate, someone who is respected on all sides.

She also wants to see a higher level experience in her chief of staff, perhaps someone who has previously served as a district superintendent, and someone who can help mend the morale problem at the department she’ll now be leading.

Hoffman has selected someone to lead her communications team, but declined to immediately release the person’s name. She said hiring decisions would be announced in the coming weeks. Creosote Partners is assisting in her transition.

And she’s sorting out her legislative goals – the race may have just ended, but the session and her time in office begin in less than two months.

She said she wants to highlight the positives about public education and take up issues like charter school reform and policy on the state’s English Language Learners program.

She’s also in early talks with legislators and other leaders in the field about getting paid parental leave for teachers, a point that she is particularly excited about. She said she’s optimistic and has been told the Legislature could find a creative way to get it done.

Ultimately, she said she wants to set a positive tone and get people working together across the board.

“This is an opportunity,” she said. “This is a pivotal point in public education in Arizona. There’s so much we can accomplish if we can work together.”

She may find that’s easier said than done.

Hoffman is a political newcomer. She’ll now lead a department that oversees schools serving more than 1.1 million students and billions in state and federal funding.

On the campaign trail, Republican contender Frank Riggs had painted the contest as being between a “neophyte with no leadership experience” against a former legislator.

He touted his leadership experience over her classroom experience and banked on the voters putting a higher premium on the former.

Riggs did not immediately concede the race after the AP called it in Hoffman’s favor, but he did offer his congratulations on and a last bit of sarcasm on  Facebook.  

“As the historic number of mail-in and drop-off ballots continue to be counted, I congratulate Ms. Hoffman and the other successful Democratic candidates,” he wrote. “They obviously benefited from a well-funded and orchestrated turnout effort that reversed the Election Day results. There’s no question that a certain California billionaire is attempting to turn Arizona and other states purple and is willing to spend whatever it takes.”

 

House GOP bill requires lessons on evils of communism

Rep. Quang Nguyen (Capitol Media Services 2021 file photo by Howard Fischer)
Rep. Quang Nguyen (Capitol Media Services 2021 file photo by Howard Fischer)

Republican lawmakers voted Friday to require that students be exposed to the stories of people who have fled communism as part of a curriculum to prepare them to be “civically responsible and knowledgeable adults.”

The language, inserted by Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, into a 232-page bill of changes in laws governing K-12 education, says there needs to be comparative discussion of political ideologies like communism and totalitarianism and how they “conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States.” There also is a mandate on the state Department of Education to come up with new civic education standards  including the expectation that citizens will be responsible for preserving and defending “the blessings of liberty.”

But what it also requires the agency to create a list of oral histories “that provide portraits in patriotism based on first-person accounts of victims of other nations’ governing philosophies who can compare those philosophies with those of the United States.”

Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, said it’s clear to him what that means.

“The reality is one of the greatest threats facing the globe today is communism and totalitarianism,” he said.

Jake Hoffman
Jake Hoffman

“We have governments like the Communist Chinese government that their stated goal is to be the world’s sole and only superpower, and that they will achieve that goal through any means possible.”

The legislation approved on a 31-25 party-line vote contains a lot more.

For example, there’s a prohibition against teaching that someone’s race, ethnic group or sex determines their moral character or makes them responsible for actions committed by the same group. Violations could lead to a $5,000 fine for the school district and the instructor losing a teaching certificate.

And school boards will not be able to mandate the use of masks by students or staff on school campuses.

Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle also used this measure to debate whether the state is doing enough to fund K-12 education, even though that is in a separate budget measure.

But the discussion became most heated over the question of this new mandated civics teaching and what has to be the emphasis of teaching patriotism and that our form of government is better than any other.

“The threat of communism, and honestly, even here within our own borders, the threat of Marxism is on our front porch,” Hoffman said. And he said there are people “within school systems” who are socialists.

His poster child for that is Noah Karvelis who was involved in the successful bid by Kathy Hoffman in 2018 to be state schools chief and the Proposition 208 campaign, calling him “an avowed socialist.”

Karvelis, who no longer lives in Arizona, spoke at the Socialism Conference 2018 in Chicago about the historic teacher strike in Arizona and the Invest in Ed act. But Karvelis said at the time he was there to network with other teacher organizations.

“To teach our children about the evils of communism and totalitarianism is right,” Hoffman said. “It is our duty and our responsibility to do that.”

And that, he said, means having students hear “real testimony from people who escaped those types of governments and now live here and enjoy the blessings of this country.”

But Rep. Daniel Hernandez, D-Tucson, said the legislation misses the point.

“You know what’s a bigger threat?” he asked. “White nationalism.”

Hernandez also placed the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol into the same category.

“So, yes, let’s talk about communism,” he said. “But let’s talk about making sure we are not letting people get away with the kinds of things that happened on Jan. 6 and teaching our kids it’s OK to try to overthrow a democratically elected government.”

That provoked a response from Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, who was born in Vietnam in 1962 and emigrated to the United States after the Vietnam War.

“White nationalism didn’t drown 250,000 Vietnamese in the South China Sea,” he told colleagues. “The communists did.”

Ditto, he said, of the execution of 86,000 Vietnamese at the fall of Saigon. And Nguyen said it was communism that caused him to be in the United States.

“So don’t take it lightly, don’t mock me, don’t mock what I go through in life,” he said, saying he lost most of his family members due to communism. “If we don’t stand up to teach communism to our children, we’ll lose this country.”

The language added by Burges also requires instruction on “the civic-minded expectations of an upright and desirable citizenry.”

While the bill passed on a 31-25 party line vote, the future of the provisions on the civics teaching may not remain.

That language is not in a parallel bill that Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Glendale, already has pushed through the Senate. And Boyer told Capitol Media Services he does not support the provision.

“We shouldn’t be dictating curriculum from on high, even if it’s well-intentioned,” he said. The differences between the House and Senate versions will have to be worked out in a conference committee.

There’s another key difference.

The Senate version contains language that would allow far more parents to use vouchers of public money to send their children to private and parochial schools. But efforts to add that to the House version faltered after Republican Reps. Michelle Udall of Mesa and Joel John of Arlington voted with Democrats to keep that out of the legislation.

That, too, would need to be worked out in a House-Senate conference committee.

 

 

Legislator proposes law to ban politics from classroom

Rep. Mark Finchem
Rep. Mark Finchem

Rep. Mark Finchem wants the State Board of Education to craft an educator code of ethics explicitly prohibiting politicking in the classroom – an activity already banned under state law.

The Oro Valley Republican’s proposal in House Bill 2002 would require the board to adopt uniform rules for all certified teachers in “taxpayer-supported schools” to bar them from a litany of political activities in school. Those include the endorsement or opposition of any candidate, nominee or elected or appointed official; any pending or enacted legislation, rule or regulation; any pending, proposed or decided court case; or any pending, proposed or executed executive action.

Finchem also proposes a prohibition on “any controversial issue that is not germane to the top of the course or academic subject,” where “controversial issue” is defined as “a point in a political party platform.”

But the bill seems to mirror prohibitions already in place under a state law that forbids the use of public school resources to influence elections. That would include advocating or opposing a candidate or the like during working hours.

Arizona School Boards Association lobbyist Chris Kotterman said the bill does not appear to be a genuine effort to improve the teaching profession, but rather a list of grievances.

“The fact of the matter is a bunch of teachers decided to organize outside of school time and they did an incredibly good job and they made a show of political will, and no one can believe they possibly were able to do that without cheating somehow,” he said. “Without using their district email, without telling all of their students how terrible the Legislature is.”

HB 2002 follows a year of heightened political activism among teachers, tens of thousands of whom swarmed the Capitol in April to strike for higher pay among other things.

Finchem at the time of the strike said it was “an incredible show of bad faith while we are working diligently to rearrange priorities within the state budget.”

“To leave the classroom, and put parents and children in the middle of a budget reorganization is quite the political statement. I am saddened to see professionals do this,” Finchem said.

He did not immediately return a request for comment.

Teachers and school employees are already keenly aware that they’re under a microscope in this regard, Kotterman said. But more importantly, state law has already addressed political activity.

“This just doesn’t feel serious to me. It feels 100 percent political,” he said of the bill. “If you were serious about having a teacher code of ethics, it would cover more than just stuff that seems to have happened in the last 24 months.”

It wasn’t just the Red for Ed movement that irked some lawmakers like Finchem.

One prominent Red for Ed organizer, music teacher Noah Karvelis, was specifically criticized for bringing what some legislators saw as inappropriate lyrics to his classroom.

Outgoing Rep. Maria Syms, R-Paradise Valley, wrote an op-ed for the The Arizona Republic after Karvelis taught the hip hop of Kendrick Lamar, whose lyrics, Syms wrote, include “we hate Popo (police), wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, (N-word).”

Finchem also proposed rules against engaging in any activity that would impede military recruiters’ access to campuses or actions by law enforcement.

And in addition to banning the segregation of students according to race, Finchem does not want teachers to be able to “single out one racial group of students as being responsible for the suffering or inequities experienced by another racial group of students.”

That provision seems to hint at Tucson Unified School District’s former Mexican American Studies program, of which Finchem has been a frequent critic. Kotterman caught that, too.

“We have been down this road. We have a law on the books about this. It’s been litigated three times,” he said. “Believe me when I say that school districts understand their responsibilities.”

HB 2002 concludes with an invitation to professional teacher organizations and unions to adopt a code of ethics voluntarily to prohibit “political indoctrination.”

Kotterman wondered if Finchem would use such language if he’d heard about teachers calling for limited regulations or reduced taxes.

“There’s never a problem of unethical conduct or bias when there’s conservative ideas on the table,” he said.

“The fact that teachers happen to teach children during the day does not mean they can’t get out and advocate for their profession just like firefighters and police officers do.”

Many rural teachers out of reach of Red for Ed movement

Members of Arizona Educators United protest on April 10 as Gov. Doug Ducey gives his weekly KTAR interview. Dozens of teachers, students and other public education advocates marched outside as the temperature in Phoenix reached 100 degree for the first time this year. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Members of Arizona Educators United protest on April 10 as Gov. Doug Ducey gives his weekly KTAR interview. Dozens of teachers, students and other public education advocates marched outside as the temperature in Phoenix reached 100 degree for the first time this year. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Some rural districts were left without any representation from Arizona Educators United or any clear sign that their voices mattered as public education employees across the state took part in a vote on whether to walk out of schools.

An online record the group is keeping shows more than 900 schools have “site liaisons” who are responsible for implementing the group’s actions at individual school sites and districts.

But there are still hundreds of other schools without any representatives plugged into the group’s efforts, including schools in rural communities.

Arizona Educators United called for a three-day vote on April 17 on whether teachers, who have demanded a 20-percent pay hike, should strike.

Round Valley Elementary School, for example, is the only school in Apache County with a liaison – it actually has two – and there are no schools in Greenlee County with a liaison, according to the Arizona Educators United’s record.

Diana Hagerty is a district employee at Whiteriver Unified School District in Navajo County, which is home to five schools, none of which has a liaison.

She said there isn’t much awareness of the Red for Ed movement in the district. They want to do their part, she said, but she doesn’t see how they can at this point. To her knowledge, no one has been able to participate in the vote.

Hagerty was among rural educators leaving anxious comments on Arizona Educators United’s Facebook page, imploring leaders for more information. She said she never got a response.

“It just seems like it’s Phoenix that’s getting all of this attention,” she said. “There’s interest outside of Phoenix.”

The schools are the lifeblood of the community in her district, she said, and a walkout would be “horrific.”

Chantel Sloan, a kindergarten teacher of 16 years in the Oracle Elementary School District in Pinal County, said she felt overwhelmed by this movement because the consequences of taking action are likely to be very different for communities like hers than they are in major metropolitan areas.

Sloan said she worries about whether the children in her small district of just two schools will be provided for during a walkout.

Arizona Educators United leaders have told members to have a plan for their students, to ensure they have food to eat and somewhere safe to go.

But many kids in Oracle are on free or reduced lunch and rely on their schools for daily meals.

There’s been some talk of stay-at-home parents taking care of the children while teachers are out of the classroom, she said, but nothing is certain.

And that makes her nervous.

There’s still too much that is unknown to make her feel entirely prepared. She said the use of social media has helped connect rural districts like hers to the movement, but she still feels isolated.

“Right now, they don’t have a voice,” Hagerty said, referring to the educators in districts like hers and Sloan’s.

Derek Harris, one of the group’s leaders, said they are trying to reach every district through site liaisons and education association representatives to ensure a ballot reaches every district in the state.

He said Arizona Educators United is trying to convince teachers who contact the group to become site liaisons.

Missing details of Ducey pay plan leave teachers skeptical

Public education advocates rally at the Arizona Capitol on March, 28, 2018, to demand higher teacher pay, among other improvements to public school funding. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Public education advocates rally at the Arizona Capitol on March, 28, 2018, to demand higher teacher pay, among other improvements to public school funding. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Lack of details of where the money is coming from and what the governor’s plan does not include has Arizona educators panning his offer of a big hike in teacher pay.

But groups that represent school boards and business personnel are lining up behind it, even while waiting to see specifics, calling it a good first step.

Gov. Doug Ducey Thursday said he can find funds to add 8 percent to teacher salaries this coming school year, on top of the 1 percent he already offered. And Ducey said he believes there will be money in the budget for a pair of back-to-back 5 percent pay hikes in the two subsequent years.

Gubernatorial press aide Daniel Scarpinato cited forecasts by economists released just this past week which predict that revenues for this year will be $262 million higher than anticipated, with an additional $300 million from all sources for the coming budget year.

With other expenses, that by itself will not be enough to fund the $274 million first-year cost, much less the more than $670 million price tag when fully implemented. But Scarpinato said an improving economy also means fewer people in the state’s Medicaid program and needing other state services.

He also said Ducey is willing to forego some of the things he asked for in January, though he would not provide specifics. Scarpinato acknowledged one “ask” likely being thrown overboard is a tax cut for military retirees, though that saves the state just $15 million.

That lack of financing details, however, addresses only part of the reason that members of Arizona Educators United are not ready to give up their protests, their walk-ins — and even the possibility of a strike.

Noah Karvelis, one of the organizers of Arizona Educators United, said Ducey’s proposal deals with only one of the group’s five demands. And it doesn’t even fully address that one, providing 19 percent over three years versus 20 percent immediately.

The potential political problem now is that it has been strong public support that has gotten the educators this far, with the governor acceding to demands for a pay hike that only a week ago he had dismissed as “political theater.” Karvelis said some people could see the governor’s offer and believe the problem has been solved.

“We all realize that,” he said. “But I think we’re going to be able put out a higher level of engagement and really educate people on what some of the flaws are in the plan and what pieces it lacks.”

Derek Harris, another organizer of the newly formed and loosely knit group of teachers and support staff, said that will be crucial.

“Whenever you get a chance to educate someone on the real ins and outs of an issue and show them the facts and point them in the direction of what really is going on somewhere, they usually have a more detailed appreciation for where people stand,” he said.

Demands not addressed in Ducey’s offer are a system of permanent future salary increases, restoring education funding to 2008 levels, and a promise of no new tax cuts until per-student funding in Arizona reaches the national average.

And then there’s the question of who would — and would not — get a raise.

There is no new money in the governor’s plan for support staff. And that slight is not sitting well for members of Arizona Educators United in that group.

Vanessa Jimenez, vice president of the Phoenix Union Classified Employees Association, said her “heart sank” when she listened to the governor’s plan.

“Everybody knows it takes a village to raise our students,” she said. “And that village includes teachers and classified staff.”

Jimenez called the governor’s plan “clearly an attempt to divide us.”

Scarpinato, however, said there actually is money in the governor’s plan for classified staff — sort of.

He said the governor is committed to eventually restore the $371 million a year schools are supposed to get in what’s called “district additional assistance,” money that even Ducey himself had taken from the fund in prior years to balance the rest of the state budget.

This money is primarily earmarked for things like books, computers and buses. But school boards have flexibility to use it for whatever priorities they have.

Ducey also has vowed to boost basic state aid each year for inflation, something that lawmakers failed to do for years.

In any other school year, Scarpinato said school boards would use those funds to boost teacher pay. But now, with new dollars earmarked specifically for pay hikes, local officials have those dollars for other priorities, like pay for classified staff.

Harris said that’s hardly reassuring, noting the governor’s plan leaves the question of what raises to give to support staff — if any — is left to the whims of local school boards.

“One person can say, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re going to free up all of this money for custodians and cafeteria workers and all that,’ ” he said. “It’s another thing to actually do it.”

Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, said his members realize that boosting teacher pay, by itself, does not solve all problems.

“The classified folks are underpaid also,” he said. But Ogle said there’s nothing wrong with leaving the question of their remuneration to individual school boards.

“The reason we have locally elected boards with fiduciary responsibility is that they make value judgments in their communities,” he said. He said the governor’s plan, in providing more dollars for teacher pay, gives local officials more flexibility to decide how to divide up the other dollars that will be coming in, including for support staff.

Chuck Essigs, lobbyist for the Association of School Business Officials agrees that having the state pick up the burden for teacher pay hikes frees up other dollars for other priorities.

“They can go to the ‘district additional assistance’ and the regular inflation funding to meet some of the other needs in the district because the teachers would have gotten probably the biggest raise any of them have gotten in their career,” he said.

Essigs acknowledged the plan does not give Arizona Educators United everything it wants, like restoring funding to 2008 levels. Estimates are that, on an inflation-adjusted basis, schools are getting $1 billion a year less now than a decade ago.

But he does not see it as a reason to reject it.

“It’s a great start,” Essigs said, saying the additional dollars will give schools about $300 extra per student.

“That’s pretty significant,” Essigs said, though it still leaves schools far short of the national average. The most recent numbers from the National Education Association put total spending at $7,566 in Arizona compared to $11,787 nationally.

What it will also do is finally bring the amount of money the state provides on a per-student basis back above where it was in 2009, even before inflation is considered.

“That’s a pretty nice bump,” Essigs said.

Newcomer sheds doubts to win Democratic schools chief primary

Democratic candidate for superintendent of public instruction Kathy Hoffman chats with Republican candidate Frank Riggs during the Arizona Capitol Times' Meet the Candidates event. PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES
Democratic nominee for superintendent of public instruction Kathy Hoffman chats with Republican nominee Frank Riggs during the Arizona Capitol Times’ Meet the Candidates event. PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES

Nothing can capture the feeling Kathy Hoffman had when she knew she was victorious quite like a photo tweeted shortly before 10 on primary election night.

The photo by KJZZ reporter Mariana Dale shows Hoffman with a wide smile on her face, head slightly back, eyes closed and one hand mid-motion like she might be bringing it to clutch her chest.

She had won the Democratic nomination for superintendent of public instruction. The final tally would put her ahead of her challenger, David Schapira, by nearly 22,000 votes.

Her Republican opponent in the November 6 general election is former California Congressman Frank Riggs, who won the GOP primary by a razor-thin margin and beat the incumbent, Diane Douglas.

Hoffman is a political novice as has been pointed out throughout her campaign. But her experience as a speech therapist gave her a boost during an election cycle that has seen widespread success for others like her, she said.

Her victory surprised political observers who had anticipated a slim margin but not one that would ultimately lean in her favor.

And she does not fault those people for their shock. She felt it, too.

“In the beginning, I definitely was not sure that I was qualified to run, and I had no confidence that I could win,” she said. “But fortunately, I had a lot of support… and I saw very quickly that my message was resonating.”

She said she matched Schapira’s name recognition with a focused ground game, going to festivals and traveling to far-flung locations across the state to connect with voters. And she emphasized her bilingualism, doing interviews in Spanish and focusing on issues important to the Latino community.

Hoffman and Schapira may have been equally passionate about their fight for public education, but she communicated the message in a more personal way, she said.

She was able to draw from her own experiences in public school classrooms and give the political stumping an intimate touch.

She also drew strength from this year’s Red for Ed movement, the roots of which are evident in that same photo from primary night.

To the right of the frame, her former campaign manager and Arizona Educators United organizer Noah Karvelis is seen cupping his hands over his mouth as he yells out in celebration.

Karvelis ultimately had to step away as Hoffman’s campaign manager because of the movement he began, but that didn’t stop her from appearing as a staunch supporter from day one.

She often appeared alongside red-clad protestors and appealed to calls for an educator to lead the state Department of Education at last.

Schapira also tried to play the role of an educator, harkening back to his short time teaching and the administrative roles he held. But he was better known for his time as a state legislator and Tempe City Council member. He was cast not only as the legislator versus the educator but also as a bully – Hoffman launched an ad in which two unidentified women alleged Schapira had been an aggressive administrator who was unable to control his temper.

Hoffman said she spoke to Schapira the evening after her victory. He had actually texted her congratulations at the moment that photo was taken.

The message seemed early and caught her off guard, she said.

She could only compare it to an experience from high school, when she qualified for the national swimming championship in one event. She said she was flown all the way across the country to swim just 50 yards.

That’s how her primary win felt, she said. You have this thing that is such a big deal, but really, it’s just a small moment in time.

She’ll have to prove herself again in November against Republican Frank Riggs if she wants to hold onto that feeling.

Pay raise gives political boost to teachers, Ducey

Striking teachers silently cheer using their hands to follow decorum on not clapping or verbally reacting from the Senate gallery while senators meet in Senate chambers on April 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)
Striking teachers silently cheer using their hands to follow decorum on not clapping or verbally reacting from the Senate gallery while senators meet in Senate chambers on April 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)

Long past his normal bedtime May 2, Zach Stenerson sat in a camping chair in front of the state Capitol, watching one of the last “Red for Ed” rallies unfold.

About a week after he first went on strike, the 36-year-old history and economics teacher spent more than four hours watching the Arizona Senate finalize budget details, including pay raises for teachers.

He was one of hundreds of red-clad protesters to pack the Senate and House of Representatives galleries — seats normally taken up by lobbyists and other Capitol insiders — as lawmakers spent hours debating the state budget bills.

“One of the reasons I really wanted to be here is because I know it’s not over,” he said. “When I was up in the gallery and listening to all the people in the lobby cheering and stuff like that, it really exposed Arizona government.”

Gov. Doug Ducey is the leader “Red for Ed” supporters love to hate.

Likewise, there’s no love lost between Ducey and those he dismissed as staging “political theater.”

But putting aside the adversarial relationship between the Governor’s Office and leaders of the teacher pay movement, both Ducey and Arizona teachers have benefitted from the “Red for Ed” momentum that swept through Arizona this legislative session.

After suffering more than a month of intense public scrutiny as teachers demanded raises and lashed out against the administration, Ducey listened and delivered on one of their requests.

Protesters will eventually abandon Capitol grounds, but Ducey’s victory — providing a 20-percent pay bump for teachers over several years — will carry on and give the governor a major talking point in his re-election bid.

Meanwhile, Arizona teachers, having mobilized en masse in a way the state has never seen before, will see the largest pay increase they’ve received in years when they go back to school in the fall. They could also keep the political momentum going into an election year when Republicans across the country look increasingly vulnerable because of widespread dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump.

Ducey’s initial reluctance to grant teacher pay raises above the 1-percent he already promised in his proposed budget fired up “Red for Ed” supporters. In return, the ever-vocal movement pushed Ducey to re-evaluate what he could offer teachers.

Call it symbiosis.

The end of the teachers’ strike won’t be the end of the “Red for Ed” movement, its leaders insisted this week.

As for next steps, organizers don’t have any plans yet. Arizona Educators United organizer Noah Karvelis tentatively suggested teachers would hold post-strike “walk-ins” at their schools to thank parents and students for their understanding and support.

After that, it’s an election year, but organizers have no concrete plans to keep up the momentum through November.

“I guarantee there are a lot of people walking around down here in red every single day, looking at themselves in the mirror saying, ‘If they can’t get it done, I’ll get it done. One way or another,’” Karvelis said.

While protesting at the Capitol, striking teachers have issued thinly veiled threats to lawmakers, reminding them of the upcoming elections this fall. In the Senate gallery just before midnight May 2, one woman held up a small sign that read
“11-6-18” — the date of the November general election.

“Please know that in November, the ballot box does listen,” one Phoenix teacher taunted members of the Senate Appropriations Committee before they voted on the K-12 budget bill. The teacher pleaded with members to oppose the budget, but acknowledged his request was unlikely to be fulfilled in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

The Legislature approved the K-12 budget bill mostly along party lines. Several Senate Democrats, who had been largely critical of Ducey’s plan, also voted in favor of the bill.

It’s exciting to see other teachers learn about the legislative process and become inspired to become politically active as they watched the budget shake out, said Paloma Perry, a Goodyear history teacher.

The “Red for Ed” movement is a sign things are about to drastically change within Arizona, said the third-year teacher.

“It’s really fired a lot of people up,” she said. “If 75,000 of us are willing to leave school for a week, what’s stopping us from letting people know how we feel at the ballot box this November?”

But Arizona teachers may have just handed Ducey the opportunity he needed to cement his re-election bid. From now until November, Ducey can brag that he gave teachers 20-percent pay raises without raising taxes.

Earlier this week, Vice President Mike Pence touted Ducey’s teacher pay plan at an event to discuss Trump’s policies, including the new federal tax law. Ducey introduced Pence, a longtime friend, at the “America First Policies” event in Tempe that at times felt like a campaign rally.

“Governor Ducey promised to invest in your schools and support your teachers,” he told an excited crowd. “Just a few weeks ago, I just heard that Governor Ducey released a plan to increase teachers’ salaries by 20 percent by 2020 because Governor Doug Ducey believes that Arizona’s teachers deserve a raise.”

Ducey signed the K-12 budget bill, including teacher pay raises, into law in the early hours May 3, before lawmakers had completed work on all of the budget bills.

“This is a real win for our teachers, for our kids, for our educators in the classroom.” Ducey said in a video of the bill signing. “It’s a good way to start the day.”

By 6:15 a.m., the Governor’s Office had sent out a news release touting Ducey’s accomplishment. Within an hour, the Republican Governors Association, which paid for weeks of TV ads praising Ducey’s teacher pay plan, sent out a release saying the governor had “delivered for the people of Arizona today.”

Some of Ducey’s other legislative priorities — like his school safety bill that initially included funding for more school resource officers — took a backseat to the governor’s teacher pay push.

In addition to the pay raises, Ducey will be able to tout on the campaign trail that he extended the 0.6 sales tax in Proposition 301 this year. While Ducey expressed support for extending the levy last year, he didn’t push to re-up this legislative session.

That is until amid the “Red for Ed” ramp up, a bipartisan coalition of legislators worked together to pass the extension — which some have argued is a tax increase and goes against the pledge Ducey took not to increase taxes.

Teachers forced Ducey’s hand this session, said Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson. Farley is one of several Democrats seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Ducey in the gubernatorial race.

Teachers showed their strength and made their voices heard with “walk-ins” across the state several weeks ago, Farley said. It’s likely no coincidence, Ducey called a press conference the next day to announce his teacher pay plan, he said.

“The ‘Red for Ed’ movement has changed the game entirely,” said Farley, speaking to its supporters earlier this week.

“You have changed the world already, and this budget is an example of how far you’ve pushed things.”

Red for Ed movement no longer a revolution, but it’s still alive

(Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Red for Ed supporters rest in the grass at the Arizona Capitol on April 26 as thousands gather to protest the governor and state lawmakers. Temperatures reached 100 degrees as a statewide walk-out kicked off. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

April 26, 2019, came and went without a spectacle at the Capitol.

Granted, that was a Friday and legislators weren’t at work. But it was also the one-year anniversary of the Arizona Red for Ed movement’s grand political statement.

The plaza where Red for Ed demonstrators once marched in a wide, red circle has been mostly empty but for regular visitors and the occasional luncheon on the lawn – the lawn that had nearly every inch occupied by demonstrators this time last year.

April 26, 2018, was a day for the history books as tens of thousands of teachers and support staff walked out of schools and marched from downtown Phoenix to the state Capitol, wearing red and demanding more funding for public education. Many returned for five days after that initial rush, rallying despite temperatures reaching up to 100 degrees.

The movement is still alive today, but it looks very different.

A physical presence at the Capitol morphed into heightened political participation in the 2018 election cycle – and resulted in four more House seats for Democrats.  

On May 1 of this year, individual schools and districts reminded supporters they’re still active with demonstrations, like school walk-ins and bridge takeovers.

But the Capitol stayed quiet. A handful of Red for Ed supporters showed up in the House gallery. A gathering purportedly planned for the day never materialized.

While educators have continued wearing red on Wednesdays and organizing events in their communities, the momentum that rocked the state last year hasn’t been harnessed in the same way.

And some people are wondering why they aren’t doing more to revive it.

About 140 people bought tickets to see “Red for Ed, One Year Later,” a short documentary film shown at FilmBar in downtown Phoenix on April 30. The film was followed by a panel discussion with Red for Ed figureheads to discuss next steps, none of which included another statewide walk-out this year. PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES
About 140 people bought tickets to see “Red for Ed, One Year Later,” a short documentary film shown at FilmBar in downtown Phoenix on April 30. The film was followed by a panel discussion with Red for Ed figureheads to discuss next steps, none of which included another statewide walk-out this year.
PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES

ONE FOR THE AGES

April 30 was a school night, but that didn’t stop about 140 Red for Ed faithfuls from gathering at FilmBar in downtown Phoenix.

After mingling in the tightly packed bar, they settled into the theater to reminiscence and watch a short documentary film about the movement a year later.

“Red for Ed, One Year Later” highlighted the statewide teacher strike last year, homing in on what has and has not changed in the year since, with emphasis on the latter.

As the lights brightened, Arizona Education Association Vice President Marisol Garcia, Red for Ed leader Rebecca Garelli and biology teacher Katie Nash led a discussion about what is next for the movement.

Garelli told the crowd that literally nothing has changed in her packed classroom since last year. She works with expired materials, outdated textbooks and deteriorating infrastructure.

“What does that tell my students? How does that make them feel?” she said. “I feel devalued, and so does their education. … Nothing has changed.”

The panelists and the audience in general nodded along in agreement, and they wanted to know what comes next.

Garelli focused on community engagement, calling on the moviegoers to keep up school activities and staying engaged with their legislators on the upcoming budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

“We go can small with one school. We can go larger with a district action. Or we can branch out and do things regionally,” she said. “We’re looking at ways for people to plug themselves in, in a way that’s not scary.”

One thing no one called for was another walkout.

Katie Nash PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES
Katie Nash
PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES

Nash, one of the teachers spotlighted in the film, said another walkout at this point in the legislative session would not be effective.

“Most of us are really advocating and gearing up toward a bigger movement if something else comes along. What that looks like, I don’t know,” Nash said. “Maybe that happens next year closer to another election. Time will tell.”

SEQUEL TO BE DETERMINED

The Red for Ed movement found its early steam on social media.

The original organizer and face of the movement in 2018, Noah Karvelis, started the Arizona Educators United Facebook group, connecting thousands of teachers in less than 24 hours. Today, membership stands at more than 46,000.

That led to the creation of “site liaisons” to guide activities at individual schools – and later, to oversee the vote on whether to strike.

And it wasn’t just Arizona.

Teachers in Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia went on strike in 2018. The cross-country call to action fueled Arizonans who wanted to take the fight offline and to the streets.

A vote was held over several days, and ultimately, 78 percent of more than 57,000 ballots cast supported a strike. The rest is history.

Garcia said Arizona had a roadmap then.

The movement did not organize with the intent to strike, she said, but that was what got lawmakers’ attention.

And she said that decision still has an impact today.

“There are more people than ever afraid we’re going to do it. We could do it again,” Garcia said.

Teachers feel they’re in the same place today as they were a year ago, she said. They don’t know what the Legislature has planned, they haven’t seen meaningful change in their classrooms and they feel they’ve been lied to.

“The shock is really setting in that they have done this to me twice. Promised and didn’t deliver,” she said. “You lied to us twice.”

That frustration comes through online.

The Facebook group is still highly active. Members use it to keep each other informed on bills of interest at the Capitol and to plan district activities.

But it’s also a place where supporters have voiced concern and even frustration at what some interpret as a lack of coordination this year.

Cassi Willis, a sixth grade math teacher at Mountain View School, said the online chatter showcases the “conflicted energy” that exists in the movement now.

She said the movement sent a strong message, and teachers felt the state took a step in the right direction for the first time in a long time. But she’s not convinced state leaders are ready to take another positive step, not yet anyway.

And she’s quite certain it won’t happen the same way.

“Last year, we started by doing things that didn’t interfere with school and instruction. … The walkout happened after all of those measures didn’t have the outcome we wanted. This year, we haven’t been as organized. We haven’t done those things,” Willis said.

The walkout was a last resort that no one wanted to take. But at least they delivered warning shots before it came to that, Willis said.

She sees no clear reason to escalate their actions again now, but she said not everyone agrees with her.

“Some teachers saw the power of the movement and they want to continue that momentum. They don’t want to lose that – I totally get that. But there are a lot of teachers who are hesitant because we want to be in the classroom with our kids,” she said.

Willis said that momentum still exists today – it’s just not being channeled in the same direction. And no one seems to agree on how best to accomplish their goals.

Red for Ed leader Rebecca Garelli, Chandler High School biology teacher Katie Nash and Arizona Education Association Vice President host a panel discussion after a screening of "Red for Ed, One Year Later," a short documentary film shown at FilmBar in Phoenix on April 30. Nash, who was showcased in the film, said Red for Ed supporters have to stay engaged with the movement after little has changed since the height of the movement last year. PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES
Red for Ed leader Rebecca Garelli, Chandler High School biology teacher Katie Nash and Arizona Education Association Vice President host a panel discussion after a screening of “Red for Ed, One Year Later,” a short documentary film shown at FilmBar in Phoenix on April 30. Nash, who was showcased in the film, said Red for Ed supporters have to stay engaged with the movement after little has changed since the height of the movement last year. PHOTO BY KATIE CAMPBELL/ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES

LASTING LEGACY

“A movement is actions no matter what they look like,” Garelli told the FilmBar gathering on April 30.

The choice is largely in the hands of individuals now.

Garcia said there was no mass effort planned for May 1, despite talk that stemmed from a video recording of one woman telling members to show up at the Capitol carrying red umbrellas.

Other states planned large-scale demonstrations that day, but not Arizona, Garcia said. The decision was left to the individual schools.

There was, however, an action network created online. As of late May 2, the network showed a goal of 200 events across the state on May 1. More than 170 were recorded.

But budget night at the Capitol is coming and Garcia said leaders couldn’t keep their members away from the Legislature when that time comes, even if they wanted to.

They still want to see pay raises for all employees. They want capital funding to fix crumbling buildings. And they want permanent funding solutions for public schools.

The movement woke people up, Garcia said. And while it looks different today, it’s still fighting the fight that began in 2018.

In her eyes – in many eyes –  the problem remains the same in 2019.

“We’re patching little holes and not talking about rehauling the way that we fund education,” she said.

Teachers end short-lived strike

Arizona Educators United organizer Noah Karvelis addresses reporters and Red for Ed demonstrators after calling teachers back to their classrooms beginning on May 3 - if the Legislature adopts a budget that includes Gov. Doug Ducey's proposed 20 percent teacher pay raises by 2020. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Arizona Educators United organizer Noah Karvelis addresses reporters and Red for Ed demonstrators after calling teachers back to their classrooms beginning on May 3 – if the Legislature adopts a budget that includes Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposed 20 percent teacher pay raises by 2020. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

The Arizona Educators United and Arizona Education Association called for an end to the Red for Ed strike today, leaving most of their demands on the table.

As the fourth day of demonstrations at the state Capitol came to a close, AEU organizer Noah Karvelis and AEA President Joe Thomas called for teachers and public education employees to return to school starting on May 3 if Legislators adopt a budget by then.

That means the strike will have lasted five days when schools reopen. Strikes in West Virginia and Oklahoma lasted for about twice as long.

“Our fight is not over,” said Arizona Educators United organizer Rebecca Garelli at a press conference surrounded by Red for Ed demonstrators. “We have options, but it is time to get back to our students and back to our classrooms.”

The announcement came after some districts had already announced their intentions to reopen on Thursday and dozens of teachers speaking before the House Appropriations Committee urged legislators to oppose the budget.

Teachers later shut down the Senate Appropriations Committee by chanting that the budget wasn’t good enough.

AEU organizer Noah Karvelis said the group’s fight was not over, and insisted public education employees would not be returning to work with nothing to show for their efforts.

He specifically claimed the extension of the 0.6-cent sales tax for education funding under Proposition 301, which Karvelis said Gov. Doug Ducey had shown no interest in supporting before the Red for Ed movement.

Ducey has signaled his support for an extension of Prop. 301 and even an openness to alterations, including an expansion of the tax as far back as March 2017.

But more significantly to AEU, Ducey proposed 20 percent raises for teachers by 2020, including 9 percent in the approaching fiscal year and five percent in each of the two years following.

That proposal now included in the budget currently being debated by lawmakers is a far cry from Ducey’s previous promises of just 1 percent, one-time raises.  

But compared to the list of demands demonstrators have been championing, they are leaving with little to show for their efforts.

Both Ducey and the Legislature ignored four other demands: competitive pay for all public education employees, restoration of public education funding to 2008 levels, no new tax cuts until per pupil funding reached the national average, and ongoing teacher raises until that, too, reached the national average.

“The win isn’t there until we’ve restored the $1.1 billion that have been cut,” Karvelis said.

Teachers set for days of rallies at Capitol

Teachers at Humphrey Elementary school participate in a state-wide walk-in prior to classes Wednesday, April 11, 2018, in Chandler, Ariz. Arizona teachers are demanding a 20 percent pay raise and more than $1 billion in new education funding. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Teachers at Humphrey Elementary school participate in a state-wide walk-in prior to classes Wednesday, April 11, 2018, in Chandler, Ariz. Arizona teachers are demanding a 20 percent pay raise and more than $1 billion in new education funding. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona Educators United have permission to rally at the Capitol all day Friday and most of next week.

The reserved space at the Capitol comes as the group behind the Red for Ed movement holds a vote on whether to strike. Voting began on Tuesday and is slated to continue until 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The legislative calendar online shows Red for Ed rallies are to be held from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. on April 20, 23, 24, 25 and 27. Events were already scheduled for April 26.
The legislative calendar online shows Red for Ed rallies are to be held from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. on April 20, 23, 24, 25 and 27. Events were already scheduled for April 26.

An announcement on the results and subsequent action is not expected until Friday.

“We are preparing for all options” said AEU organizer Noah Karvelis in a text to the Arizona Capitol Times.

He would not say if this is a sign that AEU leaders anticipate members of the group will vote to walk out of schools in protest of low-teacher pay and despite Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposed 20 percent teacher pay raise by 2020.

“I won’t know until I see the results,” Karvelis said. “We have a massive group so it is difficult to gauge.”

Legislative counsel Michael Braun said the group made the request earlier this week. The group announced Sunday that a vote would be held this week.

On Wednesday, the movement’s leaders were vague about what type of tally or margin would trigger a walk-out.

For example, would 50 percent plus one in favor of a strike be enough?

“We have numbers that we are looking at, but we are keeping them internal for the time being,” Karvelis said.

Those numbers are “primarily percentages” – as opposed to total votes on each side – “but if we have startlingly low total votes that would also need to be considered,” he said.

Derek Harris, another leader in the Red for Ed movement, said the leadership team is still deciding how the final call will be made.

“It just depends on what the votes are as to how that will play out,” he said in an email. “We have to make a smart, safe decision.”

Teachers swarm Capitol, demand 20 percent pay hike

Thousands of teachers, students and public education advocates rallied at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Thousands of teachers, students and public education advocates rallied at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Save Our Schools Arizona is not only gearing up for a possible referendum on whatever lawmakers may replace existing voucher expansion legislation with but also for a potential initiative to address public education funding shortfalls.

SOS Arizona spokeswoman Dawn Penich-Thacker told the Arizona Capitol Times that the anti-voucher group responsible for sending Proposition 305 to the ballot is calling on volunteers to commit now to carrying petitions this summer for a referendum or initiative “or whatever we come up with.”

She said the extension of the education sales tax under Proposition 301 was “fine” but wouldn’t put anything substantial forward. Now, SOS Arizona and its allies are considering a new initiative to meet demands made by Arizona Educators United, a recent addition to the grassroots movement around public school funding and teacher pay.

Public education advocates rally at the Arizona Capitol on March, 28, 2018, to demand higher teacher pay, among other improvements to public school funding. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Public education advocates rally at the Arizona Capitol on March, 28, 2018, to demand higher teacher pay, among other improvements to public school funding. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Arizona Educators United organizer Noah Karvelis laid out those demands Wednesday evening as thousands of teachers, students, public education advocates and elected representatives clad in red gathered at the Capitol. Many carried signs, such as one that read, “I had to borrow money to make this sign,” and wore “I don’t want to strike, but I will” stickers.

Karvelis called for a 20 percent pay hike for teachers, competitive pay for all education employees, a permanent salary structure including annual raises, the restoration per-pupil funding to 2008 levels and no new tax cuts until per pupil funding reaches the national average.

“If you won’t do your job, we will,” Penich-Thacker said, referring to legislators.

On the table are options like additional taxes, closing corporate tax loopholes and a litany of other options, though nothing specific is set in stone; Prop. 305 may still go to the November ballot, after all, if legislators opt not to alter the voucher expansion legislation passed last session.

And what they ultimately choose to do will be based on Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature’s response to the demands of educators.

Teacher Susan Suchoki protests at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Teacher Susan Suchoki protests at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Penich-Thacker said the thousands who showed up at the Capitol – some of whom could be seen making the walk from Downtown Phoenix – were a testament to how serious the situation in Arizona is.

“For a lot of legislators, I think this just boils down to numbers on a spreadsheet or pages in the budget, but this shows that people feel this in their day to day lives,” she said.

Susan Suchoki has been teaching for decades, but she said she’ll still have student loans to pay off when she retires.

And she wondered if Ducey was really paying attention to her and her colleagues.

“I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t know how to read,” she said.” Maybe his teacher was underpaid and in a bad mood that day.”

Rep. Doug Coleman, R-Apache Junction, was wandering among the sea of red protesters, listening to his peers in the education community.

Rep. Doug Coleman, R-Apache Junction, smiles as thousands of public education advocates circling the Capitol courtyard on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Rep. Doug Coleman, R-Apache Junction, smiles as thousands of public education advocates circling the Capitol courtyard on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Coleman played a central role in seeing that Prop. 301 was extended just last week, though he says Ducey did not get enough credit for his part in it.

That was a necessary first step, Coleman said, but he hoped there would be more to come.

“I teach in a small district that’s really struggling to stay afloat, to keep our teachers,” he said as he watched protesters circle the Capitol courtyard. “It’s a little bit personal with me. I’ve been there. I know how they feel.”

Teachers to vote on strike, unhappy with pay raise offer

Public education advocates rally at the Arizona Capitol on March, 28, 2018, to demand higher teacher pay, among other improvements to public school funding. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Public education advocates rally at the Arizona Capitol on March, 28, 2018, to demand higher teacher pay, among other improvements to public school funding. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Arizona Educators United will hold a vote on whether to walk out of classrooms across Arizona this week.

In a video posted at 9 p.m. on April 15, leaders of the Red for Ed movement said voting would begin on April 17 and end on April 19

That will include a “vote-in” on Wednesday, much like the walk-ins staged last week that was followed by Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposal to award teachers a 20 percent raise by 2020.

Less than 24 hours after the announcement, one AEU leader returned to Facebook to address conflicting messages that had already spread to its members.

Derek Harris said on video that liaisons at individual schools who are responsible for distributing paper ballots should not make their own ballots or hand out anything before the group issues its instructions.

Harris said he’s heard rumors about an AEU ballot and another from the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, but said there would be just one from AEU focused on one question: Will you walk out?

He also advised members not to vote during their work hours, or contract time.

In addition to ballots, he said site liaisons will be provided with instructions on how to create a secure ballot box and count the votes after voting is closed on Thursday.

Harris said about 110,000 people participated in walk-ins on April 11.

Harris challenged members to double that number in the vote this week. The effort will culminate in community meetings on April 21 to rally support from the public.

Arizona Educators United spokesman Noah Karvelis stands beside dozens of teachers and public education advocates protesting on April 10 as Gov. Doug Ducey gave his monthly KTAR interview. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Arizona Educators United spokesman Noah Karvelis stands beside dozens of teachers and public education advocates protesting on April 10 as Gov. Doug Ducey gave his monthly KTAR interview. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

“(Ducey’s) proposal falls short for us in a lot of different ways, and it’s problematic,” said organizer Noah Karvelis, pointing specifically to concerns that there may not be a sustainable source of funds through which the governor’s promise can be fulfilled in the years to come. “What that means is that these are empty promises.”

Karvelis said the proposal also does not do enough for students and support staff.

Competitive pay for all public education support staff and increased per pupil funding have also been among the group’s demands.

He added the raises will do nothing to add instruments to his classroom – Karvelis is a music teacher at Tres Rios Elementary School – and the other leaders added to a laundry list of needs not met by the governor’s plan: updated technology and curriculum, infrastructure repairs, bus drivers, speech and physical therapists, and reduced class sizes.

Dylan Wegela, another leader who spoke on the Facebook video, said, “I can’t walk back into my classroom without getting more for my students and this movement.”

The leaders put Arizona Educators United on “#RedAlert” this week as they watch the Legislature carefully for anything “funny.”

Early responses to the video indicated concern among members that a strike may come too late if the group waits another week to take action.

Teachers vote to walk out

Jennifer Samuels marches with dozens of her peers, students and other supporters of the Arizona Educators United movement on April 10. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Jennifer Samuels marches with dozens of her peers, students and other supporters of the Arizona Educators United movement on April 10. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Claiming overwhelming support, leaders of the #RedForEd movement called Thursday night for a strike — but not for another week.

Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, said 78 percent of the more than 57,000 ballots cast during the past three days were in favor of walking out.

“This is undeniably and clearly a mandate for action,” he said.

But Noah Karvelis, who helped found Arizona Educators United, said teachers and support staff will remain on the job, at least through Wednesday.

“We need to give our communities time to prepare,” he said. Thursday, he said they will walk out.

“We can no longer allow the status quo in this state to go unchanged,” Karvelis said. “We need to bring the change that our educators and our students and our families in this state need.”

The announcement drew criticism from Gov. Doug Ducey.

“No one wants to see teachers strike,” he said in a prepared statement. “If schools shut down, our kids are the ones who will lose out.”

And the governor repeated his pledge to push to increase salaries by 19 percent over current levels within three years.

In some ways the tally is not a surprise.

Leaders of both the AEA and AEU called for the vote, declaring that Ducey’s offer falls short.

Part of that is because it fails to include support staff, from reading specialists to custodians and bus drivers. They also said Ducey rejected their request to oppose new tax cuts until teacher salaries reach the national median, with the governor’s offer coming up short of that point.

They also demanded the state restore other funds that have been cut from schools during the past decade as lawmakers have enacted tax cuts even during the recession. Even Ducey’s office has acknowledged that state aid on a per-student basis is currently less than it was a decade ago, even before the effects of inflation are considered.

Finally there is the question of whether the money will be there.

Ducey insists that a growing economy will bring in more tax dollars and reduce spending on social services. He also proposes to move money out of other accounts and not fund some budget requests.

But even legislative budget staffers found what they said are flaws in the governor’s number crunching, coming up with their own estimate that the price tag for Ducey’s school funding plans would leave the state $265 million in the red by 2020.

That drew a sharp retort from gubernatorial spokesman Daniel Scarpinato, calling those conclusions “based on one faulty analysis that underestimates the amount of revenue growth in the state.” And he said legislative budget staffers are wrong in presuming that the higher revenue growth through March is a one-time event and cannot be sustained.

Those estimates raise the possibility that even if educators accept Ducey’s offer he could not get it approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The groups did not disclose how many of the votes came from the two major metropolitan areas. There had been talk of opposition from some rural educators concerned about parental backlash.

Noah Karvelis explains Thursday the decision by educators to strike -- but hold off until next Thursday. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)
Noah Karvelis explains Thursday the decision by educators to strike — but hold off until next Thursday. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)

Karvelis pronounced himself unconcerned given the overwhelming margin of support statewide.

Less clear is how quickly lawmakers and the governor could act on the demands – assuming they want to – and where they would get the money.

Thomas said it starts with legislators refusing to enact future tax cuts and rescinding some of those that have been granted during the past decade, including a 30 percent cut in corporate income tax rates. He also said all people should be made to pay their fair share, hinting at prior suggestions for a surcharge on the highest wage earners.

He also acknowledged it would take a two-thirds vote of lawmakers either to hike taxes or roll back prior tax cuts. Thomas said lawmakers can come up with that margin if they have the will.

But ultimately, he said, it’s not up to educators to come up with a solution.

“It’s their job to find the money,” he said.

Karvelis also sidestepped questions of how long teachers are prepared to stay out, particularly with the prospect it could keep high school seniors from graduating.

“The worst possible thing we could do is not take action right now,” he said.

A rejection of Ducey’s statement and the call for a strike carries some risks.

Most immediate is that teachers who abandon their posts run the risk of having their contracts terminated and, ultimately, losing their teaching certificates.

But there also are lawmakers who have been less than sympathetic with teacher demands for a 20 percent pay hike and who would likely be just as happy to scrap that proposal.

In a floor speech earlier this month, Rep. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, said U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the average salary for all Arizona workers at $48,160. And he said average salaries for teachers range from $43,670 for middle school teachers to $44,220 for elementary school and $48,050 for high school teachers.

Kern also pointed out that the legislative decision to extend the 0.6-cent sales tax beyond 2020 will free up another $64 million a year for salaries, a figure he translated out to about $1,315 per teacher.

“I want those numbers to kind of sink in,” he told colleagues, saying it will put teacher pay “well above the wage that most Arizonans make in this state.”

Ducey, for his part, said average teacher pay would reach $52,725 by the upcoming school year and $58,130 by 2020.

All that, in turn, leads to the possibility that the public support that has empowered the #RedForEd movement could evaporate if voters see the teachers as greedy or ungrateful.

It was that support that effectively forced Ducey to craft the offier. After all, the budget he proposed in January included just a 1 percent pay hike for teachers.

Ducey has the support of several of the older traditional education groups.

Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, pointed out that the governor’s offer was not strictly limited to teacher pay hikes.

Earlier this year Ducey committed to restoring $100 million to the “district additional assistance” fund.

That is the account that schools can use for certain kinds of capital expenditures like computers, books and school buses. Funding had been eliminated during the recession as lawmakers and governors — including Ducey himself — raided that account to balance the state’s books.

Ducey has promised to restore the full $371 million within five years. And he has said that schools, which have been using operating funds for those capital needs, would now have more cash for other priorities, including pay hikes for support staff.

But Ducey’s offer of capital funds was not entirely voluntary.

Several school districts have filed suit asking a judge to declare the failure to fund that account is illegal. And efforts by the state to have that lawsuit dismissed have been rejected.

Others, however, have sided with teachers, agreeing with their assessment that the governor’s plan to finance the $670 million cost of the pay hikes and the $371 million for those capital needs is not financially sustainable.

Ducey is counting on strong employment and tax collections and fewer people needing state services to leave funds available. But he also is moving funds around from other state programs and scrapping some requests by agencies from what they say are needed dollars.

The Breakdown, Episode 12: What do you want, and when do you want it?

 

Thousands of teachers, students and public education advocates rallied at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Thousands of teachers, students and public education advocates rallied at the Arizona Capitol on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Public school teachers and their supporters turned out in the thousands on March 28 with a list of demands for their elected representatives.

They want change now, but Gov. Doug Ducey’s response seemed to indicate they won’t get what they want – not right away anyway.

Teachers aren’t alone in waiting for funds that may not come. While former state Sen. Debbie Lesko is receiving the financial support of national Republican groups, her Democratic challenger in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, is on her own.

And a group of freshman Democrats just want to be heard.

Meanwhile, our reporters are getting antsy for the budget. Any idea when we’ll get a look, politicos?

Don’t forget to subscribe to The Breakdown on iTunes.

Music in this episode included “Little Idea,” “Creative Minds” and “Energy” by Bensound.

Voices of the Red for Ed movement

(Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
A crowd of red-clad teachers, students and Red for Ed supporters could be seen from the top of a parking garage near Chase Field as they gathered there on April 26 before marching to the Arizona Capitol. (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

The Arizona Educators United and Red for Ed movement drew an estimated 150,000 teachers, students and public school staff to the Capitol to demand more for education.

Those in favor of the strike were easy to spot, wearing red and carrying signs often critical of Gov. Doug Ducey and the Republican-controlled Legislature.

They came from across the Valley and beyond.

At 8 a.m. on Day 3, a school bus arrived from Nogales Unified School District, which is about three hours from the Capitol. On Day 4, indigenous educators who called themselves the Nahuacalli Educators Alliance played drums and conch shells at the foot of the historic Capitol building.

Some folks set up canopies for their schools or districts to provide shade for their colleagues as temperatures reached triple digits in the first days of the strike. And one canopy was even designated for mothers with children in tow, equipped with a diaper-changing station and power for breast pumps.

But some in the crowd did not feel represented by the demonstrators and their leaders. Others may have voted to strike, but did so still hoping it would never come to that.

Whatever their reasons for being there, these teachers, administrators and students came to the Capitol to make their voices heard.

Alison Bruening-Hamati (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Alison Bruening-Hamati (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Alison Bruening-Hamati, principal of Arredondo Elementary School, Tempe

 What has the strike meant to you?

“My son is 9, and I tear up when I think about how there are school districts that are using textbooks that are as old as he is to meet standards that were just put out last year. I hate that our kids are home, but I don’t know what other choice we had. And I don’t know anybody who went into this thinking this was going to be easy. … But I’m hopeful because that’s kind of our gig.”

When your teachers were voting on whether to walk out of your school, did you vote?

“I did. I voted to support my teachers and my staff. I have been in this fight for a long time, and I think nobody really wanted to (walk out). My staff cried. I cried. … As we put our votes in the ballot box, I thought, ‘Where is this going? Please, let’s not go there.’ But sometimes, you just have to go with what’s right.”

Patrick Thompson (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Patrick Thompson (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Patrick Thompson, math teacher at Aprende Middle School, Chandler

What has the strike meant to you?

“I feel like this movement has leadership that has an obvious conflict of interest, and in the best interest of our standing as respected teachers in this state, we owe it to ourselves to have leadership that doesn’t have such obvious political leanings. … And I think the leaders of this movement have a vested interest in not coming to an agreement before November, which you see by this (Invest in Education Act) ballot initiative. We don’t get to vote on this for seven months. We don’t see money from it until next year. … I think the plan was to keep us rallied and upset until November so we can just oust people the leadership doesn’t like.”

Why do you think it’s important to talk to people who feel differently?

“Just to have those civil dialogues. I don’t want to argue with people. I don’t want to yell at people. I don’t talk politics all that often with the teachers at my school. It just got to a point where I felt like my side wasn’t being represented.”

Ben Englader (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Ben Englader (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Ben Englander, biology teacher at Raymond S. Kellis High School, Glendale

What has the strike meant to you?

“I’m here for our students. We need more funding for our schools in general. I have 46 kids in my honors biology class. That’s a lot for a lab class. We need more supplies. We need more resources to help all these kids. … We need to keep chipping away at our agenda. But I think it’s going to come down to a vote in November and putting those issues on the ballot.”

Why did you feel a strike was necessary?

“We needed to come together as a collective group. … We can’t support our families. I have a second job. A lot of our staff does as well, and some have three jobs. … We needed to come together as a collective voice and stand strong together.”

Raquel Mamani (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Raquel Mamani (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Raquel Mamani, mother of twin fourth graders

 What has the strike meant to you?

“I’m a native Arizonan who loves my state. I’m a mother of twins. I’m a PTA mom. … It doesn’t seem like our legislators and our governor are listening, so I’ve been here supporting the teachers as they fight for quality public education. They’re fighting for all of us.”

How much longer would you be willing to have your kids out of school?

“As long as it takes to get some meaningful change. We want nothing more than to be back at school… but we understand this is a critical time in Arizona. It’s obviously greatly impacted us, but I’ve talked a lot to my children about why we’re out here. I’ve relied on my community, on my family members, on people who support us – grandparents, babysitters. … The inconvenience that we are going through is greatly outweighed by what has to happen for Arizona. We should not have our kids in underfunded classrooms. It’s time for that to stop.”

Lacey Perdomo (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)
Lacey Perdomo (Photo by Katie Campbell/Arizona Capitol Times)

Lacey Perdomo, physical education teacher at Raymond S. Kellis High School

What has the strike meant to you?

“People always say, ‘You knew what you signed up for.’ I’ve been married for two and a half years. I have an 11-month-old. I have a house. I have a mortgage. I have bills. I think until you actually experience it, you don’t understand how hard it’s truly going to be. … This movement has given me a voice and has opened my eyes. … People like me didn’t realize really how bad it was.”

Why do you think it’s important to talk to people who feel differently?

“I believe in relationships and that once people can have conversations to understand instead of conversations to get their own point across, the world will be a better place.”

Marco Veloz (Photo by Carmen Forman)
Marco Veloz (Photo by Carmen Forman/Arizona Capitol Times)

Marco Veloz, former student at Coronado High School, Scottsdale

What has the strike meant to you?

“I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for my teachers, especially the ones who taught me how to speak English when I moved here. They deserve better pay. There is inflation all the time. Prices are getting higher, and they’re not getting any more money. They deserve it. That’s the bottom line. They need it. They deserve it. And we’re demanding it.”

Do you think Ducey’s 20 percent teacher pay raise by 2020 proposal was reasonable?

“We don’t want promises from the governor. We want to see action.”