TUSD uses students to push budget opposition (UPDATED)

For years the students of Tucson High Magnet School have been used to push the political agendas of Congressman Raul Grijalva and his daughter TUSD Board president Adelita Grijalva. Now, they are being used to push opposition to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s school funding budget plan passed by the Arizona Legislature last week.

According to the District, “students who want to fight for educational funding” will get a budget breakdown from TUSD leaders at a forum on Thursday, March 12, which had been scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the school auditorium. The time has been changed to 1:00 p.m. to accommodate Congressman Grijalva’s attendance.

The District claims that the forum was arranged after students expressed frustration with the budget, particularly the proposed CTE/JTED cuts.

Dr. H.T. Sanchez, TUSD superintendent, and Chuck McCollum, who oversees the technology education program for TUSD, will be among the district leaders in attendance.

JTED is a public high school district that offers tuition-free Career and Technical Education programs to sophomore, junior and senior level students, as well as students who are under 22 years of age.

The District is promoting Morgan Darby, a Tucson High junior who takes technology education classes at school and at JTED, as the leader of a grassroots, social-media movement about the budget. She said she was moved to take action by a JTED teacher who complained about the budget.

Morgan and a friend at that moment decided to step up and fight for their education. “On that day, on that car ride home, we drafted out what we were going to do,” Morgan said.

Steve Holmes, a Grijalva acolyte, who the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at TUSD, helped organize the forum and said TUSD leadership looks forward to meeting with the students at Tucson High Magnet School.

“Seeing students take an active role and work to influence policy is exactly the kind civic engagement that we encourage,” he said. “We are looking forward to getting together with the students to explore the financial issues at hand and help them understand how the state budget will impact their education.”

The forum will be broadcast via Livestream at www.tusd1.org.