Arizona needs signature circulators to reform a $1B voucher program with zero accountability. Free virtual training is this weekend, March 9 & 11. Sign up and collect signatures in your neighborhood!
mobilize.us/protecteducationaccountabilitynow/event/917131 #ProtectEducation #AZed
# **Pledge your support for the Protect Education Initiative – check all that apply!** A coalition of Arizona families and educators represented by the Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools Arizona is launching a ballot measure to bring accountability and transparency to Arizona’s $1 billion universal ESA voucher program, while improving safety standards, preserving flexibility for students with disabilities, and recovering critically needed funds for Arizona’s local public schools. The Arizona legislature has obstinately refused to add any guardrails to the program for three years, leading to massive fraud, waste, and unsafe situations for kids. We the people must now take matters into our own hands to deliver the real change our schools, students, and state need. This initiative includes: ✅ New Safety Measures to Protect Voucher Students - Requires all voucher-funded schools to comply with basic safety standards - Requires that voucher-funded schools investigate allegations of misconduct and maintain fingerprint clearance cards for all employees who have unsupervised contact with children ✅ Basic Standards to Prevent Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, including: - Banning the use of ESA voucher funds for non-educational and luxury items - Recoup millions in unused funds for public schools - Transparency for voucher funds - Clarifying enforcement authority ✅ Re-Focusing the Voucher Program on Families with the Highest Need: - Ending subsidies for the wealthy: Beginning with the 2027-2028 school year, requires the annual family income for universal ESA voucher students to be at or below $150,000, adjusted annually for inflation. ✅ Raising the Bar for Academic Quality to Support Student Success: - Requires all voucher-funded schools to follow academic accountability standards. To ensure students are learning, private schools would be required to have their students take similar assessments as public school students or be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting organization. - The ballot language filed today is subject to a 30-day Legislative Council review period and may be revised based on that review. [Public polling](https://www.arizonaea.org/sites/aea/files/2026-01/arizona-voucher-accountability-polling-memo.pdf) shows that nearly three-in-four Arizona voters approve of core accountability measures proposed in the ballot language, with support holding strong across political ideology and geography.
#azed #crossword #crypticcrossword
The azed crossword is known for being similar to The Listener in terms of its complexity and wide-ranging vocabulary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azed
But the most recent (2750, "Mixed Foursomes): https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/03/01/AZ_2750_(02nd_March).pdf -- has some of the most bizarre preamble instructions ever:
Clues are of four types:
1 Normal Cryptic
2 Letters Latent
From the answer to each clue the solver must omit one letter wherever it occurs (sometimes more than once) before entry in the diagram. Definitions in the clues refer to the full unmutilated answers: subsidiary indications, such as anagrams etc, refer to the mutilated forms to be entered in the diagram. The nine letters omitted, taken in clue order, spell out an appropriate two-word compound.
3 Misprints
Each clue contains a misprint of one letter, always occurring in the definition part. The misprinted letters (not the misprints themselves), when taken in clue order, spell out the same two-word compound.
4 Definition and Letter Mixture
Each clue contains a definition of the answer and a hidden mixture of its letters plus one additional letter, beginning at the beginning or ending at the end of a word in
the clue. The additional letters, taken in clue order, again spell out the same two-word compound.
Each group of four clues (except the group containing the asterisked one-word definition at 14 Down) contains one of
each of the clue types. Solvers must determine which is which. Numbers in brackets throughout indicate the length of unmutilated answers.
Good luck everyone. You need a PhD just to understand the blasted instructions! ;)
Powerful thread on what’s happening down in #arizona #azed and the totality of the false promises privatization peddlers are making. #education
RT: https://twitter.com/teach0r/status/1607499408916250624?s=46&t=nl_D1x0dkhbNILsj_AJQSw
“I'm not a large enough account to make a difference but I wanted to share our "school choice" experience in AZ. Our neighborhood public school failed last year. No gifted services, no teacher for half the year, etc. So I pulled her and signed her up for a charter.”
🚨A new front has opened up in the push to privatize #schools.🚨
At Fox News Jeb Bush explicitly cited #soldastory as a reason we need #AZEd #schoolvouchers. I walk through why this is a new “moderate” weapon to attack #publiceducation to appeal to parents turned off by the culture war version 👇
Donald #Trump has been key to #schoolvouchers spread. It’s why he appointed DeVos to USED and it’s why acolytes like Kari Lake ran on the #azed voucher program.
And it’s why DeVos staffers routinely coordinate with #ElectionDenial leaders.
Groups opposing additional spending on #azed running ads saying "only" 55¢ of every dollar makes it to the classroom. They are trying to tell us that it's because "some superintendents make $200,000 year, while teachers make $55,000".
AZ Advocacy Hub
Thomas Adam
AV_chess
joshcowenmsu
All the Clever Names are Taken