After taking Democratic House Representative Sinema to task for stupidity in HB2286, it now seems to fair to look at the Republican Senator from District 22, Thayer Verschoor, and his Senate Bill 1542. This bill purports to stop the advocacy by public school teachers of political opinions, but goes much further than that. In fact it keeps teachers from advocating a position on any social, political, or cultural issue that is a matter of partisan controversy.
First off, if you decide to research the bill, do not be confused when you find the title of the legislation as being related to tax credits and the STAN account. It seems Sen. Verschoor hijacked one of his own bills removing all the original language and substituting language related to an entirely different matter. Perhaps this is a common practice but it seems a bit underhanded to me.
The language of SB1542 advises: A teacher who is acting as an agent of or who is working in an official instructional capacity for a school district or charter school shall not: (&) An instructor at a university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents or at a community college under the jurisdiction of a community college district who is acting as an agent of or who is working in an official instructional capacity for a university or community college shall not:
1. Endorse, support or oppose any candidate or nominee for local, state or federal public office or any elected or appointed local, state or federal official.
2. Endorse, support or oppose any pending, proposed or enacted local, state or federal legislation, regulation or rule.
3. Endorse, support or oppose any pending or proposed litigation in a local, state or federal court or endorse, support or oppose any judicial action taken by a local, state or federal court.
4. Advocate one side of a social, political or cultural issue that is a matter of partisan controversy.
5. Endorse, support or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the lawful access of military recruiters to campus.6. Endorse, support or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the actions of local, state or federal law enforcement.
It further advises: Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as denying the civil and political liberties of any person as guaranteed by the United States and Arizona Constitutions.
This 2nd provision just seems to be ridiculous language implying that the section is not violating a teacher’s civil liberties. Someone should advise Sen. Verschoor just because you say it’s true does not make it true. Clearly this puts just about every teacher in public school system at risk of loosing their job and facing civil penalties for doing their job.
Lets look at a few scenarios that might result from the legislation:�
Little Johnny in his history class asks teacher “Grandpa says the Germans killed 6 million Jews during World War II, Is that true?” and the teacher is forced to respond, “I am not allowed to answer that question Johnny as this is a matter of social controversy!”
Radical Betsy is in her social sciences class and advises the teacher, “I think we should bomb any hospital where abortions are performed and if you disagree, I will get you fired from your job.”
An art history teacher is advised by student “I find Michelangelo’s David pornographic and not worthy of sudy in this class.” The teachers is forced to drop the study as by continuing to teach about the subject he is advocating a cultural position.
Section 6 is very scary in and of itself. Notice the language does not read “Endorse, support or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the LAWFUL actions of local, state or federal law enforcement”. Instead it forces teachers to participate in actions that may be unlawful, if directed by law enforcement.
Section 15-511 of the Arizona Revised Statues already is more than adequate at dealing with a teacher’s advocacy of political issues. The language proposed seems directed at stifling any discussion of any issue at all. The prohibitions in this bill go so far beyond reasonable the political motivation is obvious. This bill would seek to shield children from discussion of any political, social, or cultural issue.
It is well documented that those within our society that are willing to live in the near poverty conditions forced upon public school teachers tend to have liberal views. As such this bill seeks to gag all teachers from ever expressing an opinion on any subject. If Sen. Verschoor is so intent on students being exposed to conservative views, perhaps he should concentrate on ensuring teachers receive a living wage in order to attract teachers of a conservative bent. Until then, keeping teachers from being able to do their job is not a reasonable alternative and smacks of fascism. SB1542 needs to be dropped from consideration now!