Press Releases

On, January 10, 2022, Governor Ducey had an opportunity in his state of the state address to outline a plan for safely keeping our public schools open during rising cases of COVID-19 due to the Omicron surge. Instead, he ignored the effects the pandemic is having on educators and parents and focused on private school voucher schemes that drain money from our already strained public education infrastructures.

On November 2, 2021, the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously upheld the lower court ruling that found portions of the K-12 education budget – including bans on mask mandates, vaccines, and controversial topics in the classroom – passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law by Governor Ducey to be unconstitutional.

Halting Ducey’s Efforts to Undercut INVESTinED and His Gift to the Wealthy at the Expense of Schools

Today, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper found portions of the K-12 education budget – including bans on mask mandates, vaccines, and controversial topics in the classroom – passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law by Governor Ducey to be unconstitutional.

If we as Arizonans really believe, as AEA does, that our schools, colleges, and universities must be the safest places in the community for every student, educator, and family, we must take strong, clear steps to make it so. And that is why AEA is calling for Safe Arizona Schools Now, a plan of eight district level expectations to ensure safe in-person learning for Arizona students and school staff.

The Arizona Education Association and a coalition of education organizations and supporters has filed a lawsuit against the state over the constitutionality of the ban on mask mandates in our public schools.

AS COVID-19 cases begin to rise again in Arizona and no knowledge of when children under 12 will be eligible for the vaccine, the Governor and the legislature are putting politics before our students.

Parents, teachers, and advocates launch Invest in Arizona in response to Governor Ducey and Republican state legislators passing massive tax breaks for the wealthy and hundreds of millions in cuts to state revenues affecting education, infrastructure, and much more.

Today, Governor Ducey signed a state budget that prioritizes tax cuts for the wealthy over investing in our children’s education.

On June 21, 2021, the Arizona Education Association held a press conference urging legislators to protect the Invest in Education Act in state budget negotiations and highlight the devastating consequences the proposed state budget moving through the legislature would have on our public schools.