Gov. Ducey: Major effort needed to help students who have fallen behind during pandemic

PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey wants a major financial investment to get students who have fallen behind due to COVID-19 back on track.

In his final State of the State speech, the governor also told lawmakers Monday he wants:

$1 billion to help secure a lasting and secure supply of water;

Funds to accelerate the widening of the last stretch of Interstate 10 between Chandler and Casa Grande that is now just two lanes in each direction;

Provide additional state dollars to families that take in relatives who otherwise would wind up in foster care;

Ensure that victims do not have to pay the costs of processing the “rape kits’’ designed to help find those who are guilty.

Ducey also promoted what he said is a major program to finally secure the border.

But much of what he is proposing has nothing to do with — or is in the control of — the state. Instead the governor wants the state’s two senators to grind all congressional business to a halt until there is approval of what he said is a comprehensive federal program, including walls and physical barriers.

“They work,’’ he said.

In addressing education, the governor said some parents dealt with the pandemic and school closures by moving their children to different schools, creating micro-schools or even home schooling.

“But other families have seen their kids fall behind,’’ the governor said. And he laid much of the blame on the school districts with whom he has fought over their efforts to prevent the spread of the virus.

“There’s been too much attention put on masks and not nearly enough on math, a focus on restrictions rather than reading and writing,’’ Ducey said. “And it’s students of color and those in poverty who have been most impacted by the COVID-era posturing and politics of some school bureaucrats.”

Those battles continue, with many schools continuing or imposing mask mandates with the omicron variant — and despite the governor’s orders that they cease.

So Ducey is now focusing on what’s next: a “summer camp’’ with emphasis on catching kids up in math, reading and American civics.

“We will lead the way to eliminate learning loss,’’ he said, committing $100 million in federal COVID-19 relief dollars. And Ducey, who just recently promised vouchers for private and parochial schools to parents whose schools close due to COVID-19, boasted Monday that “Arizona schools are open and they will remain open.’’

The governor also mentioned several favorite GOP talking points.

He vowed to sign any bill the Republican-controlled Legislature to expand “school choice,’’ giving parents new ways — and funding — to send their children to private or parochial schools, calling it an issue of civil rights.

“Fifty-plus years ago politicians stood in the schoolhouse door and wouldn’t let minorities in,’’ he said.

“Today, union-backed politicians stand in the schoolhouse door and won’t let minorities out,’’ the governor continued, saying poor children and those of color are trapped in failing schools. “It’s time to set these families free,” he said.

As to what is taught, the governor said students should learn to think critically, “not taught critical race theory,’’ though no one from his staff could cite a single district where that is being taught.

And while Ducey previously criticized a plan by gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake for cameras in the classroom, he said parents “deserve respect.’’

“And the occasional parent-teacher conference isn’t enough,’’ he said “Let’s require all that a child is taught, all curriculum and academic materials, be put online and available to search and review by every parent, grandparent and interested citizen.”

But Ducey did not address a potentially more immediate problem: The possibility that Arizona schools will need to cut a collective $2.1 billion in spending — and do so before June 30.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

A 1980 voter-approved ballot measure caps aggregate education expenses, with annual adjustments for inflation and student growth.

When voters two decades later approved a 0.6-cent sales tax to fund education, they exempted the additional dollars from the limit. But an extension approved in 2018 failed to include that language.

That, plus a drop in enrollment during COVID-19 last school year, translates to that $2.1 billion cut — one that has to be taken before the end of the school year.

It would take a two-thirds vote to grant an exemption. But Daniel Ruiz, the governor’s chief of staff, refused to say if Ducey would support it.

What Ducey does want is $1 billion for water.

The governor said Arizona has taken some steps to address the fact that hotter and dryer conditions have cut the state’s allocation of water from the Colorado River. That includes the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan and another $200 million last year to “invest in the water technology of the future.’’

But more is needed.

Think water from the Sea of Cortez.

“The need is clear,’’ Ducey said. More to the point, he said, there is an opportunity now, what with strong state revenues and a strong relationship with Mexico.

“What better place to invest more?’’ he said. “Instead of just talking about desalination, the technology that made Israel the world’s superpower, how about we pave the way to make it actually happen?’’

That, he said, will secure Arizona’s water supply for the next 100 years.

The governor put expansion of I-10 into the same category of investing in the future.

“More people means more infrastructure needs,’’ he said.

Going to three lanes in each direction already is in the plans by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

“But that project is still scheduled several years from now,’’ Ducey said. He promised an allocation in his proposed budget, set to be released Friday, “to get the I-10 completion leap-frogged to the front of the priority list, ahead of schedule, connecting our entire state, north to south.”

The governor also said that lawmakers made bipartisan efforts in prior years to clear the backlog of untested rape kits, working to ensure that victims’ needs were prioritized.

“But as we’ve learned, government bureaucrats often find a way around the law,’’ he said.

“In this case, some counties are charging these women — these victims — up to $800 in processing charges, and sending the bill to collections,’’ Ducey told lawmakers, though he did not say which ones. “It’s shameful, so we will be cracking down on this government abuse and, with your help, tightening the law.’’

On the issue of border security, the governor promised “significant new investments’’ to strengthen the border strike force, provide new equipment to aid in pursing criminals, “and deploy the latest drone technology to bolster surveillance and stop the cartels in their tracks.’’

But Ducey acknowledged that the issue really needs to be addressed on the federal level.

So he said he is crafting comprehensive federal legislation, including everything from a wall and virtual surveillance to increased resources to local communities “that have been devastated by these dangerous open border policies.’’

Only thing is, the House, Senate and the White House are in Democratic control. So the Republican governor is calling on the state’s two senators to use their influence to force action by their colleagues by virtue of the fact that a single senator can bring the chamber to a halt.

“No member of the Arizona congressional delegation that actually cares about the safety of our communities should vote ‘yes’ on any legislation until the president agrees,’’ Ducey said.

“Senator Kelly, Senator Sinema, check my website,’’ he said. “We’ve even drafted the language for you.”