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What’s Going on at the AZ Legislature?
View and share our Substack with 3 friends! [bit.ly/April13EdReport]
¡Lea el Semanario en español! [[link removed]]
Spoiler Alert: Nothing good – that’s what’s going on at the Arizona state legislature. [[link removed]]
For the past month, we’ve been laser-focused on Trump’s executive orders and attempts to dismantle the Dept. of Education — for good reason. But it’s important to remember that Trump and Project 2025 are taking pages from the playbook that’s been wreaking havoc on our state, aka the Republican-controlled Arizona state legislature.
Under the backdrop of federal cuts, state-level budget decisions become even more critical. And while majority lawmakers could be focusing on funding our K-12 schools, passing teacher pay raises, and stopping vouchers for the uber-rich, they’re once again focused on hurting our students, educators, and public schools. This is no accident: they seek to undermine and destabilize our critical public education system.
😡 Families in Crisis: Under massive public pressure, Republicans have finally backed off their refusal to discuss a funding continuation for the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) — only to introduce a pair of horribly misguided bills [[link removed]] , SB1734 and HB2945 , that would cause incalculable harm to the nearly 59,000 families statewide [[link removed]] who rely on this program to care for their children with disabilities. These harmful “reform” measures would put a 20-hour per week cap on the Parents as Paid Caregivers Program [[link removed]] and pull resources from other vulnerable populations (like the Housing Trust Fund). Plus, it would likely create legal problems by tapping money which is already obligated to be spent elsewhere.
Hobbs has signaled she will veto the bills, calling them [[link removed]] "irresponsible and inhumane" and "pointless political theater." DDD, which has been defunded in part due to universal ESA vouchers (which have exceeded initial budgets by over $500M) [[link removed]] , is projected to run out of funds by April 30, leaving families of ultra-high-need children high and dry. These bills will go through committee hearings on Tuesday; voice your opposition via Request to Speak and use the comments field to urge lawmakers to advance a clean funding measure that doesn't harm vulnerable children and families.
🔥 "Now, DDD is $122 million short of making it through the fiscal year, prompting Republican howls about Hobbs’ mismanagement. Howls we curiously never heard from them last year when the Republicans’ (ESA voucher) program came up $274 million short, also due to explosive growth."
— Columnist Laurie Roberts in the Arizona Republic [[link removed]]
💸 Billionaire Bailouts continue: Negotiations continue behind the scenes on billionaire tax handout bill HB2704 [[link removed]] . Word is that proponents are attempting to "soften" the harms of the bill enough that the City of Phoenix, a vocal opponent due to the direct costs to taxpayers, will drop its opposition. The bill still contains tax drains that will siphon millions of dollars per year from the same General Fund which already cannot provide adequate resources to our public schools. The burden on Maricopa County and the city of Phoenix would necessitate either raising taxes at the local level or curtailing desperately needed services to everyday Arizonans. [[link removed]]
Gov. Hobbs has said she plans to sign the giveaway into law [[link removed]] , so please voice your concerns! Contact your own state senator [[link removed]] and the governor's office at [email protected] [[email protected]] or 602-542-4331.
💸 No budget in sight: All indications are that lawmakers and the governor have not yet begun the serious work of negotiating a state budget. Nearly all of this work happens behind the scenes in what we have nicknamed "the fog of secrecy." Once an agreement is reached, it is typically presented as a done deal and may even be voted on in the middle of the night. Staying in communication with lawmakers through this process is extremely important so they will know where the public stands and how their constituents expect them to vote. If you haven't reached out to your state senator [[link removed]] and representatives [[link removed]] yet, now's the time! Tell them you want to see last year's cuts to education restored, and that you expect them not to waste any of your hard-earned tax dollars with tax giveaways. [[link removed]]
✅ Stay in the know: 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.
READ THE FULL WEEKLY EDUCATION REPORT HERE [bit.ly/April13EdReport]
LEA EL SEMANARIO EN ESPAÑOL [[link removed]]
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