FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, April 18, 2024
PHOENIX, ARIZONA— Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed legislation aimed at increasing transparency in school board elections. The bill, SB 1097, sponsored by Senator Justine Wadsack, proposed adding party designations to school board candidates' names. Currently, the political affiliations of these candidates are not disclosed.
Senator Wadsack commented on the importance of this measure: "School boards are some of the most important elections we have in our communities. They're the closest to our children, and our local school boards govern issues that impact the education and well-being of our families. We should be able to access this information without having to dig and deduce."
Governor Hobbs defended her decision in a veto letter stating that school district governing boards should focus on making decisions for students' best interests. Senator Wadsack questioned this rationale: "How can we ensure we've elected members that will make the best decisions for students if we don't know where they stand on important issues? For example, Democrats have voted for things like detrimental mask mandates, extreme social distancing, calling children by different names and pronouns while withholding that information from their parents, and exposing our kids to inappropriate and vulgar content. In the past, we've also had Arizona school boards vote to ban educators based on their conservative Christian beliefs. Republican values lie in protecting our children from harmful mandates, inappropriate content, and woke ideology while empowering parents to take an active role in their child’s education."
The debate over this legislation reflects broader tensions regarding political influence within educational settings.
For more information, contact:
Kim Quintero
Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus
kquintero@azleg.gov
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