Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/116561
Bad Bills Blocked There's good news from the capitol as well. While many bills were introduced this legislative session, some really harmful legislation never got passed. Below is a summary of bad bills AEA stopped. Anti-Science Bill Dies in Arizona Sometimes the easiest way to kill a bill is to never have to fight in the first place. The new Senate Education Chairwoman Kim Yee never scheduled a controversial bill that AEA would have opposed – SB 1213 sponsored by Senator Judy Burges, the antiscience bill to teach creationism and global warming denial in schools. Kudos to Senator Yee for standing up for Arizona's students and quality public education! AEA President Andrew F. Morrill raised objections to SB 1213, legislation written by the business lobbying group ALEC which would let science teachers deny global warming. "The curriculum for teaching science is already balanced," Morrill told the Arizona Daily Star. "If there's overwhelming evidence on one side, then within the science curriculum there's going to be a look at that evidence. The controversy is at the political level, not the scientific level." Parent Trigger Bill Fails to Move Forward SB 1409 is another bill Senator Yee never scheduled for the Education Committee agenda. On February 5, SB 1409 the "Parent Empowerment Act," what is called a "parent trigger" bill nationwide, was introduced in the Arizona Senate. This is not a "parent empowerment" bill. It is a "corporate empowerment" bill. AEA is opposed to parent trigger legislation. Every credible parent group in Arizona is opposed to this bill because it is not about parents or students. It is about corporations who want to manipulate concerned parents into sabotaging their local public schools so corporations can profit. They want taxpayers to turn over public property and tax dollars to them. Anyone who suggests parent organizations support this bill is misleading the legislature and misleading the public. So, who is really behind this? According to Parents Across America, "model legislation based on the Parent Trigger has been written and promoted by ALEC, the shadowy organi- zation backed by the Koch brothers that has a radical right-wing agenda." And who profits? Not parents and students. No, the ones who profit are unaccountable corporate charter school operators who aren't held to the same standards as public schools and don't necessarily have the best interests of students, parents, or teachers at heart. AT THE CAPITOL School Choice Handbook Bill Goes Down SB 1285 was defeated in Senate Education Committee in February by a vote of 4 ayes and 5 nays. The AEA thanks Senators Rich Crandall (R), Chester Crandell (R), Leah Landrum Taylor (D), David Bradley (D), and Jack Jackson (D) for their "no" votes in order to defeat this bill. This bill, sponsored by Senator Ward, would have required the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to produce and annually update a handbook of educational choice options – open enrollment, charter schools, private schools, homeschooling, tuition tax credit scholarships and empowerment scholarship accounts (i.e. private school vouchers) – that must be mailed annually to the parents/ guardians of all students in a Title I school district. It would require the ADE to use Title I funds to pay for the costs of producing and updating the handbook and the postage costs of mailing the handbook. AEA believes this bill is completely unnecessary and not a valid use of Title I funds which are currently supporting programs in our schools. AEA President Andrew F. Morrill spoke out against this bill in the Arizona Republic, "The bill appears to be a marketing ploy to use public funds to increase the customer base for private schools. This is unnecessary and probably would run into some legal challenges down the road." This bill was pushed by the Goldwater Institute and is the signature legislation of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate-funded group that works behind closed doors to write state laws and then has legislators present them as their own in order to benefit the corporate bottom line. The defeat of this bill is a victory for Arizona public schools and students. It ensures the federal Title I money is used for education purposes and not free marketing for for-profit private schools, charter school Continued on page 27 Summer.13advo.indd 9 AEA Advocate x Summer 2013 9 3/18/13 12:03 PM