Thank You, Freedom Caucus, for Putting Students and Teachers First!
This week we’re sharing the press release from Arizona’s Freedom Caucus and Senator Jake Hoffman, who so powerfully makes the case for why Arizona Women of Action stands up for strong education. We want a system that serves families, students and teachers—not unions, bloated spending and political interests:
Last week, the Arizona Freedom Caucus announced its opposition to overriding the voter-approved Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) unless systemic reforms are made to benefit students, families and teachers.
(What is the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL)? It is a Constitutional Amendment that was passed by Arizona voters in 1980 which created a spending limitation for school districts based on the aggregate expenditure of all districts.)
"With 72% of Arizona eighth graders failing to read proficiently and 68% of 11th graders failing to pass the state math assessment, it is undeniable that the system is broken," said Senator @JakeHoffman.
"Continuing to give billions of taxpayer dollars into a system that is failing the students without also addressing critically needed reforms is irresponsible and serves only to hurt the children of our state.
Sadly, Katie Hobbs isn’t merely asleep at the wheel. Through her deafening silence, she is complicit in the systemic failures that are hurting Arizona children. Her decade-long refusal to step up and address this issue has clearly shown that she is more concerned with pleasing her Union handlers, than she is defending children.
We cannot allow this destruction of our children’s future at the hands of the government any longer, which is why the Arizona Freedom Caucus is standing with Arizona parents to demand that Katie Hobbs support the following reforms that benefit students, families, and teachers."
Classroom First Funding
Dollars should flow to the classroom first. Period. It’s what teachers and students need, and it’s what parents and taxpayers expect. Unfortunately, districts and school boards are failing to implement smaller class sizes, increase teacher pay, properly fund school supply budgets, and the like. The students, teachers and families of Arizona deserve better. It’s time to fund the classroom first.
Back to the Basics for Student Success
Schools are failing children when it comes to properly teaching them the basics that they’ll use throughout their entire life. It’s time for Arizona schools to prepare students for the real world by focusing the overwhelming majority of their instructional time on the core subject areas of reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and history, in an effort to prepare Arizona children to build happy, successful, and prosperous lives after 12th grade.
Empowering Parents Through Academic Transparency
Parents should be in the driver’s seat when it comes to their child’s education. It’s time for total academic transparency, so that parents aren’t just a passive bystander, but an active partner in everything their child learns. Simply put, it is a parent’s right to know what’s being taught to their children—every lesson plan, classroom assignment, classroom activity; all of it.
Parent Trust & Empowerment
A government-run district should never hide things from parents about their own children. Doing so is wrong and deceitful. The government has no right to hide critical information about children from their own parents.
Transparency in District Finances
It’s time to open the books. In the 21st century, parents, teachers and taxpayers should be able to see exactly what a district's real spending priorities are. Every expense, in real-time.
Protecting Children from Political Indoctrination
Parents do not send their children to school so that they can be indoctrinated with fringe political ideologies like critical race theory, gender confusion ideology, comprehensive sexuality education and other similarly harmful, partisan propaganda. It’s time to get back to teaching Arizona children how to think, not what to think.
“The above reforms represent a huge step toward a transparent and accountable education system laser-focused on the mission of preparing children for success and prosperity throughout the entirety of their lives," said Senator Hoffman.
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Stand with the Arizona Freedom Caucus by demanding these critical reforms! RETWEET HERE