Greetings!
As we continue to pray for the people of Ukraine and for the end of war as spiritual battles continue on the home front.
Recently, the United States gave the country of Nepal a grant of $700 million for infrastructure. This caused protests and riots in the streets of Nepal. It seems like we put a stipulation on the grant that the United States will audit the expenditures to ensure the money actually goes to infrastructure. The protestors demand that the grant is their money and they should be able to spend it the way they want. Without strings attached, there is no guaranty given money will go to the intended purpose.
Here in Arizona, we have an example of money given for a specific purpose but because there were no strings attached, not all the money was spent as intended. In 2018, the infamous Red for Ed movement led protests and instigated teacher walkouts to give teachers pay raises. The Arizona Legislature and Governor stepped up to the plate and gave every school district in the state enough money to give every teacher a 20% pay raise. The money was allocated equally to school districts on a per student basis.
Public school teachers in Arizona don’t work for the state. They work for school districts that are governed by elected school district governing boards. Last week the Arizona Daily Star reported that after 4 years, only 87 out of 205 school districts met or exceeded giving teachers a 20% pay raise. In the Tucson area, the largest teacher pay increase was 31.5% by the Catalina Foothills Unified School District. The smallest was a 3.6% pay increase given to the teachers of Tucson Unified School District (TUSD).
TUSD is the same school district whose Governing Board, in spite of hundreds of parents protest, adopted curriculum that sexualizes our children by teaching Planned Parenthood style Comprehensive Sexuality Education. These sex-ed classes indoctrinate our children with fluid gender ideology and instruct children how to consent to sex. One example of the pervasive influence of sexualizing children is Tucson High Magnet School hosting its’ First Annual Drag Show this May. Students have until today to register as performers. You wonder why parents are taking their children out of TUSD in droves.
For years 4Tucson has been working with many others to pass legislation that protect children and promotes school choice. Weeks ago, the Arizona Senate passed SB 1657. Soon it will be heard in the House of Representatives. This bill greatly expands Empowerment Scholarship Accounts and improves Tuition Tax Credits through Student Tuition Organizations. The primary recipients will be low income families, giving them the ability to send their children to private schools.
Want to know more about your school choice options? On March 25th, the 4Tucson Breakfast will be hosted by Fernando Gonzales with the Libre Initiative. Speakers will be Kim Kirschner, the Executive Director of the Institute for Better Education and Esly Montenegro, the Arizona Implementation Director of American Federation for Children. The breakfast will be held in Tucson at Maranatha Ministries. The meal will be catered by the gourmet kitchen of GAP Ministries. This is event is free to attend. There is a registration link below in this newsletter so register early before all seats are taken.
We have a God given responsibility to provide the best possible education for our children.
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it”
Paul Parisi
Director-Government Domain
520-869-1679
