It’s Petition Round Up Weekend! 🤠
Petition turn ins across the state, Gov. Hobbs vetoes GOP budget that would’ve forced federal vouchers into AZ, #AZLeg goes on vacation
This weekend is Protect Education’s May Petition Round Up Weekend from Friday, May 8 - Monday, May 11 - and we want it to be HUGE! Our volunteers were on 🔥 bringing in nearly 1000 petitions during our last turn-in weekend, and we need y’all to do it again!
Do you have petitions with signatures on hand? Yeehaw, get ‘em turned in! No matter how full your sheet is, we are asking every volunteer to return as many petition sheets as you can so we can get an accurate count. We currently have 8,000 (‼️) petitions checked out to volunteers in the field, and we need as many back as possible — don’t fret, we’ll give you some more blanks once you do 😉 Let’s do this, Arizona. For our students, for our educators, for our future!
All of the statewide turn-in events listed here have a notary to make turning in your petitions easy for you. There will be return events in every corner of Arizona — please check here to find a location near you (and of course you can also bring friends and family to sign and check out new petitions!) 👉 bit.ly/pe-roundup!
📋 8 Weekends Left! We have just 8 weekends left to collect 256,000 signatures from Arizona voters to qualify the Protect Education Act for the November 2026 ballot. We are going to rein in AZ’s $1 billion ESA voucher program and redirect saved funding back to Arizona’s public school classrooms — which serve over 90% of Arizona students 🍎🏫🎒
💥 Need more petitions, or ready to get started??? Here’s how to plug in:
Pick up petitions at a Depot near you – here’s the Petition Depot list
Request petitions and get connected locally - here’s the Petition Request form
Here is the training video. It’s critical that everyone who circulates watches it, no matter how many times you’ve volunteered for petitions. The rules change frequently, and we want all signatures you collect to be counted.
💥 Volunteer Resource Hub: Check out our Volunteer Hub, which is your one-stop shop for all circulator trainings, FAQs, and more. Make sure to bookmark or save the link! 📌
🔥 Here’s an excerpt of our newly published OpEd – read the whole piece here:
“Are you tired of hearing reports about millions misspent on voucher-funded Disneyland trips, appliances and lingerie? Well, if Arizona Republicans at the state legislature have their way, get ready for a whole lot more stories of voucher waste, fraud and abuse.
This week, Republican lawmakers pushed through an irresponsible, non-negotiated budget (which Gov. Katie Hobbs promptly vetoed) that would have forced Arizona to opt in to Trump’s federal voucher scheme. This nationalized voucher scheme would trigger a massive transfer of wealth to Arizona’s private schools — the same ones already cashing in on our state’s $1 billion universal ESA voucher program — without any guardrails or protections against fraud or discrimination.
Opting in would double down on the massively inequitable, two-tiered system of haves and have-nots that’s been pushed into Arizona with universal ESA vouchers, which have become a “handout for the wealthy.” It incentivizes disinvestment in — and therefore the dismantling of — public schools, which serve over 90% of Arizona students.
And as U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, who recently introduced a bill to rescind the federal voucher scam, points out, this program is set to irresponsibly explode the federal debt by $25 to $55 billion a year.
Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility? Not anymore...
We won’t hold our breath waiting for the Trump administration to ensure the program doesn’t just serve as a tax shelter for the uber-rich — but we do know that these guidelines won’t be issued until after our state budget has passed and the legislative session has concluded.
That makes opting in this year not just reckless behavior, but downright political malpractice…
Arizonans deserve a responsibly crafted budget that doesn’t contain poison pill voucher programs that are wide open for waste, fraud and abuse. Arizonans deserve politicians who are honest with the people and who prioritize proper funding of our public schools so students are equipped for their future. And Arizonans deserve leaders who will stand strong against federal tax cuts that benefit the wealthy when Arizonans are struggling to make ends meet.”
⚰️ Another budget bites the dust: In what is unfortunately becoming an annual exercise, this week Hobbs promptly vetoed the non-negotiated budget Republican legislative leaders sent her. She blasted it as “unbalanced and reckless,” then invited the House and Senate to set up a budget meeting. She told KTAR she and Republican negotiators met Thursday, and that she hopes talks will eventually be productive. We’re glad to see them meeting, as prior to this, Republican leaders were spending most of their time finger-pointing and slinging accusations.
🏖️ Must be nice: The Arizona Legislature has decided to take a paid vacation for the rest of the month. The House voted along party lines to skip town until June 1, saying there is currently nothing else for them to do (⁉️). The Senate will convene again on Monday, but plans to take the rest of May off as well. The governor’s bill signing moratorium remains in effect until Republican legislative leaders participate in “good faith” budget negotiations, but is effectively moot with both chambers adjourned.
🙄 Wanting it all: Senate President Warren Petersen (R-14) said Hobbs shouldn’t expect major changes from negotiations, but that’s not realistic. Republicans are insisting on having it all: full $1.4 billion tax conformity, massive cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, across-the-board agency cuts, and zero reforms to their $1 billion universal ESA voucher scheme. They’re also betting that Hobbs will wholly capitulate to their demands rather than risk a government shutdown — but, as the Arizona Agenda notes, “Negotiating with the governor is a thing you have to do when the governor’s signature is required.” The Agenda also points out that Republicans’ “performative budget standoff didn’t work out well” last year.
⏰ Tick tock: The calendar is counting down toward lawmakers’ only constitutionally mandated responsibility: the passage of a state budget by midnight on June 30. Here’s hoping the approaching deadline lights a fire under our do-nothing legislative majority!
🤓✅ The SOSAZ 2026 Bill Tracker, a live document with full information about all bills SOSAZ supports or opposes in 2026, gives you up-to-the-minute information on where these bills stand. Bookmark the Bill Tracker to stay in the know.
Join Public Funds Public Schools on Tuesday, May 12, at 11am AZ time (2 pm ET) for a timely webinar on Trump’s federal school voucher scheme.
With the program projected to funnel tens of billions of federal tax dollars through SGOs to vouchers, this webinar will highlight how these organizations have repeatedly been shown to lack adequate accountability and transparency leading to significant waste, fraud, and abuse of public funds.
Register now for No Accountability, No Transparency: The Risks of Scholarship Granting Organizations under the Federal Voucher Program on May 12 at 11am AZ time (2 pm ET).
Check out some incredible pictures and stories from across the state that make us #PublicSchoolProud! Do you know a story we should spotlight? Post it on social media with #PublicSchoolProud or email leda@sosarizona.org to let us know.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all of the amazing educators who work day in and day out to support our students and overall community!
“I met Ms. Gonzales, and she was that catapult for me.” Check out this amazing video from ABC15 spotlighting Ruth Harris, a former educator and current vice principal at Wilson Elementary in Phoenix – the same school she attended as a first grader. Ruth walked into the school “scared, alone, and unable to speak English,” but thanks to her teacher, Ms. Gonzales, Ruth immediately felt accepted. Now, Ruth is trying to create that same experience for the next generation of students!
🧑🍳👨🍳👩🍳 It isn’t just Teacher Appreciation Week – Marana Unified is celebrating their amazing Food Services staff for National Lunch Hero Day! Thanks to all of the incredible cafeteria staff across the state who keep our students fueled and strong – kids can’t learn on an empty stomach!
Yuma Elementary District is giving a huge thank you to their dedicated nursing staff for National Nurse Day! From administering medication and conducting health screenings to treating bloody noses, caring for sore tummies, providing first aid, and everything in between, our school nurses make sure our students are healthy and safe on campus. Thank you, nurses! 🧑⚕️👨⚕️👩⚕️
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