On Saturday, September 9th, 2023 Pima County Interfaith, Save Our Schools Arizona, the Children's Action Alliance, Arizona Center for Economic Progress, and the Amphitheater School District hosted a public education town hall to learn more about the issues impacting Arizona schools.

The town hall was a great success, bringing together over 80 participants and a panel of experts to discuss ways to support our students, teachers, administrators and school boards.

Michelle Crow, the Southern AZ director of the Children's Action Alliance, gave the opening address that set the stage for an inspiring day. Abbie Hlavachek of Save Our Schools followed with an overview of the problems posed by the passage of Universal ESA Vouchers. Hlavachek and the town hall panelists demonstrated that the expansion of ESA vouchers and the lack of oversight in Arizona negatively impact public school funding and threaten to bankrupt the state.

The panelists included:

• Rep. Nancy Gutierrez of LD18
• Dr. Dan Streeter (Superintendent of Marana Unified School District)
• Ricky Hernandez (CFO for Tucson Unified School District)
• Karen McLaughlin (Director of Fiscal Analysis for Children's Action Alliance and the Arizona Center for Economic Progress)
• and Nicky Indicavitch (Statewide Outreach Director for Save Our Schools AZ) 

For more information about the public education town hall, see the the Tucson Agenda article published on September 15, 2023.