Peoria Education Association

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AEA member Janie Hydrick joined Arizona local business and community leaders at a press conference Thursday at the Arizona State Capitol calling attention to a new report that exposes how huge multi-national corporations are trying to take control of Arizona legislators through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). “Arizonans know what is best for Arizona. We don’t need someone else’s template and we don’t want someone else’s control,” said teacher Janie Hydrick at the press conference. “The problem is, they tend to benefit those big companies and not you.”

ALEC is a corporate funded organization that drafts legislation attacking public schools, teachers, and other public services that local voters support. Shortly before the press conference the Arizona Public Service Company announced it is joining Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft Foods and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in pulling their support for ALEC.

According to a KPHO Channel 5 news report, ALEC has been called a “bill factory for corporate wish lists.”

The report shows that more than 50 Arizona lawmakers are in its back pocket. The KPHO report went on to say ALEC is like a super lobbyist that attracts your Republican lawmakers and big corporations to fancy retreats where they all make up laws the legislators bring back to Arizona and try to pass.

ALEC is behind various private school voucher schemes, tuition tax credit laws, and has recently been focusing on creating bills to create an advantage for profit-making on-line and charter schools. ALEC was behind legislation that attempted to eliminate the freedom for teacher and school employees to have their AEA dues deducted from their pay checks and forcing school districts to adopt new layoff provisions that eliminate seniority as a criteria that can be considered. The anti-labor bills are connected to ALEC, as well as prison privatization, SB1070, and the “stand your ground” legislation.

It is time for every Arizona legislator to disavow their support for ALEC. Please send an email to your legislator asking them to discontinue supporting the ALEC agenda and focus on Arizona voter priorities — jobs and education — instead.

Governor Brewer signed HB 2823 into law on Thursday. The AEA is officially neutral on the bill that it once opposed. Without a strong effort to begin organizing against the bill, its original provisions would have devastated local control and respectful treatment of teachers. This new law will provide an opportunity for local school districts to develop systems to combine the new teacher evaluation system that includes student achievement outcomes with performance base pay while holding school principals accountable. Summary of the new law. Summary of the changes made to the bill by the AEA.

Folks, there’s a change in policy regarding what you can and cannot wear to work.  Staff members across the district are being made aware of (and required to sign off as having been made aware of) the new district dress code policy.  It essentially gives an outline of what staff members may and may not wear to school.  

You can read the exact text, but here are a few notes:

• Rubber flip-flops are considered unprofessional.
• Clothing/hair color/tattoos/piercings are unprofessional if they are offensive, or if they distract the learning environment.
• Tennis shoes may be worn to compliment the outfit, but may not be athletic (??)

The two most important parts of the document are:

• Administrators are allowed to make the dress code more restrictive at their site (but not less restrictive).
• Administrators have full authority to make decisions about what is and what is not professional dress.

AEA celebrated a victory in the courts today; U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow granted AEA’s request for a preliminary injunction of Senate Bill (SB) 1365.

Judge Snow found that, based on the evidence, SB 1365 violates the first amendment rights of educators in Arizona. AEA, with other public unions, filed a lawsuit contesting the constitutionality of SB 1365, which places restrictions on payroll deductions for labor unions, excluding public safety unions.

Today’s ruling is a victory for AEA and for free speech for Arizona’s teachers and education support professionals, and it sends a message that when the government tries to muzzle the voice of public school employees and violate their constitutional rights, the AEA will respond to protect and defend educators’ rights.

Though AEA has been confident in our success in this legal battle it does not change our current course of action. Our Association must remain free from legislative control by using an alternative method of dues collection for the current payroll deduction, such as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).

Legislators can very easily pass another version of SB 1365 that includes all unions in the next legislative session. AEA is determined to stand up for educators’ voices and not allow legislators to hold this threat over our organization. If you have not done so, I encourage you to contact AEA Membership Organizational Consultant Nell Pederson at nell.pederson@arizonaea.org or 602-264-1774 or 800-352-5411 x113 today to sign up for an alternative method of dues collection. If you have already flipped, thank you and please encourage your colleagues to follow your example.

Our campaign to flip all members will continue, but it is important to celebrate today’s victory. This win is another example of AEA working on behalf of teachers and education support professionals in Arizona and keeping the promise of quality public education.

Sincerely,

Andrew F. Morrill, President

Arizona Education Association

Did you know you can also get advocacy form AEA online? It’s easy! Just go to www.aeahelpdesk.org and fill out the form.