Cowardly AZ State Officials!

AZ’s Governor and Legislature decided to give Teachers a raise. I thought PROP 123 passage settled the Salary Issue; according to the Ads and the Speeches the Legislators gave at LDs when selling PROP 123.

Consider Secretary of State Reagan not mailing out some-400,000 voter information pamphlets on PROP 123 until 8 days after the Early Ballots, and Attorney General Brnovich doing nothing about it–which I believe was to assure PROP 123 a win—and the $5,000,000 spent on Ads to sell the Big Lie by all of them. Our then-AZ State Treasurer and I warned the LDs PROP 123 was Illegal and wouldn’t deliver. They said we were wrong, and when we asked why there wasn’t a requirement to guarantee teachers a raise, their Excuse was, the way monies are allocated is up to Local Superintendents–it’s a Local Matter.

So, now that the Teachers didn’t get the promised raises, Federal Courts ruled PROP 123 Illegal–it’s very likely the Hundreds of Millions taken will have to be repaid–they come back to us for more Money.

Let the Governor tell the Teachers it’s a Local Matter and have them picket the Superintendents and Boards in each School District, not the State, which doesn’t have the Political Courage to do the Right thing in an Election Year.

The Teachers Deserve a Raise, however, not by our Governor and Legislators pouring more Dollars down a Rat Hole without spending controls on how All the Monies are spent by Local Districts–they have a poor record on spending decisions. And, just because we have what they call a “windfall” doesn’t mean we should hand it over to them. After all, we also have a State Debt to pay; along-with just more Irresponsible State Elected Officials. 

I do believe the State should get more involved but would have to change laws to do so, these boards have a great deal of power and far to often are nothing more than rubber stamps for the Superintendents and this is where the Teachers & Parents need to focus their attention, and not at the State Capitol. 

The Real Game Changers in this must and should be the Parents / Voters, they must force those on Local School Boards to do their jobs and not be Rubber Stamps for the Dist. Superintendents, these are their Local Schools each one different than the next, all of them need a Basic Financial Foundation.

Parents mustn’t allow the State & Federal Government to dictate to them for if they do, then the Local School System will no longer exist, and this is what made America’s Education the Best in the World giving all of us a Shot at Success, time to return the Power to the Parents. 

God Bless You All; Clair VAN Steenwyk

For more Information Link:http:vote4van.com/about-van/education/