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Trump Signs Executive Order to
Abolish US Ed Dept
[bit.ly/March2EdReport] View and share our Substack with 3 friends [bit.ly/March23EdReport] [bit.ly/March2EdReport] ! [bit.ly/March2EdReport]
¡Lea el Semanario en español! [[link removed]]
On Thursday, President Trump, fulfilling his campaign promises and the directives of Project 2025, signed an executive order to dismantle the US Department of Education, which serves and protects 50 million K-12 students across our nation. [[link removed]]
Then, on Friday, Trump announced he will be putting Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in charge of special education services [[link removed]] , saying he will “be handling special needs and all of the nutrition programs and everything else…
"Those two elements will be taken out of the Department of Education, and then all we have to do is get the students to get guidance from the people that love them and cherish them," RFK Jr. heads the Department of Health and Human Services, and lacks any education credentials, much less special education expertise.
These actions are unlawful and will be fiercely litigated . Keep in mind that shutting down the Dept. of Education or reallocating federal funding legally requires an act of Congress. Trump is not a King and cannot unilaterally shut down a federal agency. The order will be litigated; however, it will impose uncertainty and chaos upon our school leaders as they make funding decisions and issue contracts for the next school year.
Impacts on Arizona. This order threatens $2.8 billion in Congressionally protected federal funding for Arizona students each year. Any loss of this funding will devastate Arizona’s 1 million public school students across the state, hurting low-income, disabled, and rural students first and worst. And make no mistake — when Trump proposes moving the funds in “block grants” back to the states, he aims to divert the funding to private school vouchers, subsidizing the wealthy, widening the education gap, and harming vulnerable children.
Fueled by falsehoods. Trump, who has zero experience in public education, says the Dept. of Ed has “failed,” willfully ignoring that curriculum and testing are the sole responsibility of the states. Instead, the Dept. of Education provides legal protections for kids, distributes federal funding to the students who need it most, and conducts critical research on educational best practices and outcomes. Dismantling the Dept. of Education jeopardizes legal protections for students, especially students with disabilities who rely on federal rights to ensure they receive the academic supports and accommodations they need. Without these protections, families lose legal recourse and assistance.
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Public education is the bedrock of our communities and the cornerstone of our democracy. Trump and the billionaires pushing to privatize our public schools know this. We will not submit to these lawless decrees. Instead, we will stand with our students and educators, and we will fight without compromise for the right to fully funded, thriving public schools in every community.
JOIN US. We need to FLOOD Congress with calls and emails NOW.
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Contact your US Senators & Representatives to demand that they aggressively and forcefully protect the US Department of Education and the 50 MILLION+ students who rely on the protections and funding it provides.
📧 EMAIL: Use our one-click email tool: bit.ly/SaveUSEdDept [[link removed]]
☎️ CALL: Use this easy click-through calling tool: bit.ly/SaveDeptEd [[link removed]]
READ THE FULL WEEKLY EDUCATION REPORT HERE [bit.ly/March23EdReport]
LEA EL SEMANARIO EN ESPAÑOL [[link removed]]
K-12 Roundup
🏫🎒🧑‍🏫 All the news you need to know from this week in one quick read:
🥕 Trump Funding Cuts Impact Fresh Food in Schools [[link removed]] : Federal funding cuts are cutting off Arizona-grown produce in school lunches. This hurts small local farmers and local students alike, and makes it even harder to serve fresh food to school kids.
✊ Tempe Union passes safe schools policy [[link removed]] : In the wake of the Trump administration’s attempts to removing the “safe place” status for schools and churches, school districts across the US are advancing policies to ensure undocumented students and families feel safe sending their children to school. We commend Tempe Union for protecting its students’ rights!
😞 Isaac school district proposes school closures [[link removed]] : The district is proposing closures at Moya Elementary, P.T. Coe Elementary, and the Isaac Online Prep Academy at the end of this school year. The district will hold public hearings in April to discuss the potential school closures. “The other schools around us, they’re going to be packed and it’s going to be worse for the teachers to teach. It’s going to be more stressful for the kids because we want the school local,” said Nuvia Valdez, a P.T. Coe Elementary parent.
What's Happening at the AZ Leg?
⏱️Deadline incoming: This week's agendas feature long lists of previously stalled bills being heard in seemingly unrelated committees. It's not unexpected: education measures being pushed through unrelated committees like Regulatory Oversight and Science & Technology are a hallmark feature of the last days before the deadline that requires bills to be heard in committee or die for the year. Next week will feature the catchall desperation of so-called "garbage can Appropriations" hearings, with a huge list of related and unrelated bills, as that committee gets an extra week. After that, attention will shift to final passage of bills on the Senate and House floors, and state budget negotiations in earnest.
💰Budget stalemate continues: House Republicans refused to pass a stopgap funding measure [[link removed]] for the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD), as betrayed families watched from the chamber's gallery. The agency, which has been defunded in part due to over-budget vouchers, is projected to run out of funds by April 30. Republicans, who continue to demand "reforms" and negotiation as part of the larger state budget, also attempted this week to manufacture a new crisis on congregate care and group homes, ultimately approving a plan for $6.5 million in stopgap funding [[link removed]] . The continued squabbles reveal an ongoing stalemate [[link removed]] ; they're a sign of how far apart Gov. Hobbs and Republican lawmakers are, and an indication that the DDD issue likely won't get resolved until after families have gotten hurt.
😡 Loads of bad ballot measures: And you thought our ballots were long last November! Republican lawmakers continue to advance nearly 30 ballot referrals , from culture wars to tax cuts, in an attempt to circumvent Gov. Hobbs' veto stamp. It's a virtual grab bag of far-right priorities, and many of them would affect our public schools. The Arizona Agenda has a rundown [[link removed]] .
👎 News on the “block grant” (aka, voucher) bills: Lawmakers passed HB2814 and HCR2015 out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. These incredibly harmful bills would allow the legislature to direct federal funding if Trump dissolves the Department of Education [[link removed]] , enabling them to redirect Title I and IDEA funds to private school vouchers with no strings attached. The bills are identical except that HCR2015 is written as a ballot referral to circumvent the governor's veto.
Hildy Angius (R-30), who voted no on HB2814 in a previous committee hearing and killed the bill, voted yes on both bills this time. She implied she was asked not to speak up ("I was hoping we could have more discussion on it, but apparently not") and indicated she was bowing to apparent pressure from her caucus ("I know this is a bill that the Republicans want, so I am not going to stand in the way of that"). After a perfunctory examination in the Rules Committee, the two bills will now advance to a vote of the full Senate.
🔎Mystery of the Week: Senate Government Committee chair Jake Hoffman keeps holding HB2113 [[link removed]] , which would ban the display of LGBTQ+ Pride and Black Lives Matter flags in Arizona schools (and may also violate First Amendment free speech protections). The bill has been on three consecutive committee agendas but not heard any of those times. Hoffman, who is an indicted fake elector [[link removed]] and troll farmer [[link removed]] , doesn't exactly share his thought process with us — but if it ends in the bill's demise, we're happy to take it.
Bills in Committee
Each bill we tell you about from this point forward has passed at least one chamber, putting it that much closer to passage — and making it that much more important that you weigh in!
🛑 Use Request to Speak on the following bills:
👎 NO on SB1002 • 👎 NO on SB1003
👎 NO on SB1085 • 👎 NO on SB1164
👎 NO on SB1226 • 👎 NO on SB1371
👎 NO on SB1584 • 👎 NO on SB1693
👎 NO on SB1318 • 👎 NO on SCR1014
👎 NO on HB2167 • 👎 NO on HB2700
👎 NO on HB2704 • 👎 NO on HB2724
👎 NO on HB2868
✅ The SOSAZ 2025 Bill Tracker [[link removed]] contains full information about all bills SOSAZ supports or opposes in 2025 and gives you up-to-the-minute information on where these bills stand.
Need an RTS account? Sign up here [[link removed]] [[link removed]] . [[link removed]]
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Email Gov. Hobbs & your lawmakers to urge them to do their constitutional duty and invest in Arizona’s public schools! Our easy-to-use, one-click email tool [[link removed]] is preloaded with SOSAZ’s legislative priorities, but we also encourage you to customize your email for maximum impact. [link removed] [[link removed]]
CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL NOW! [[link removed]]
Join Us!
1 WEEK AWAY!!🎉 Join us for our 2nd annual Celebration of Arizona’s Public Schools [[link removed]] gala on Saturday, March 29, 2025 at the Madison Performing Arts Center! Our special guests will be Dr. Dawn Demps [[link removed]] & Jess Piper [[link removed]] . We will have delicious food and drinks, student performances, awards for incredible educators, and so much more! Get your tickets now – the clock is ticking [[link removed]] ! If you’re an educator or student, we welcome you to use the code EDUC8 to receive 50% off (select “unlock” to enter the code). PURCHASE TICKETS HERE [[link removed]] sosaznetwork.org/caps [sosaznetwork.org/caps]
PURCHASE TICKETS [sosaznetwork.org/caps]
SOSAZ Network Book Club 📖 The SOSAZ Network Book Club [[link removed]] meets March 23 to wrap up discussion on Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love. Our virtual discussion will be led by ASU Professors Dr. Carrie Sampson and Dr. Sharon Kirsch, as well as doctoral student Christina Bustos. SIGN UP HERE [[link removed]] to become a new member of our book club and get the latest updates or sign up directly for the March 23 zoom meeting HERE. [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Order the book through Changing Hands [[link removed]] or your favorite bookseller! REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM CALL [[link removed]]
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