For years the Arizona School Board Association under the “guidance” of school administrators determined just how little money would go into their classrooms and into management coffers. No matter what level of spending the legislature allotted, the real hindrance to meaningful reform and more money in the classroom was the school board room.
The demonization of the unions and the legislature by both political parties was effective in preventing either of them from improving the teachers’ lot or increasing district efficiency. That was supposed to change with laws passed last year that prevented the ASBA from using their monies for political projects.
It looks as if the administrators and their puppets in the ASBA have found a work around.
The Arizona Republic recently brought the Arizona Coalition for Education Excellence, “which formed just months before the November election, to the attention of the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.” The paper reported that the group which “poured more than $180,000 into nearly a dozen political-action committees that supported school ballot measures last year,” should register as a PAC to ensure transparency to voters, according to the Arizona Secretary of State.
Marana School Superintendent Doug Wilson, Scottsdale school chief David Petersen and state Sen. David Lujan were listed as board members with the Arizona Corporation Commission. According to the Arizona Republic, Petersen was recently “replaced on the board by Roger Freeman, superintendent of the Littleton Elementary School District. The Yes for Littleton ESD PAC received nearly $9,500 from the coalition in support of the district’s successful override election last year.”
The Coalition s listed as a “social welfare” non-profit. The Arizona Republic says that “the coalition’s primary aim is to sway school elections by giving large sums of cash to PACs on behalf of its supporters, whose identities and contributions don’t have to be divulged. Coalition officials and its website list its biggest contributors as construction companies with a clear stake in voters approving money for school building upgrades.”
The coalition’s Executive Director, John Kriekard, reported that the coalition brought in about $456,000 in donations from undisclosed sources in the last half of the year, according to the Republic. Kriekard is a former superintendent in the Deer Valley and Paradise Valley No. 69 unified school districts.
The coalition gave about $182,000, to 10 PACs in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties.
Just this past year, Senator Lujan actively worked against Arizonans who were attempting to bring transparency to school curriculum. The legislation, introduced by Senator Lori Klein, and the request of Tucsonans United for Sound Districts, would have required school district to post their curricula on their websites.
Lujan was joined in his opposition by the Arizona School Board Association, and the Arizona Education Association.