Pop Quiz

What is Rep. Kavanagh’s Problem?

a) can’t read
b) doesn’t care
c) is hypocritical
d) all of the above


Commenting on the changes made to state law in violation of the constitution during this summer’s special session, Rep. John Kavanagh (Republican LD8-Scottsdale/Fountian Hills) claimed that the removal and restriction of teachers’ contract rights was a “good pro-kids measure”. School districts “won’t be forced to keep a dead-beat teacher on.” (azfamily news report)

The chairman of House Appropriations Committee and one of the men largely responsible for how the legislature is approaching Arizona’s budget crisis, Kavanagh holds a masters in government and a Ph.D. in criminal justice. With such credentials, you would think Kavanagh has read governing documents like state constitutions and statues. Being an elected legislator chairing one of the most important committees, one would assume he has read the Arizona constitution. In Article 4: Part 2: Section 3 he would have read:

“In calling a special session, the governor shall specify the subjects to be considered, and at such special session no laws shall be enacted except such as relate to the subjects mentioned in the call.”

The Governor’s calls for special sessions this summer were to address the state budget and never referred to school employee contracts. Thus the only way the Republican leadership can claim these policy changes were related to the subjects mentioned is if our worst fears are true. They must have been enacted as cost saving measures; specifically to allow districts to replace more experienced, higher paid teachers with new-hires or arbitrarily cut salaries.

Assuming Kavanagh can read, and has read the bills he is voting on, he would have reviewed Title 15: Chapter 5 of the Arizona Revised Statutes which specifically details how to dismiss teachers for inadequate performance. His contention that school districts are “forced to keep” dead-beat teachers is at best uniformed, more likely just intended to be incendiary.

So if Kavanagh can read, why is he defending the legislation? Because he cares. About what you can decide. During a floor debate this summer, Kavanagh was asked about what would happen to displaced corrections officers when Arizona’s prisons were privatized. He replied by saying it was his hope that “some sort of seniority transfer system” could be worked out. (COW on HB2638 6/4/09 at 57:44) In other words, seniority is only good for those who are likely to vote for him.

A Load of Bull

“They play this game that they try to protect children. That's a load of bull. They're only there for themselves."

These were the comments of State Representative Frank Antenori (Republican LD30) on a KGUN9 report about the changes the Republican controlled legislature made to state law, removing most of teachers’ contract protections. Antenori was of course referring to the Arizona Education Association, local district associations, and the members of those associations. Senator Al Melvin (Republican LD26) listed the destruction of teachers’ contract protections as one of the top ten accomplishments of the Republican controlled legislature in his monthly e-mail blast and has publicly expressed the same sentiment as Mr. Antenori did Wednesday night.

The 30,000+ members, including the approximately 8,000 Republican members, are the Arizona Education Association, and we can tell you exactly where the “load of bull” is.

Both of these Legislators made these comments in the week before the Republican leadership failed for the sixth time to pass, or even propose, a budget plan that would provide for Arizona’s future. Their current plan that includes an additional $144 million cut to K-12 education was foiled by one Senator, Thayer Verschoor (Republican LD22), who dared question the leadership. Apparently, Senator Verschoor was uncomfortable with the leadership’s plan to maintain, at all costs, the perception that they were not responsible for any tax increases by forcing other agencies raise fees. The Senate Republicans were again unable to pass a budget on Thursday and adjourned the special session until Monday, November 23rd.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein.

This quote is certainly over used, but perhaps that is due to the truth it contains. The Insanity that has overtaken the Republican Leadership has put them on a path of self-destruction, unfortunately as they implode, the damage is likely to do immeasurable harm to our students and communities. There are a few rational Republican Legislators among the ranks. Please continue to contact them and encourage them to step forward. It is long past time for the legislators to put party allegiances aside and undertake the business of solving Arizona’s fiscal problems for both the short and long term.

Governor vetoes cuts to education; but at what cost?

The Governor should be given respect for her actions last week. In line-item vetoing the education cuts from the general appropriations bill and the K-12 budget reconciliation bill, she has spared public education, at least for the moment, from the devastating cuts proposed by the legislative leadership. In vetoing the general revenue bill in its entirety, she allowed the state property equalization tax to be reinstated. She deserves credit for keeping her word and standing firm against the majority of elected officials within her party.

But what do her actions mean for future of public education in Arizona?

In only line-item vetoing the K-12 BRB, she allowed several policy changes to become law that will further break the social contract between society and public school employees. The new laws will prohibit districts from using seniority as the basis for retention, allows districts to target groups and/or individuals for pay cuts, and removes the statutory deadlines for contract notifications. If these changes are allowed to take effect in 90 days, teachers and many classified employees that currently have negotiated protections will effectively become at-will employees.

Those of us old enough to remember when teaching was thought of noble profession thought there was an implied deal between society and public educators. You were never going to get rich from teaching, but in return you would earn enough to provide for a family, receive a good benefits package, and have job security. We are reminded every weekend when we face our bills that a teacher’s salary is not what it used to be. In real dollars, the average teaching salary in Arizona has dropped by 5.5% in the last 20 years. Added to this, our benefit packages are no longer a good deal. In my district the out of pocket cost for family health coverage is $750 per month; equivalent to 28% of a beginning teacher’s base salary. But we still had job security; that was until last Friday.

And then there is still the matter of the budget. While the Governor’s actions eliminated the cuts from the current proposal, the budget is still out of balance by about a billion dollars. With the majority caucus in the legislature showing no signs of even being willing to consider generating new revenues, the Governor’s veto may only be delaying the inevitable.

So what now?

It is easy to be discouraged, but our efforts are needed more then ever. Between now and the next special session (likely in mid October) we must convince Republican legislators that their political futures are tied to the future of public education. Republican and Independent educators need to explain to them why the policy changes cannot stand and what the real effects of cuts will be. Please continue to contact your legislators, attend legislative district meetings/events, and consider becoming a precinct committee person. Together we can be a rational voice within the Republican Party.

Average salary data from: ALEC: Report Card on American Education

Be at the Capital to Protect Public Education

The Governor and President Burns are still pushing for a vote today. The Senate is still scheduled to convene at 1 p.m. today (Aug. 4). The Governor and Legislative leadership have been relentlessly trying to round up the final two "yes" votes. A great deal is riding on this afternoon's session.

Public Education supporters will be gathering in the Senate gallery at 1 p.m. A rally is planed for 4 p.m. on the capital lawn. Please be there to help convince the Governor and Leadership to abandon the current proposal and return to negotiating a budget package that will protect Arizona's future. More details can be found at the march4schools web site.

AEA Maintains A Presence at the Capital Until the End

Down to the final seconds in Round 3

For the third time the legislative leadership has pulled an all-nighter in any attempt to balance the budget with out raising revenue. As some one in the gallery on Thursday night put it, “you can’t balance your check book by taking a pay cut.” I believe in the concept of limited government with minimal taxation; that is why I belong to the Republican Party. However, once you have established what government should do, there is an obligation to fund it. The legislative leadership wishes they could ignore this obligation, and so far they have.

In round one, we survived because the leadership did not even submit the budget to the Governor. They knew it stunk, so they hid it in the basement, even after she sued. In round two we survived because the Governor did not get a sales tax referral and vetoed the whole mess. Now we are down the closing moments of round three. Only one vote separates us form the nightmare coming true.

A recap of Thursday’s/Friday’s events:

President Burns appoints Sen. Huppenthal to Appropriations Committee.

The votes were not there to pass all the bills out of committee. Burns faced this situation the last time. On June 30, Burns pulled the bills from the Appropriations Committee and assigned them to the Education Accountability and Reform Committee, which Huppenthal chairs. This time he simply appointed Huppenthal to the Appropriations committee, but at least he had to wait out a quorum call before doing so. We are still not sure if Huppenthal’s appointment was proper; only 15 Senators were shown present on the board, not the required 16.

Standing in the hallway just before the hearing started, Huppenthal was taking to a pair of reporters. When they asked him if he was a definite YES vote, I sort of interrupted saying “Seeing as how the Senator is running for Superintendent we were counting on him to stand up for public education and vote NO.” The Senator didn’t find it funny. Sorry Senator.

Appropriations Committee Hearing

At the beginning of the hearing we learned why Burns only had to appoint one new member. Sen. Harper, a consistent NO vote before, had been bought. Sen. Harper traded his vote for four provisions in the new budget. The two most notable: fire 5% of all state employees and kill Rio Nuevo (an downtown economic development program in Tucson). To be fair the 5% would include already vacant positions and the Rio Nuevo Taxing District would still exist but be limited only to paying the existing debt. Shortly after Harper introduced his amendments, Representatives from southern Arizona appeared in the room to stare him down. Many of them have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months to restructure the Rio Nuevo project in hopes that Tucson would not lose the largest gem and mineral show in the country to Las Vegas.

During the hearing, Andrew Morrill (AEA Vice-president) and I both testified before the committee. Andrew spoke to the devastating effect this budget will have on Arizona’s future. During Andrew’s testimony Sen. Harper asked the chair if he could ask a question outside the scope of the budget. Once given permission, he asserted the proposition that Republicans only join the association for the liability insurance. Andrew did a good job of correcting the Senator’s misconception. Then Sylvia Allen tried to engage in a philosophical debate with Andrew. When the video of the hearing is posted next week, I would check it out just for the entertainment value.

I testified after Andrew and spoke to the improper inclusion of policy changes in a special session budget bill. After I made my comments, Sen. Harper continued his assault on education associations. He asked a question about NEA’s support of rights for same-sex couples. From his comments, it was apparent that Sen. Harper was not interested in the truth; he only wanted to bring up and reinforce misconceptions about the NEA and its stance on socially sensitive issues. I made a brief response before Sen. Aboud and Sen. Rios called for a point of order. The Chair agreed and cut short Sen. Harper’s line of questioning. I spoke with Sen. Harper after the hearing; he freely admitted his questioning was intended to “drive a wedge” between Christian teachers and the education associations.

About half way through the hearing, Sen. Gould arrived. Arriving in a tee shirt and jeans having driven from Lake Havasu after work, his first question to the chair was “am I still on the committee?” Sen. Gould is one of the three NO votes. He has strongly held objections to any tax increase. The Chair assured him he was still on the committee and staff brought him a coat.

All of the bills passed out of Committee.

And then we waited.

After the committee hearing, we gathered to discuss what had happened. Sen. Aboud joined us in the discussion. She thanked all of us for our continued presence at the capital and all of the work we have done over the last few months. She jokingly suggested that we could all go home now, she was. We all knew that we would be there well into wee hours of the morning.

No one was sure whether the votes were there. After awhile, when no bell rang calling the Senators to the floor, it was apparent that there were not 16 Senators willing to vote yes. The House, where the bills had passed committee on Wednesday, had not gone back into session to conduct a committee of the whole and take a vote, and there was no indication if the Senate would. Small groups of legislators were going in and out of the Governor’s tower. The votes just weren’t there. But we knew that they only needed one or two more. Of the four Senators that we speculated were NO votes. Two were NO’s because they would not consider even the possibility of a tax increase; the other two were NO’s because the believed the cuts and policy changes in this budget were too damaging to the State. We were scared that the leadership and the Governor could buy two of these votes as they had Sen. Harper’s. But being scared on an empty stomach is not fun, so we went and ate.

And then we waited some more.

After returning form diner, the House moved the bills through COW and the bell rang in the Senate camber. Could they have gotten the votes? As Burns called the floor to order, we were concerned, but he only announced another recess. He explained that they were waiting on the bills from the House. Time passed and we breathed a sigh of relief, he still didn’t have the votes.

While we were waiting Sen. Verschoor joined us in the gallery. Sen. Vershoor was the president pro tempore until Burns replaced him after the last budget round. Sen. Vershoor expressed frustration with the process that was underway and answered some questions. It didn’t seem we were going to convince him to vote NO, but we had a good conversation. He agreed with us that the policy changes should not be part of the budget bills.

When it was apparent that the leadership was not having much success finding their 16th vote, and speculation was that they would adjourn, we were tempted to call it a night. It was well past midnight and everyone was tired. But Sheryl Mathis (AEA Executive Director) was not willing to leave. “I just don’t trust them.” We stayed and she was right.

Senate Committee of the Whole

The Senate resolved itself in a COW and proceeded to go through the bills. Sen. Aboud and Sen. Garcia held fort for the Democrat Caucus. The bills were moved without much discussion. Throughout the proceedings, leadership continually flanked Sen. Gorman, but she would not give in. Sen. Gorman along with Sen. Gould will not consent to the sales tax referral.

Finally they got to the sales tax referral bill, and things got interesting. Sen. Gould proposed a serious of amendments, each calling for the complete elimination of the personal income tax with differing timelines. His amendments stood no chance of passing. Rather they were used to signal to leadership that they still did not have the votes. Sen. Gould called for a role call vote on each amendment. Each time there were at least three votes.

The COW was concluded and it was time for Third Reading of the Bills.

And again we waited some more (but this time there was excitement).

The Senate did not move directly to Third Read. The votes were not there. And then the Chaos erupted.

Senators were coming and going from the floor. At one point Sen. Tibshraeny got into shouting match with Sen. Sylvia Allen. The Governor’s staff arrived. There were huddled conferences in different locations on the floor. President Burns was in and out of his office. At one point the press was allowed on the floor, and by the end even the reporters were shouting at each other. It became apparent there would be no vote any time soon. Finally Sen. Jim Waring apologized to Sen. Tibshraeny and left the building.

Then the Governor arrived. Reportedly she met with Sen. Gorman for a long period of time. But it was not to be. At around 6 in the morning the Senate was recessed until 1 p.m. on Friday.

We went home.

Latter that afternoon, the Senate was adjourned until Tuesday.

Everything Depends on Tuesday

The Senate is scheduled to resume the special session at 1 pm Tuesday. The Governor and leadership need to pass their budget deal before the August 5th deadline to submit measures for the November ballot. She only has to get one vote.

Budget Passes House Approriations but Senate Adjourns

The leadership's new budget deal, which is essentially the same as the old deal, just passed the House Appropriations committee. The Senate on the other has just adjourned until tomorrow. Speculation is that they do not yet have the votes to pass the bills. We must prevent them from getting them.

The bills are mostly identical to the bills passed previously. The exception is the last bill containing the sales tax ballot measure. In the previous version, the sales tax referral was accompanied by a flat tax proposal. In this version it would be accompanied by a income and corporate tax rate cut. The tax cuts would become law with the Governors signature. The sales tax would have to be approved by the voters. Also included would be a TABOR like cap on future appropriations and a repeal of the prop. 105 protections (currently preventing the legislature from cutting 301 monies).

The damaging policy language is also included in the new bills. (Legislative summary sheet for HB2011). If passed:

• Retention based on tenure or seniority would be prohibited.
• Statutory deadlines for contract and salary notifications would be eliminated.
• Local associations could not negotiate for compensated days for professional association activities. (presumably this would also effect release time officers)
• Recall rights following RIF's would eliminated.

The legislative leadership has lost its connection to Republican principles. It has perverted the concept of limited government with minimal taxation to broken government and tax cuts at all costs. Ironically, one of the only Republican NO votes was by Rep. Briggs who voted against the tax bill because the rate reductions would not take effect immediately, leaving an opportunity to repeal them during the next session.

Please keep contacting your legislators.

Budget Deal Appears Imminent -- And its even worse than the first two.

The legislative leadership and the Governor appear to have reached a budget deal. Details are emerging rapidly and both houses are scheduled to act on the proposed budget tomorrow (Wednesday, July 29). AEA is planing another round of the HeatWave starting at 12:30 tomorrow at the capital. Please check the March4Schools web site or the AEA Facebook page latter this evening for more information about activities being planed for tomorrow and the latest details on the proposed package.

Please sent a message to the following legislators encouraging them to stop the current proposal.

Senator Linda Gray (LD10-Mesa) lgray@azleg.gov
Senator John Nelson (LD12-West Valley) jnelson@azleg.gov
Senator Jay Tibshraeny (LD21-Southeast Valley) jtibshraeny@azleg.gov
Senator Carolyn Allen (LD8-Scottsdale) callen@azleg.gov
Senator Jonathan Paton (LD30-Southern Arizona) jpaton@azleg.gov

Update from the NEA-RLC (Day 2)

Today's activities were centered around an afternoon lobbing trip to the hill. The morning consisted of training and planing sessions. In the afternoon, 150+ Republican NEA members made the short trip from the NEA building to the congressional office buildings to meet with legislators and their staff. John and I were able to meet with staff from Senator McCain's and Representative Franks' (CD2) offices.

Update from the NEA-RLC

Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele was the keynote speaker this morning at the third annual NEA Republican Leadership Conference.

For the past two years as part of NEA's efforts to engage Republican members, they have held a conference for state and local Republican association leaders just prior to the Republican National Conventions. This year the conference is being held in Washington D.C. Over 150 Republican association leaders from around the country have gathered to network, plan, and interact with national GOP party leaders. John Skarhus (Sierra Vista CTA, AEA Board of Directors) and myself are representing Arizona.

At the past two conferences, state national committeemen had addressed the attendees. However the bar was raised this year. The keynote speaker for the opening day was Michael Steele, Chairman of the National Committee. After polling the audience to assure himself that we were actually Republicans, Chairman Steele got down to business discussing the current debate over health care reform and the pending review of NCLB. Steele made some insightful comments about the flaws of NCLB. Among them, he pointed out that NCLB did not provide a review processes to assess weather the mandates themselves were constructive. He closed his remarks by encouraging participants to remain involved in the political process.

It surprised me to learn that Chairman Steele had spend a year as a high school teacher. Although his experience was at a private preparatory school, it was clear he could still recall the challenges and rewards of trying to inspire a group of students.

The afternoon was spent attending small-group and panel discussions. In the evening we attended the annual awards banquet of the Republican Main Street Partnership. This year's honoree was Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, one of the Republicans serving in Obama's cabinet. Interestingly, LaHood also taught prior to entering politics.

LD26 GOP District Meeting Update

The bulk of this month's legislative district meeting in LD26 was an exchange between Senator Al Melvin and Rep. Vic Williams. Both had an opportunity to express their views and explain their votes on the recently vetoed budgets.

Senator Melvin voted for the original June 4th budgets and "fixes" passed at the end of the regular session. In his view the original June 4th budget was a reasonable solution, and agreed with the legislative leadership's efforts to move it forward. He also expressed disappointment with the lack of unity among Republican elected officials.

Rep. Williams voted against the June 4th package. Time permitted him to explain his two primary objections, although he said he had many others. His chief complaint was about the budget process. He expressed frustration that he was expected to approve a 500+ page budget package that would affect every Arizonan with only 18 hours to review it in detail. His other objection was that the budget package did little to address the structural deficit. He explained that the vast majority of 3.5 billion dollar deficit for 09-10 was addressed with one-time accounting tricks, fund sweeps, barrowing, and stimulus money. He did not think a reasonable observer could come to the conclusion that Arizona's budgetary problems could be fixed without looking at the revenue side.

While the exchange remained within the bounds of what could be called civil discourse, it was clear that the legislators had a clear difference of opinion. Likewise, it was apparent that the participants in the room were divided.

I imagine that LD26 represents a microcosm of the Republican Party across the state. One side clamoring for more cuts, the other looking for a reasonable solution. Although I understand the arguments made by those against increased taxes at all costs, I have yet to hear them acknowledge the devastating effects that would result if government services (education included) were actually cut by 30%. Personally I would prefer reason prevails.

NEA/AEA Reaffirms Commitment to Republican Outreach Efforts

John Wright was one of four speakers making the case for bipartisanship as the governing body of the NEA reaffirmed its commitment to involving Republican members and engaging Republican public policy makers.

For the last three years the NEA has committed a significant amount of resources to encouraging Republican members to become more involved. Most significantly, they have organized and funded Republican Leadership Conferences. Last year the RLC was held in Minneapolis just prior the Republican National Convention. Local and state association leaders from around the country were given an opportunity participate in training sessions, collaborate on future plans, and interact with national Republican political leaders. This year the RLC will be held in Washington D.C. This year's focus will be involvement in precinct level politics. The funding for these conferences was authorized by a new business item offered at a previous Representative Assembly and needed to be renewed this year. The business item that passed this year calls for NEA to enhance its efforts and provides funding for another year.

It was my participation in last year's RLC that convinced me that the NEA and AEA were serious when they advocate for a "pro public education party". I want to take this opportunity to thank John Wright for speaking to the issue at the RA and his support as we endeavor to rebuild the AEA Republican Caucus.

Welcome

The Arizona Education Association Republican Caucus has been revitalized to further the following goals:

1. Provide forums for Republican AEA member to discuss issues and encourage involvement in state and local association activities.

2. Establishing and maintaining relationships between members and Republican public policy makers.

3. Encouraging AEA members to become active in state and local political party activities.