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Protect Education Initiative Survives 🎉
Republicans Stack Ballot with Anti-Public School Measures 😡
Protect Education Initiative Survives🎉
Republicans Stack Ballot with Anti-Public School Measures 😡
The state legislature adjourned around 5am on Saturday morning, after a grueling 18-hour day of political subterfuge in which the Republican majority went scorched-earth on Arizona kids by passing several anti-public-school ballot referrals. [link removed] [[link removed]]
The Republicans also attempted to kick the Protect Education initiative off the ballot, attempting to work a deal that would invalidate the hundreds of thousands of hard-earned signatures our volunteers and partners have gathered from Arizona voters across the state eager to sign to rein in the $1 billion ESA voucher program and recoup major funding for our public schools. The Republican majority at the Capitol is clearly terrified of this common-sense measure [[link removed]] being put to Arizona voters, because the voters are clearly on our side.
Protect Education is Alive!!! 🎉🎉🎉 The Protect Education AZ initiative survived these vicious, anti-democratic attacks — now it's time to double down on gathering signatures, they are DUE June 30! We have just 18 days to seal the deal and gather enough signatures to withstand the massive legal attacks we know are coming. Run, don’t walk, to add your signature, [[link removed]] and request a petition [[link removed]] to ask friends and family to sign (or grab at a depot [[link removed]] near you)!
Find Locations for June Weekend of Action [[link removed]]
We want to extend our gratitude to every Democratic lawmaker who stood with the people of Arizona by rejecting any attempt to invalidate Protect Education petitions. And we are so grateful to all of you who raised your voices in opposition with calls, emails, and even showing up en masse to the legislature to bear witness! Together, we fought for public education, and now we are going to have to knock a lot of doors and help Arizona voters understand how bad these public school attack measures are for our students and educators. We are READY, and we know you’re with us! 🔥♥️
Here are the anti-public school measures that will now be on our November ballot:
HCR2048 : This Trojan horse measure uses military families as a pawn to cloak its true intent: to invalidate the Protect Education Act after voters approve it in November. [[link removed]] While the measure claims to be focused on preventing unused funds from being swept from the voucher accounts of military families, Subsection B of the measure makes the true intent clear: “If a bill enacted into law or a measure approved by the voters on or after November 1, 2026 violates Subsection A of this section, the entire bill or measure is void . A court may not sever any portion of a bill or measure that violates subsection A of this section.”
Republicans hope that if both Protect Education and HCR2048 are passed by voters in November, this language will allow the courts to disregard the will of Arizona voters and throw out the entire act. When asked if Republicans were running this measure because of the failed attempt to reach a deal on voucher reform [[link removed]] , Republican Senator John Kavanagh flat-out admitted, “That's the reason why we're running this.” As Democratic House Leader Oscar De Los Santos said, “I smell fear in this building. I sense politicians that know that the people of Arizona are ready to take on the fraud and abuse of the ESA [voucher] program.”
But there’s a simple solution: we need to talk to Arizona voters in force, so they recognize this measure for the scam it is. We’ll defeat it so that when voters pass Protect Education, our state will finally enact the voucher reform Arizona so desperately needs.
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HCR2007 / SCR1032 is a blatant attack on school funding, designed to micromanage and defund public district schools (but not charter or private ESA voucher-funded schools). The measure asks voters to force public schools to spend at least 60% of their funding on “direct instructional expenses” [[link removed]] or have the difference withheld by the state. It might sound good for Arizona schools to spend more on classroom instruction — however, 60% is an unreasonable benchmark that schools have not met at any point [[link removed]] since 2003 when the Auditor General’s Office began monitoring the number. Why?? 👉 “Direct instructional expenses” only covers teachers, some aides, instructional supplies, field trips, and athletics. This narrow definition doesn’t address ALL the other pieces required [[link removed]] to make a kid’s school day work.
We will work tirelessly to ensure voters know to vote NO on this public school attack bill that will harm students and educators.
HCR2040 is a retaliatory and incredibly dangerous measure intended to punish teachers and aiming to do away with school unions in our state. It targets teachers’ right to collective bargaining – a process that improves working conditions for teachers and learning conditions for students – outright banning the state or any school district from “negotiating with a labor organization for an exclusive representation agreement, collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of understanding, contract or other agreement regarding the terms and conditions of employment.”
The measure goes even further, banning teachers from deducting their union dues directly from their paychecks in a blatant attempt to shrink membership and banning districts from using any public resources to support labor organizations. That means schools couldn’t offer their facilities to host union meetings (even when rented like other clubs or organizations) or even allow union members to have a presence at events like new teacher orientations.
These proposals are widely unpopular, and polling shows [[link removed]] that voters would be less likely to support legislators who voted for the measure. We expect Arizona voters to soundly defeat this proposal in November – and we’ll be knocking doors in force to make sure they do!
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DONATE [[link removed]]
READ THE FULL WEEKLY EDUCATION REPORT HERE [[link removed]]
LEA EL SEMANARIO EN ESPAÑOL [[link removed]]
Protect Education Initiative Updates
This weekend, we’re finishing up our massive, statewide Week of Action – and getting down to the last 2.5 weeks to collect signatures for the Protect Education [[link removed]] initiative to rein in the $1 billion private school voucher program and redirect desperately needed funds to our local public schools! That’s right — all volunteer signatures are due Tuesday, June 30! We’re in the home stretch – we’ve got this, team!!!
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This is the perfect time to:
1. Get all of your March-May petitions notarized and returned – you can find locations with notaries (marked) on this list of signing events! [[link removed]] Whether full or partially full, we’d like to get ALL petitions turned in so we can get an assessment of where we are going into our last month!


2. Jump in and volunteer - the weather will be nice and we have about a million ways you can jump in and get involved 👉 SIGN UP to request petitions HERE [[link removed]] and you’ll be connected to your local organizers! Or just grab a clipboard and post up at any public pool, splash pad, park, dog park, library or trailhead – ask folks “Do you have a moment to sign to help our public schools?” Ask a buddy to join you to make it even more fun!


3. Pick up a few more petitions for the month of June! (Or a stack! 😉) You can check out petitions at any depot [[link removed]] location! *Note: you should also be able to pick up Protect the Vote petitions at these depots!
Many people are plugging in now that it’s summertime – and we’re ready for reinforcements for the final stretch!!! Thank you so much for stepping up! If you’ve already been collecting, we hope you’ll double down on your efforts in June! We have less than 3 weeks to get Protect Education on the ballot, but we need 400,000 signatures in order to make it through the massive legal challenges we know are headed our way.
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Save Our Schools Arizona
PO Box 28370
Tempe, AZ 85285
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