Arizona State Senator Katie Hobbs urged parents and student in attendance at last night’s rally by Democrat lawmakers at the Catalina High School auditorium in Tucson to vote for lawmakers who value public education. Hobbs, of Phoenix was joined by only democrat lawmakers from across Arizona, in what had been billed as a bipartisan event.
Michelle Valenzuela, a member of the Tucson Unified School District’s large public relations team advised school board members that the district was inviting “parents and guardians to an education town hall Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Catalina High School. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have been invited.” They may have been invited, but they were not welcome. According to two sources, Republican State Representative Chris Ackerly was in the crowd and was acknowledged by the democrat lawmakers, but they did not invite him to participate.
Tucson Unified School District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez encouraged parents to take on the “unfair” treatment of public schools by Republican lawmakers. Sanchez’s rousing rallying cry raised eyebrows in light of the guidelines issued by the Arizona Attorney General in 2004 regarding the state law which prohibits school district political activities and the inappropriate use of resources and personnel. The guidelines read in part: Board members and District staff “must not represent that they are acting on behalf of the school district or charter school while engaged in activities to influence the outcomes of elections.
One democrat elected official in attendance described it as a “Democratic rally focusing on education. The questions were such softballs that they would have embarrassed Tom Brady.” TUSD Board member Michael Hicks says he is concerned that the rally is in violation of State law. “I am very concerned that the District was part of a political rally, and by using our resources for it, we have placed ourselves in legal jeopardy.” Hicks noted that the District provided the facility to the Democrat Legislative Caucus for free under the auspices that it was a “neighborhood event.” The Caucus did pay for the event to be live streamed and the cost of TUSD staff to manage the life stream element of the event. Read the lease agreement here