MAS advocate claims TUSD is deliberate pipeline to private prisons
The third and final hearing in the matter of the TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) desegregation case was held Wednesday, November 28 at Palo Verde High School. The small crowd, of about 75, provided few new voices by the panel created by federal court appointed. Dr. Willis Hawley.
However, the panel consisting of the attorneys for the DOJ, the Fisher and Mendoza plaintiffs and Dr. Hawley was provided with interesting theories by Mexican American Studies (MAS) proponents, and actual factual data provided by a former educator.
Sal Baldenegro, who recently quit his own campaign in the legislative race for Arizona Legislative District 2 (LD2) to focus on his wife’s failed CD1 congressional campaign, offered an impassioned indictment of the District’s attorney, Heather Gaines of the DeConcini law firm, and a “black helicopter” explanation for the District’s failure to educate the kids over color in the District for well over thirty years.
Baldenegro expressed his disapproval of the fact that the District would hire the DeConcini law firm for the desegregation case and alleged that the firm’s founder, former democratic Senator Dennis DeConcini, sits on the Board of a private prison company and according to Baldenegro has a vested interest in creating a “pipeline of TUSD students” for the private prisons. “There is a concerted effort to see that our children do not do well. The DeConcini law firm represents the prisons and our students are getting a pipeline into prisons instead of colleges.”
Baldenegro is the son of activist Solomon Baledenegro, who recently penned an indictment of the Democratic Party for taking actions against candidates “of color during the election season, precisely because it was election season, with the goal of depriving candidates of color a fair shot at being elected!”
Shortly after the junior Baldenegro blasted Gaines and the District, a thoughtful former teacher, Lillian Fox, addressed the failings of the District for all children, and presented the panel with a copy of the desegregation budget. She highlighted some of the more egregious expenditures of desegregation money.
Fox told the panel that less than 67 percent of the desegregation dollars make it directly into the classroom. According to Fox, the vast majority of the money goes into various departments and funds the large staffs of those departments.
Over a billion dollars has been spent by TUSD since the Fishers first filed a civil right lawsuit demanding equal access to education for students of color. Since that time, little was done to fund those programs and practices that close the achievement gap including highly skilled teachers in classrooms.
Fox pointed out that Cholla High School, which has a high number of Hispanic students has failed to fill math and science classrooms with math and science teachers. In fact, Fox points out that TUSD opted to hire long term substitute teachers for those classrooms and hire a mentor for them.
TUSD receives about $62 million a year in desegregation tax dollars. TUSD receives the second highest amount per student per year than any other district in the state of Arizona. The students of Phoenix Union receive slightly more. Desegregation Budget highlights FY 2012 -2013:
COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA OUTREACH: $786,507
FINANCIAL SERVICES: $517,388
FINE ARTS/ OMA: $4,252,271
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS & COMMUNITY OUTREACH: $128,230
HUMAN RESOURCES: $170,671
LEGAL SERVICES: $560,377
RISK MANAGEMENT: $307,872
SCHOOL SAFETY & SECURITY: $246,984
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, & PROF. DEV.: $819,288
CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION: $0
DROPOUT PREVENTION: $0
Related article:
TUSD desegregation hearing focuses on Mexican American Studies