Arizona’s Schools Districts Playing a Dangerous Game of Political Gesturing

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Our school-aged children have unfortunately become perpetual pawns by the education union to halt in-person learning by erecting unnecessary barriers to return to a normal classroom. The education unions’ most recent unlawful push for mask mandates is the gateway to future school closures and additional spikes in young adults considering suicide.

This most recent session, we passed a law to address this concern. We passed that school district or charter schools “may not require the use of face coverings by students or staff during school hours and on school property.” The section also prohibits a school district or charter school from requiring a teacher or student to receive a COVID-19 vaccination or wear a face covering to participate in in-person instruction. Gov. Doug Ducey signed this into law June 30th.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ducey further addressed the education gap from COVID-19 by opening up to ten-million dollars in grants for “parents who are facing financial and educational barriers due to unnecessary closures and school mandates and that are not in compliance with the provisions set forth in state law.” These efforts to get our children back on track are being undermined by denormalizing policies from our school districts.

This past legislative session we collectively worked on ways to normalize the school days and push back against districts who had decided to take on the role of health czars by trying to impose vaccination and mask mandates on their students and faculty. Unfortunately, we failed to impose penalties on school districts for their disregard of the new law.

Science has proven schools are safe and continued school closures harm our children. UNICEF even agreed. In a December 2020 statement they stated,

In spite of everything we have learned from COVID-19, the role of schools in community transmission, and the steps we can take to keep children safe at school, we are moving in the wrong direction – and doing so very quickly. Evidence shows that schools are not the main drivers of this pandemic. Yet, we are seeing an alarming trend whereby governments are once again closing schools as a first recourse rather than a last resort. In some cases, this is being done nationwide, rather than community by community, and children are continuing to suffer the devastating impacts on their learning, mental and physical well-being and safety.

Since March of 2019, our public district school students have endured the uncertainty of a full return to in-person learning. These continued threats by the education unions are uncalled for. How are we to set up the next generation of learners for success for in-person learning if education unions continue to push back against returning to teaching in their physical classrooms surrounded by their students?

Each day we learn of a different school district forcing a mask mandate on its school district children. We believe when school districts open to in-person learning masks and vaccinations should be optional. School districts that want to impose a mask mandate should lose per pupil funding daily if they open with these forced restrictions, and families enrolled in a district found to be violating the law should be eligible to receive an ESA.

Our children are becoming statistics to learning loss, an increase in suicides, depression and drug addiction. Let’s work to improve our students’ lives and fight back against the education unions that are using the pandemic to score political points at the expense of our children.

If we are going to recover for the lost education time our children experienced and set up our next generation for success, we must put families interests first and see this move by our school districts for what it is—a move to bolster their political position. Our children need to learn to follow the rules and listen to their teacher, and the school districts are continuing to show kids it is okay to ignore the law.

At the end of the day, we as a state need to stop sacrificing our children so union members can score political favors as lawbreakers.

Shawnna L.M. Bolick is a candidate for Arizona Secretary of State, an Arizona state representative, chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, and vice chairwoman of the Criminal Justice Reform Committee. Rep. Bolick started her second two-year term in January 2021. Reach her at sbolick@azleg.gov.

About Sen. Shawnna L.M. Bolick 1 Article
Shawnna L.M. Bolick is an Arizona State Senator. Reach her at sbolick@azleg.gov.