Arizona Republicans Want to Prohibit Teaching Social Justice

Just like freedom of speech, everybody thinks there should be academic freedom until a teacher does something they don’t agree with. Such is the case with Representatives Thorpe and Finchem of the Arizona State House of Representatives.

Thorpe and Finchem have introduced HB 2120 that prohibits schools and colleges receiving state monies from teaching “social justice” or any other thing that would lead to “division” among the races or ethnic groups. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction or the State Board of Education would be given the power to determine if a school was in violation of the bill’s prohibitions. Schools found in violation of the law – if the bill were to win support – may be fined 10% of their state allocation. In the case of a large school district, community college, or any of the three state universities, that would amount to a lot of money – like, millions.

It’s hard to see such bills as anything other than raw meat thrown to the base; but in the case of Arizona, stupider things than passing such bills have happened.

Gene V Glass Arizona State University ~             University of Colorado Boulder National Education Policy Center ~             San José State University

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The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not represent the official position of the National Education Policy Center, Arizona State University, University of Colorado Boulder, nor San José State University.

Conflicts of Interest in Arizona -- They Don't Exist

Greg Miller, until recently, was Chairman of the Arizona State Board of Education. The fact that Miller also owns a charter school in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, from which he, his wife and his daughter draw more than $400,000 in salary annually is nothing special in the state of Arizona. You see, Arizona really doesn't believe in conflicts of interest. By state law, all that one must do is publicly record one's conflicts -- nothing else. No blind trusts, no selling or handing over assets to trustees, none of that. Just say that you own a dairy and that your state office buys a million dollars of milk from your dairy every year, and you are clean.

Last fall the Arizona Governor decided he wanted to remove Miller from the State Board. Miller apparently could read the handwriting on the wall and he agreed to leave. As he walked out the door, Miller told the press that he agreed to quit if he could control the wording of the press release, the timing of the announcement and got some assurances that the charter school he runs would get "political protections that I no longer could provide."

So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. Miller used his position as Chair of the State Board of Education not just to promote privatization of the public school system, but also to protect his own stake in the privatization campaign, his family's Challenge Charter School.

Gene V Glass Arizona State University ~             University of Colorado Boulder National Education Policy Center ~             San José State University

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The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not represent the official position of the National Education Policy Center, Arizona State University, University of Colorado Boulder, nor San José State University.