Dusti Martin, a former teacher and wife of former State Treasurer Dean Martin, kicked off the #purpleforparents campaign this week, and already the group is growing. Martin’s group sprung from parents’ frustration with Arizona’s striking teachers and the resulting school closures.
Martin, a fiscal hawk and mother of two small children, joined supporters at the Capitol. With only three hours notice, over 50 of the group’s members arrived at the Capitol to share their concerns with lawmakers.
The group hopes to raise awareness about parents’ educational choices.
In an interview on KFYI’s James T. Harris show, Martin said her group supports Rep. Kelly Townsend’s demand that a provision be added to the budget that would increase the penalty for politicizing classrooms. Townsend’s provision is a result of parents, who expressed concerns about teachers using their classrooms, to promote the #redfored movement.
The national #redfored movement, focused on mobilizing educators to demand increasing teacher pay, is part of the Democratic Party’s strategy to “turn Arizona blue.”
Schools across the state have been closed since last Thursday. The school closings have caused working parents to scramble to make arrangements for the care of their children. Parents had largely been supportive of the effort, but eventually began to question why schools remained closed after Governor Doug Ducey and the Legislature struck a deal to increase teacher pay by 20 percent by 2020.
#PurpleForParents meeting- Capitol 6:00 pm TODAY
Parents, teachers, students being bullied by #RedForEd
FOI requests will be discussed, meet w/legislators. pic.twitter.com/nms6LRDkL4
— NormalDawn (@noprezzie2012) May 1, 2018
It looks like #RedForEd is going to have opposition. Meet #PurpleForParents. This group opposes the walkouts by the teachers and wants to see an end to the whole Red For Ed communist movement. #EndRedForEd pic.twitter.com/eCaelchWmS
— Nohl Rosen (@catprotector) May 1, 2018
Is #RedforEd misleading teachers to keep them whipped up? https://t.co/tKEBinuuHI via @azcentral
— Laurie Roberts (@LaurieRoberts) May 1, 2018
#purpleforparents: “Let’s make sure they (the media) listen to us and not the terrorists holding our children hostage.” The “terrorists” they are referring to = teachers walking out. pic.twitter.com/XoN80J1eYy
— BrieAnna Frank (@brieannafrank) May 2, 2018
@JamesTHarris I want to be part of #PurpleForParents. Some of us aren’t on Facebook. Dusty Martin–please get on twitter. Your group is what we’ve been waiting for! #RedForEdExposed
— Peggy McClain (@redwildcat) May 1, 2018