Voucher expenses axed, politics in school board races and county supe candidates

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Educating Arizona! 🌞

Summer has officially come to an end for some parts of the Valley, with Chandler Unified heading back to school this morning and other districts set to follow suit next week. Unfortunately, it looks like the excessive summer heat won’t be going anywhere for some time.

Here’s to a successful, if potentially sweaty, start to the new school year!

🔎 Investigation prompts new school voucher limitations

The Arizona Department of Education is no longer approving school voucher payments for purchases that families can’t tie directly to a curriculum.

The department never should have approved them in the first place because doing so is against the law, the Attorney General’s Office said in a letter to the department earlier this month announcing an investigation.

The department was quick to respond and pledged to review its practices and procedures to ensure they comply with state law.

The news comes just as the Education Department predicted voucher program enrollment would near 100,000 within a year’s time. It remains to be seen how this change will impact enrollment and whether its estimated $864.4 million taxpayer price tag will drop.

🌈 West Valley school board publicly opposes Biden’s new rules

A West Valley school district’s Governing Board publicly opposed the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules, which expand protection for LGBTQ+ students by including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the definition of sex-based discrimination.

Court orders are currently blocking the new rules in 14 states, not including Arizona. They’re set to take effect here on August 1.

The Dysart Unified School District Governing Board unanimously approved a resolution opposing the Title IX ruling, calling it "obtuse overreach" that criminalizes "innocent children" and "the people of the varying faiths that commonly and firmly believe in truth, such as a Creator of two distinct and wonderfully made sexes."

At the same meeting, the board also adopted a student and parent handbook that stated the district does not discriminate against any person based on their sex, including their sexual orientation or gender identity.

🗳 Petitions requested for half of Maricopa County school board candidates

Just three days after school board candidates were required to turn in signatures to qualify for the November ballot, public records requests had been filed for the nomination petitions for half of the candidates in Maricopa County.

The requests, which are often the first step in mounting a legal challenge against a candidate, took a new shape this year, according to Maricopa County School Superintendent Steve Watson, who said they seem to "go along political ideology."

Other news from around the Valley

📝 228 candidates have filed to run for the 175 open school board seats in Maricopa County that will be up for election in November. The deadline to file a legal challenge or to nominate a write-in candidate is July 22.

🎒 Students in some East Valley school districts return to school next week for the 2024-25 school year.

What we’re celebrating

🏆 Several students in the Tolleson Union High School District took home awards from the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America national conference in Seattle earlier this month.

📸 State Treasurer Kimberly Yee honored 10 K-12 students on Tuesday with scholarships for modeling their dream jobs in a photo contest. Among Maricopa County’s four winners: a 12th grader who wants to be an actor, a 7th grader who wants to be an Olympic climber, a 5th grader who wants to be a dancer and author and a kindergartner who wants to be a postman.

Thanks for reading! You can reach me at nsullivan@gannett.com and my colleague Maddie Parrish at mparrish@arizonarepublic.com.

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