Arizona Education Association

Special Election Edition 2014

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6 Special Election Edition 2014 x AEA Advocate The majority of AEA's recommended candidates won their Primary Elections in August, including all Republican legislative incumbents. This is a huge victory for public education and moderates in Arizona. This past legislative session Senators Steve Pierce, Bob Worsley, and Adam Driggs, and Representatives Kate Brophy McGee, Heather Carter, Doug Coleman, Ethan Orr, Frank Pratt, Bob Robson, and T.J. Shope stood together as a bloc with Democrats in the House and Senate to stop a number of bad bills, including one targeting teachers' unions and one that would have expanded the state's private school voucher program to over 70 percent of the student population. Many of these Republican legislators faced tough opposition from the more extremist right wing this election because they took a stand for what's right. One incumbent not recommended by AEA who did not keep his seat is Superintendent John Huppenthal, who lost to Diane Douglas in the Republican Primary race for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. While Diane Douglas ran on the single issue of repealing the state's education standards, it would be inaccurate to claim that Common Core brought down the state superintendent. Just as there is more than one issue in education policy to discuss in this election, there were also many issues with Huppenthal's bid for re-election. Earlier this year, Huppenthal sent a robo-call to parents directing them to pull their child out of public school and enroll them in private school using the state's voucher program and then directed his staff to fund the vouchers at an amount higher than the state's current per- pupil expenditure. Then in July, Huppenthal was outed as an anonymous blogger, making offensive and false statements on several political blogs. Finally, in the days leading up to Election Day, Huppenthal flip-flopped on his position for Common Core, erasing any credibility he had left among the education community and in the eyes of the public. Diane Douglas will face Democratic candidate David Garcia in the General Election on November 4. To read more about these candidates, go to page 9. 2 AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL AT THE CAPITOL FOR AEA'S RECOMMENDED CANDIDATES Be sure to Vote in the November 4 General Election

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