Friday, May 31, 2019
If you look at the numbers in next year's state budget, you might think education made out pretty well. There's all this new money: $136 million in additional assistance for schools; $130 million for teacher raises; $20 million to hire counselors or security officers; $30 million for results based funding.
You might also think I made out pretty well if I told you my boss said I'm doing a great job and handed me a crisp new hundred dollar bill. Until I told you the boss cut my salary by five hundred dollars.
Same thing with the state budget. All that brand spanking new education money sounds good until you realize, the decade-long cuts to education have been so deep, even with the new money, schools are a billion dollars behind where they were in 2008. And back then, Arizona had the lowest per student spending in the country.
To see how we dug ourselves in a hole so deep that adding $300 million to the education budget still leaves the schools a billion dollars behind, we need to start back in 2008 with the Great Recession.
Like most other states, Arizona was hit hard when the economy sank like a stone. The state was desperately short of funds. The budget had to be cut, and education took a big hit. The Republicans in charge told us, shaking their heads sadly, we have no choice. There just isn't enough money to go around.
A few years later in 2010, after more cuts to education, Governor Jan Brewer decided we did have a choice. She defied the standard Republican "No new taxes" mantra and supported a ballot measure for a one cent sales tax increase for education. The voters agreed with Brewer. The measure passed with 64 percent of the vote.
The problem was, it only lasted three years.
Tags: Arizona state budget , Doug Ducey , education , funding , dollars , recession , students , K-12 , schools , budgets , Image
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
My posts about Douglas were sighs of relief that she wasn't acting like the fire-breathing ultraconservative she played on the campaign trail. In the early going, Douglas was making reasonable, inclusive statements about Arizona's schools and students. She was doing no harm, which was the best I could hope for. To my surprise, she even did some good. So I offered her praise and encouragement during the early going. When Trump came into the picture, Douglas reverted to wingnut type, but that was years later.
Hoffman, meanwhile, began doing the kind of job I hoped she would from her first days in office. I've been waiting to see if the trend would continue, and it has. Almost halfway through her first year, Hoffman has created enough of a track record for me to say, I'm impressed.
It's important to understand the nature of the superintendent' job to put Hoffman's accomplishments in perspective. She administers a multi-billion dollar budget but has no direct impact on legislators or legislation. Any political clout Hoffman has comes from the way she uses her bully pulpit. Thus far, she's used it effectively. She continues to emphasize her perspective as an educator, which is a welcome relief after three decades of non-educators running the Department of Education. Hoffman makes it clear, she knows teachers, she knows students, she knows public schools.
Hoffman took her oath of office with her hand on a children's book. That could be called gimmicky, I suppose, but I appreciated the symbolism. She was swearing an oath to serve the students, to put their needs foremost. Most teachers make a similar oath to themselves every year before the first day of school. It was a promising start.
There was no symbolism involved in Hoffman's strong stance against the Arizona law stating that sex education courses can't say anything positive about what the law calls "a homosexual life-style." Referring to it as the "no promo homo law" in her State of Education speech, Hoffman said the policy is "outdated . . . harmful and wrong."
The law may have been on the way out regardless. The board of education was facing a suit over the statute, and Attorney General Mark Brnovich said he wouldn't come to its defense. The board of education voted unanimously against it, then in April the legislature repealed the law. Whether or not Hoffman's aggressive stance on the topic moved votes, her full-throated condemnation of the old law helped clarify the issue and boost it into statewide prominence.
Tags: Kathy Hoffman , Superintendent of Public Instruction , English Language Learners , "No Promo Homo" law , Empowerment Scholarship Accounts , Image
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
The opinion closes a tumultuous chapter in Arizona cannabis legality that Downtown Dispensary owner Moe Asnani described as “an emotional rollercoaster.”
“The weight of the world is off my shoulders,” Asnani said. “We fought it and prevailed.”
Justices made a straight-forward call, said Alex Lane, criminal defense attorney and owner of Cave Creek Dispensary.
“We start with the statutory language,” the opinion reads. “Because AMMA specifically defines ‘marijuana,’ we apply the statutory definition and look to neither the criminal code nor common understanding.”
Much of the prosecution’s case rested on the idea that “cannabis” is defined as a narcotic in the Arizona Revised Statutes, and that voters did not realize they were voting for concentrates in the AMMA. The Supreme Court shot down that argument.
Harvest of Arizona owner and Arizona Dispensaries Association president Steve White said he feels a combination of relief and vindication.
“Patients in Arizona are going to continue to have options beyond just smoking the flower,” he said. “So we can continue to serve people who don’t want to smoke cannabis flower.”
The saga of questioning cannabis concentrates began with the 2014 conviction of Rodney Jones who was already on probation. Jones had been found guilty of legally possessing cannabis concentrates, but Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk saw it as an opportunity.
Polk, a long-time cannabis opponent prosecuted the case and Jones spent two-and-a-half years in prison without committing a crime.
Tags: marijuana , MMJ , concentrates , legal , dispensaries , oil , concentrates , medical marijuana , weed , AMMA , Image
Representative Tom O'Halleran of Arizona's 1st Congressional District will be hosting a budget workshop and town hall at the Oro Valley Community Center, 10555 N. La Cañada Drive, today from 5:15 to 7 p.m.
O'Halleran, who lives in Sedona, served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and the Arizona Senate from 2007 to 2009 as a Republican. In 2014, he changed his party affiliation to Independent, and ran for U.S. Congress in 2016 as a Democrat and won. He currently serves as a co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, which represents centrist Democrats within the U.S. House of Representatives.
Participants will be able to meet the Congressman, ask him about important issues and go through budget exercises with other civically-engaged citizens. According to a press release, O'Halleran will explain the full process and decisions that elected officials make. Then, those who attend will break off into small groups to go through a simulation to create mock budgets.
Afterwards, you'll be able to share your newfound budget knowledge with friends and family, creating a more educated and informed society! The workshop is a free event in partnership with the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that hosts "hands-on budget workshops."
Tags: O'Halleran , Budget , Workshop , CD-1 , Congress , Concord Coalition , Image
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
The Weekly previously wrote about the proposed property, which is the brainchild of local developers, Kelley Matthews and Peter Lasher.
Tuesday's 4-1 vote in favor of tabling a vote on the property means the property will be decided upon on Tuesday, July 2—as the Weekly reported last Friday afternoon.
Tags: The Bike Ranch , Pima Board of Supervisors , Tucson , Arizona , Local Politics , Image
The complaints (which are being compiled into a lawsuit facilitated by The Fight for $15 and a Union and the American Civil Liberties Union) come from all over. Women employed by the fast food giant are speaking out in New York, California, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Connecticut, Michigan, Florida, Brazil, the United Kingdom-and right here in Tucson.
The Times article describes Brittany Hoyos and her mother, who both worked at a Tucson McDonald's and lost their jobs. After Brittany rebuked sexual advances made by her manager, she and her mother became the targets of workplace retaliation, which included verbal harassment and the fabrication of work-related infractions that led to their firing.
The treatment of these two women alludes to how one of America's largest employers fails to protect their employees from gender-based discrimination and fails to provide them with a safe working environment.
Times reporter Melena Ryzik wrote:
Chains like McDonald’s, which has more than 14,000 locations in North America, the majority of them independently owned, have long argued that they are not liable for the behavior of employees at franchisees’ stores. (A case that may decide whether McDonald’s is a joint employer of its franchisee staff is currently before the National Labor Relations Board.)
“This is a company that has especially used the franchise model as a shield,” said Gillian Thomas, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. “It’s determining literally the pattern that the sauce makes on the hamburger — it has a special machine that does that. And then throws up its hands and says, we can’t be responsible for how people operating those machines behave.”
Over 50 cases spanning the last three years are included in the lawsuit. In September 2018, McDonald's workers participated in a nationwide strike to protest sexual harassment within their work environments.
McDonald's representatives said they have created anti-harassment policies and trainings for employees, but many involved in the cases don't believe it's enough.
"The majority of our clients allege harassment occurring precisely when the company claims it was making these reforms, and we can find no one who has heard of a new policy or training initiative," Thomas said in a press release. "The measures that McDonald's claims to have implemented, or to have in the works, are better than nothing, but the company has yet to commit to meting out consequences for stores, whether corporate-owned or franchised, where harassment continues to flourish."
The lawsuit is expected to put more pressure on the corporation to take responsibility for the culture within its restaurants, and work directly with employees to craft solutions.
Tags: McDonald's , Sexual Harassment , Lawsuit , MeToo , ACLU , New York Times , Image
Monday, May 20, 2019
We received a press release regarding the forum, which will feature Fadhel Kaboub, a Denison University associate professor of economics and president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity who will address the costs of the proposal to reduce the United State's greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030.
The press release included this all-caps line: WAITING FOR QUOTE FROM ALISON HERE ABOUT WHY PCPD THINKS THIS IS IMPORTANT.
We get that climate change is an urgent issue but maybe next time, you can wait to get the canned quote from Pima County Democratic Party chairwoman Alison Jones before you send the press release?
If you're interested in attending, the free forum is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, at the UA's Institute of the Environment, 1064 E. Lowell St., room N120. RSVP here.
Tags: news , politics , Green New Deal , Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity , Denison University , Alison Jones , Pima County Democratic Party , Image
Developer Kelley Matthews, who designed the bike-centered property with her husband, Peter Lasher, said on Friday that the Board will delay the vote on the permit on Tuesday, July 2.
But Pima County Communications Director Mark Evans cautioned that the proposal remains on the agenda for tomorrow's meeting, although the Board would well grant Matthew's request to delay the vote until July 2. The board could also decide to move forward with the hearing.
"We're expecting a lot of interest in this agenda item and if a lot of people come to the meeting, the Board may hear the item in order to allow the people to address the Board if they wish," Evans said in a text message . "Whether the Board will take action or grant the continuance after the public hearing is at the discretion of the Board. Usually, the Board grants the continuance."
The Weekly reported on the resort development in last week's print edition.
Tags: The Bike Ranch , Pima Board of Supervisors , Tucson , Kelley Matthews , Mark Evans , Image
Friday, May 17, 2019
![[Update]: Decision on The Bike Ranch May Be Tabled to Tuesday, July 2](https://media.tucsonweekly.com/tucsonweekly/imager/u/original/25080369/bigstock-an-unidentified-biker-heads-up-234325444.webp)
Kelley Matthews, who designed the bike-centered property with her husband, Peter Lasher, said on Friday that the Board will convene on the permit on Tuesday, July 2.
Mark Evans, who is the Board's communications director, said Matthews' assessment is not entirely true, as their motion will have to be voted on at the next BOS meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, May 21.
Evans in a text message said the Board may very well table the measure, but that such an action will depend upon the length of the public hearing on May 21.
"We're expecting a lot of interest in this agenda item and if a lot of people come to the meeting, the Board may hear the item in order to allow the people to address the Board if they wish," Evans said in a text message to The Weekly. "Whether the Board will take action or grant the continuance after the public hearing is at the discretion of the Board. Usually, the Board grants the continuance."
The Weekly discussed the resort development, which is slated to be built across from the main entrance to Saguaro National Park-East, earlier this week.
Update: The original post stated that Matthew's motion had officially been tabled to Tuesday, July 2. The post has since been edited to clarify that the motion will be up for a vote on May 21, with a decision to table the measure coming from the Board's vote.
Tags: The Bike Ranch , Pima County Board of Supervisors , Image
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
The scam phone calls, which pretend to be fundraising endeavors for charities benefitting those that fight fires, have targeted locals, according to the organization.
"These scam phone calls happen frequently and recently we have had reports of an uptick in fake charity solicitations,” PFFA President Bryan Jeffries said in the release. “No reputable fire fighters organization in the state is using phone solicitors to raise money. If you get a phone call asking for a donation on behalf of an Arizona fire fighters’ group, it’s a fraud.”
Anyone that's received these scam calls is encouraged to call the Arizona Attorney General's Office, either by phone or online and can file a complaint, at www.azag.gov/complaints/consumer, regarding the calls, which allegedly come from a group called "Fire Fighter Support Association," which doesn't exist.
“To my knowledge, that group has done nothing to support fire fighters in Arizona, nor do they have any affiliation with our organizations either at the state or local level." said Jeffries. "Every dollar donated to a fake group like this is a dollar siphoned away from legitimate charitable causes. That’s an absolute shame.”
Tags: Firefighters , Scam Calls , Scammers , Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona , Image
