New legislation could limit teachers’ ability to protest — and their privacy

PHOENIX — Two Arizona lawmakers are working to pass legislation that would limit teachers’ ability to protest during school hours with the threat of diminished funding for public schools.

House Education Committee Chairman Matt Gress and Senate Education Committee Chairman Hildy Angius introduced the bill, HB 2313,  after nationwide organized protests on Jan. 30 against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Tucson Unified School District closed 20 schools after thousands of employees called out sick as a part of the protest, according to AZ Luminaria.

Details about legislation that could impact teachers’ ability to protest

The bill Gress and Angius introduced would prohibit teachers at public or charter schools from striking or participating in organized walkouts against their employer.

It would also require the Arizona Department of Education to decrease a school’s funding if there is an increase in remote learning due to an organized protest.

“If someone organizes a work stoppage, they should not retain the privileges and protections of public employment. If regular school days are moved online because of coordinated political action, funding must reflect that,” Gress said in a statement.

Angius added that when teachers call out, parents are impacted as well.

“The Tucson closures showed how a coordinated call-in can shut down learning overnight. This legislation restores accountability and stability for families and keeps the focus where it belongs, on students in seats and classrooms open,” Angius said.

President of teachers’ union shares concerns about legislation

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, a teachers’ union that represents 22,000 public school teachers and employees, said this bill could be a threat to teachers’ privacy.

“This bill says that if two or more teachers are out that there may be some sort of collusion happening that there could be an investigation into that … Are they going to look at my text messages? Do they want to be able to see who I called, my phone log, like this is just a very scary step,” Garcia said.

She added that legislators should be focused on keeping teachers in the profession instead of focusing on stripping funding from public schools.

“Arizona schools are some of the worst funded in the country … Instead of addressing any of those problems, this week Arizona lawmakers are advancing a set of bills that will hurt funding for our public schools and undermine the few protections that Arizona educators have left,” she said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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