Tell your senator that out-of-school suspension hurts students (and parents) that need the most support

Bad news: HB 2460 passed out of the AZ House and it's now moving to the Senate. This bill would allow charter and public schools to suspend students in kindergarten through fourth grade for up to two days for minor infractions.

Just two years ago, the ACLU collaborated with parents, lawmakers, and community partners to pass a bill that stops schools from abusing out-of-school suspension. Now, they need your help to discourage lawmakers from backtracking progress.

Tell your senator that out-of-school suspension hurts students that need the most support. Ask them to vote NO on House Bill 2460.

Reducing suspensions for children in kindergarten through fourth grade has made a real difference in the lives of Arizona children and their families. Take Erika Ovalle's story, for example.

"My 5-year-old son is an amazing student, but he struggles with social-emotional delays. Sadly, that got him kicked out of his first early education program, and his second program repeatedly sent him home even though they claimed to have the resources to support him. When he finally got to kindergarten, suspension was no longer an option because of recent law changes. That gave me time to advocate for the school to work with his needs, and now he's doing great."

Send your senator a message with Erika's story to remind them of the young children that HB 2460 would target.

TAKE ACTION

Even short-term suspensions hurt students and put a strain on the entire family. Urge your senator to oppose HB 2460.

-  action from the ACLU of Arizona

Tell Congress: Block Betsy DeVos' education cuts

DeVos's plan cuts more than $8.5 billion, eliminating about 12 percent of the budget of the Department of Education

The petition to Congress reads: "Block Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from cutting billions from the Department of Education budget." Add your name:

DeVos' cruel budget plan would hurt children's education, threaten school safety and increase the disparity between rich and poor communities. Congress must stand up for children and reject her draconian budget cuts.Betsy DeVos' Department of Education 2020 budget proposal is a disaster. She tried and failed to cut funding for the Special Olympics, but that was only part of her plan. She also wants to cut billions from public education.Instead of supporting the public schools she is supposed to serve, she wants to create a $5 billion tax credit to shift more children to private schools. Tell Congress: Block Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from cutting billions from the Department of Education budget. Click here to sign the petition. DeVos's plan cuts more than $8.5 billion, eliminating about 12 percent of the budget of the Department of Education.1 Trump rolled back her proposal to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics because of overwhelming outrage.2 But her plan goes even further. She wants to cut programs for after-school activities for children in low-income communities. She wants to cut grants for textbooks and other school needs.3 Her budget would even cut school safety efforts, including mental health services and safety equipment.4 DeVos' real goal is to funnel money away from public education to private schools. She proposed a change to the tax code that would give wealthy individuals and corporations a $5 billion tax credit for making donations to private school scholarships.5 That's $5 billion that the government would no longer have available to spend on schools that benefit all children. Trump and DeVos like to pretend that budget cuts are sadly unavoidable, but the truth is that Trump's overall budget plan calls for a record $4.75 trillion in spending. But he wants to increase funding for the military and immigration enforcement – prioritizing the politics of fear and racism over the things we actually need to thrive. This budget is not set in stone. It requires approval from Congress, which is likely to reject at least some of the worst cuts. But we can't let Congress end up "compromising" with a heartless billionaire over children's education. A budget reflects a country's moral priorities, and our priorities should be education, health care and the environment – not walls, incarceration and separating families. Every member of Congress must reject DeVos' inhumane cuts to the Department of Education. Tell Congress: Block Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from cutting billions from the Department of Education budget. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/devos-cuts?t=9&akid=32107%2E3130208%2EqVBDqr - Brandy Doyle, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: Laura Meckler, "DeVos defends billions in education-spending cuts to skeptical House Democrats," The Washington Post, March 26, 2019. Shira Tarlo, "Trump says 'Special Olympics will be funded' amid outrage over budget cuts proposed by Betsy DeVos," Salon, March 29, 2019. Meckler, "DeVos defends billions in education-spending cuts to skeptical House Democrats." Ibid. Ibid. MORE INFORMATION Betsy DeVos grilled in Congress over proposed elimination of Special Olympics funding - NBC News

Call to Action: Support SB 1270 for Better Education for Arizona's Tribal Nations!

Senate Bill - SB1270 needs your support!

Senator Peshlakai is introducing a bill that would increase funding for the Office of Indian Education in the Arizona Department of Education.

Currently the entire state of Arizona (which is home to 22 federally recognized tribes) is served by an office with only 1.5 employees. There is NO way that this office can serve the 22 Tribal Nations of Arizona with one full time employee and one half-time employee.

If you are on the Request To Speak (RTS) system, please show your support for: SB1270

SB1270 is being heard in committee Thursday, February 21 at 2 p.m. Get your comment posted by then!

Sign onto Request to Speak Now.

Directions for Request to Speak here: 

For more information on how to register for the Request To Speak system, and to use the system courtesy of Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, click here: CEBV.us/rts 

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You can also call the members of the Education Committee. Start with the Chair and the Majority Leader. Make sure to mention if you are in their district.

Sylvia Allen, Chair:  District 6, (602) 926-5409

Paul Boyer, Vice-Chairman, District 20, (602) 926-4173

Kate Brophy McGee, District 28, 602) 926-4486

Andrea Dalessandro, District 2, (602) 926-5342

Sally Ann Gonzales, District 3, (602) 926-3278

Rick Gray -- Majority Leader, District 21, 602) 926-5413

Tyler Pace, District 25, (602) 926-5760

Martin Quezada, District 29, (602) 926-5911

If you prefer to send e-mails, you can find them here: 

https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

Tell your legislators: Stop playing games with education funding

To me the RED in Red for Ed stands for STOP playing games with our kids’ education. In his budget game, Governor Ducey moves money around like pawns from one department to another. He moved millions from infrastructure (fixing our roads!) and AHCCCS (healthcare for those who can least afford it) to pay for modest raises for teachers.

His first year in office, Gov. Ducey cut $100 million from education to give big tax cuts to corporations. Republicans claim that the tax cuts are necessary to get employers to come to Arizona. But companies are made of people with families. What company wants to come to Arizona when education spending is ranked 49th in the nation? 

Arizona students are being forced to attend class in crumbling school buildings and study from outdated and damaged text books. There are even reports of schools without working air conditioners! Our students deserve to learn in an environment that will allow them to succeed, without making our underpaid teachers pay for their own supplies. 

Our educators have some reasonable demands:

• 20% raise for all teaching and certified staff
• competitive wages for all classified staff
• return school funding to 2008 levels
• no new tax cuts until AZ per-pupil spending reaches national average
• yearly raises until AZ reaches the national average! 

Don't let Gov. Ducey treat his budget for education like monopoly money. Tell our legislators to accept the teachers' demands and work with the Democrats to come up with a feasible plan to fund education now and in the future.

Legislators to call:

Vince Leach: 602-926-3106

Jill Norgard: 602-926-3140

David Livingston: : 602-926-4178

Regina Cobb: 602-926-3126

JD Mesnard: 602-926-4481

TJ Shope: 602-926-3012

John Allen: 602-926-4916


May 3, 2018 Video Update here

Sign up for a Day of Action event in your area on Saturday.

This Saturday, July 15th, Democrats are doing something big: a national Resistance Summer Day of Action.

Democrats are hitting the pavement and going door-to-door in our communities, talking to our neighbors about the issues that matter in Arizona -- whether it's stopping the Republican health care repeal, fighting back against Betsy DeVos' attacks on public education, or supporting Democratic candidates who will take on the GOP.

Can you join the movement? Sign up for a Day of Action event in your area on Saturday.

Here are the details:

Say No to Devos Vouchers in AZ
When: Saturday, July 15ᵗʰ at 9:00 am MST
Where: Beyond Bread
6260 E Speedway
Tucson, AZ 85712

Senate Republicans are back in Washington and getting back to work on health care repeal. If Trump and his Republican cronies in Congress win, millions of people will lose their health care and even more will see the costs of their care skyrocket.

And then it will be full speed ahead on the rest of the GOP's agenda in Washington and statehouses around the country -- so what we do this weekend couldn't be more important.

It's up to us to stop them. So make this commitment today -- sign up for a Day of Action event in your area on Saturday:

RSVP

- Tom Perez, Chair Democratic National Committee

Reported budget for the Department of Education: an all-out assault on America’s kids, teachers, college students, and student loan borrowers.

The reported budget for the Department of Education shows that President Trump and Secretory of Education Betsy Devos don't think that public education is important. They have cut billions of dollars from our already struggling school system and programs that help working parents get by! 

This budget proves that they don't want to give our children the opportunity for a better life through education. They have cut back Pell Grants and even work-study. I take that personally. My sisters and I would not have been able to attend college without Pell Grants, work-study, and student loans. Attending college broke the chain of poverty in our family.

In this time when so many young people are already struggling to pay back their college loans, the president and Devos want to charge MORE for student loans, have more penalties, and keep people in debt even longer. They are putting college out of reach for many young Americans. 

A solid education is a right for all Americans, not just for those who can afford it! 

Higher education is vital for a healthy economy. We need to be educating our young people to compete in the world market, not dooming them to a lifetime of unrewarding, underpaid jobs or unemployment. Colleges and universities provide good jobs. In addition to being huge employers, they create support jobs in the communities around them. Just drive by any college campus and see all the businesses that college students patronize.

In this video, Senator Elizabeth Warren shares the details of Trump's budget cuts in education.

"I just got a preview of the reported budget for the Department of Education that we expect from the Trump Administration tomorrow morning, and it’s an all-out assault on America’s kids, teachers, college students, and student loan borrowers. Here’s the bottom line: The Trump-Betsy DeVos education budget would push opportunity out of reach for countless young people, and we can’t let that happen. It’s time to fight back."

Yes! It's time to take a stand for education and a secure future for our children and America.

More on Trump's budget cuts. 

Check out Trump's proposed budget cuts. This affects our quality of life as Americans!

I've been up all night studying Trump's proposed budget cuts. And it's shocking! We need to keep on top of what is going on in our government.

"Trump’s budget takes a sledgehammer to the EPA. Eliminates more than 50 programs and 3,200 jobs lost. Discontinues funding for international climate-change programs. Cuts funding for the Office of Research and Development in half. Cuts funding for the Superfund cleanup program and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance."

The cuts to the EPA alone eliminates more than 3,200 jobs. Now compare that to the 40 jobs the Nestle bottling facility brings to Phoenix (to bottle up AZ. CAP water) or the 400 Green Valley miners who were let go when the mine was deemed "not profitable enough."

"Climate change and ocean research would suffer sharp cuts in the Trump budget proposal for the Commerce Department, which aims for a reduction of 16 percent, or $1.5 billion, much of that targeted at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Commerce cuts would eliminate $ 250 million in coastal research programs that prepare communities for rising seas and worsening storms, including the popular $73 million Sea Grant program, which works with universities in 33 states.

But scientists, including a former NOAA administrator, Jane Lubchenco, strongly criticized the proposed cuts when they were reported on previously, saying that they would harm coastal readiness in the face of rising seas and damage states that rely on these funds to manage their shorelines."

"The EDUCATION DEPARTMENT faces a 14 percent cut under the Trump administration budget, which would downsize or eliminate a raft of grants, including for teacher training, afterschool programs, and aid to low-income and minority college students. The cuts would be coupled with a historic investment — $1.4 billion — in charter schools, private schools and other school-choice initiatives."

This is just the tip of the sinking iceberg. Check out the proposed budget cuts for yourself - then speak out! This is about our quality of life as Americans: our education, our health, our arts, our public lands and national parks, our animals, our rivers and streams, even the water we drink and the air we breath. This is about the science and innovations that make us a world power. This is about being a compassionate nation. This is about taking care of our own - our elderly and our children. This is about protecting freedom and the American Dream. The American Dream is providing a BETTER LIFE for our children.

It's time we asked ourselves, "What makes America great?"And fight like the dickens for it.  

The assault on public education and services for special needs kids has begun.

House Resolution 610 makes some substantial changes. It will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5-17, and starts the defunding process of public schools. In addition the bill will eliminate the Elementary and Education Act of 1965, which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education.

ESSA is a big comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs.

The bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch.

The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting SN kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE.

Some things ESSA does for Children with Disabilities:

-Ensures access to the general education curriculum.
-Ensures access to accommodations on assessments.
-Ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning
-Includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently under-performing subgroups.

-Requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).


Please call Virginia Fox, the Chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and ask her to vote NO on House Resolution 610 (HR 610). For people in Arizona, contact Rep Raul M. Grijalva.

For the rest of you, find out if your rep is on the committee here: 

Representatives on the committee and their contact information. 

Here's my husband Dan's e-mail: 

Dear Rep Grijalva,

I just became aware of HR 610, which was introduced in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. As I'm sure you are aware, this ill-conceived bill will hurt many children - especially from households with limited means. I implore you to help ensure this bill doesn't get passed out of committee. Thank you.

Chat Conversation End

Letter to Sen. Flake about my kids' experience with charter schools.

After spending hours signing and sharing petitions, e-mailing and calling Senator Flake's Tucson and Washington offices to PLEAD with him to deny the appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, I was irate to get an e-mail response that included this tweet:

Jeff FlakeVerified account‏@JeffFlake

Lest there be any doubt about how I'm voting on @BetsyDeVos she had me at "school choice" years ago...

He had the power to really represent the people and our children. If he had just voted against her, the appointment would not have gone through.

Here is the e-mail I just sent to him - letting him know we are watching him.

Dear Senator Flake,

I have two bright boys who have attended both public and charter schools here in Tucson. With Tucson already one of the worst-financed school systems in the U.S., class sizes are so large (even in Kindergarten!) that it is difficult for teachers to keep order. So when Sonoran Science Academy promised smaller class sizes, we transferred to that promising charter school. But charter schools function on a profit-first motive so they eventually let every possible student into their limited space - with inexpensive, inexperienced teachers to instruct them. I later found out that my younger son had taken to wondering the halls to escape the irate, bellowing teacher. My older son, who had received the highest score in the school on the math placement exam, who had been programming computer games since the age of 8, somehow got an F in intro to computer science! I ended up putting my younger child back at his old elementary school - with the stipulation that he be able to take advanced math. After transferring back, the teacher who had agreed to accelerate his math lessons could no longer do it because he was forced to teach two grades in one classroom when a school closed (due to money leaving the public school system to go to charter schools.) My children's' neighborhood elementary school also shut its doors and the students were crammed in with middle school students (at a middle school with a reputation for gang violence). My younger son, who had a gift for math, has now lost all interest in school and is even failing algebra.

That's why I was very disappointed that you didn't listen to me and so many other Arizonans pleading with you to deny the appointment of the inexperienced Betsy DeVos - who will push her agenda of profit-based charter schools at the expense of our public schools and our children. We have got to have someone with experience in education to reform our broken education system. Betsy DeVos is not that person. Education is the future of our country and our children.

Again, I am very disappointed and am watching the decisions you make.

Sincerely,
Jana Segal