🛡️ Sadie Shaw Stands Alone Against AI Invasion of Public Schools, TUSD Votes for $45M Override | TUSD 5.27.25

Only board member recognizes that replacing human relationships with algorithms serves privatization agenda. How a district spending millions on football turf lost 40% of its occupational therapists.

😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
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🏫💰 The school board in Tucson voted to ask voters for more money to fix their schools in November. However, they're facing big problems keeping essential workers like speech therapists and occupational therapists who help kids with disabilities. 😟👨‍🎓👩‍🏫

Even though students and parents attended the meeting asking for help and fairness, the school district decided to spend almost $6 million on new football fields instead of addressing the issues causing workers to quit. 🏈💸

These workers have to assist too many students—sometimes 73 kids when they should only help 50—and they're not getting paid enough. Many are leaving for other school districts that treat them better. 😔💼

Students are upset because their schools keep getting temporary principals instead of permanent ones, which makes it hard to plan activities and feel stable. 😞🏫

The community is fighting for better schools, but the people in charge seem more interested in fancy projects than helping the teachers and therapists who work directly with students. 💪📚✨

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🗝️ Takeaways

• 🗳️ TUSD Board voted 4-1 to place a $45M override on the November ballot despite systematic staff shortages

• 💸 District approved $5.9M for artificial turf while losing 40% of occupational therapists to impossible caseloads

• 👨‍🎓 Student leaders testified about a lack of voice and administrative instability destroying the educational experience

• 🏥 Related service providers revealed 100% said caseload caps would improve retention—the district canceled their promised study session

• 💔 Average TUSD therapist caseloads: 60-73 students vs national average of 50, working 5+ unpaid hours weekly

• 🎪 Board rhetoric about "investing in people" contradicted by prioritizing football fields over human services

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Parents excluded from "shared governance" in hiring processes despite board policies requiring community input

• 🏃‍♀️ Essential workers fleeing to neighboring districts offering 30% higher pay and manageable workloads

• 🤖. TUSD AI policy follows Tom Horne's $1.5M statewide push to replace human tutors with chatbots

• 🛡️ Sadie Shaw stands alone againsthe t techno-optimist agenda that prioritizes algorithms over human relationships

• 💰 Override would cost homeowners $17/month ($204 annually) to prevent further educational collapse

• 🌟 Community health worker program showing success with dedicated funding from the Juul settlement

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TUSD School Board Approves $45 Million Override Election While Ignoring Mass Exodus of Essential Workers

When your district spends millions on football turf while therapists flee impossible caseloads, the priorities become crystal clear

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The air was thick with tension at the TUSD Governing Board meeting on May 27, 2025, as community members delivered testimony that laid bare the district's moral bankruptcy. While board members would eventually vote 4-1 to place a desperately needed $45 million override on the November ballot, the evening exposed a more damning truth: TUSD's leadership has systematically prioritized flashy projects over the human beings who make education possible.

Twenty speakers took the podium during public comment, and their collective testimony painted a picture of institutional failure so comprehensive it would be impressive if it weren't so devastating to students and families.

When Students Lead Because Adults Have Failed

The most powerful moments came from students who shouldn't have to advocate for basic stability in their education. Paisley Goughney, student body president at Tucson High Magnet School, delivered testimony that should shame every adult in the room:

"The simple way to summarize this year is this. As a student leader, I lack to voice. While I understand that Principal Comstock stepped in last minute, she made it clear from the beginning of the year that she was a principal for this year only... Yet despite the fact that I know the hiring process for a principal took place, here we are again with another interim principal."

Imagine being 17 years old and having to explain to a room full of adults why administrative instability is destroying your educational experience. This is what happens when districts treat schools like corporate subsidiaries instead of community institutions.

Goughney's frustration was palpable as she described trying to organize the Arizona State Convention of Student Councils with administrators who "only a few bothered to show up" to planning meetings. Her younger sister will enter Tucson High as a freshman under yet another interim principal—a pattern that betrays the district's fundamental obligation to provide stable leadership.

Lauren Rios, representing student council concerns, cut through administrative doublespeak with surgical precision:

"I am not asking for special treatment, but I am asking for equal treatment, for fairness, and for the policies that apply to us to also apply to everyone else."

When students have to plead for basic equal treatment, your institution has failed at its most fundamental level.

The Great Exodus: How TUSD Drives Away Essential Workers

The most devastating testimony came from related service providers—speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists—who detailed how TUSD's systematic exploitation has created a crisis that directly harms students with disabilities.

Rhonda Carwater, a speech provider with 17 years of experience, revealed the shocking scope of the crisis:

"We have 18 OT positions, and this year we only filled 10.8. And next year we only have a projection of 6.5 coming back to us. So that's a really large amount of people that aren't going to get their IEP services."

Let that sink in: TUSD has 18 occupational therapy positions but can only fill 6.5 next year. This isn't a staffing challenge—it's a humanitarian crisis for students with disabilities.

The data these workers presented should trigger a federal investigation:

• Average SLP caseload in TUSD: 60-65 students (national average: 50)

• Average OT caseload in TUSD: 73 students (national average: 50)

• Hours worked beyond contract by SLPs: 5.35 hours per week, unpaid

• Percentage of RSPs who said caseload caps would help retention: 100%

Paige Anderson, a former TUSD speech-language pathologist leaving after six years, delivered the most damning testimony of the evening:

"We're asking the board to direct staff to work meaningfully and collaboratively with us... No, we want fair compensation for our fair workload... This lack of respect and collaboration is why I'm leaving TUSD to work in a neighboring district where I'll make 30% more salary with a similar caseload size."

Anderson will make 30% more in a neighboring district. Thirty. Percent. More. This isn't about budget constraints—it's about choices, and TUSD is choosing to drive away essential workers.

Perhaps most infuriatingly, district leadership had promised these workers a study session to present their data and solutions. Instead, the district quietly removed it from the agenda at the last minute. Natalie Fry called it exactly what it was:

"It felt like something straight out of politics, slipping a high impact decision through while the public's back is turned. That move was a slap in the face to those of us who have shown up again and again, hoping for transparency and partnership."

The timing is no coincidence. Remove public accountability when you think no one is watching—classic authoritarian playbook.

Parents Excluded from "Shared Governance"

Breanne Butler, a parent and site council member at Davis Bilingual Elementary, exposed how TUSD's hiring processes exclude community input despite board policies requiring it:

"I thought I would be part of the decision making around a new principal appointment per governing board policies... All in all, in my time on the council this year, not only do I not feel like I have a true voice in this process, but as a parent, I do not feel like I am part of shared governance or even really honest collaboration in this district."

"Shared governance" apparently means the district shares its decisions with you after they've already made them.

Butler detailed how the site council was told their input would be "looked at for possible ideas" rather than actually used, and how community representatives were excluded from interview panels because they didn't meet mysterious "district requirements."

The Override: Necessity Born of Deliberate Starvation

Against this backdrop of institutional dysfunction, the board voted 4-1 to place a $45 million maintenance and operations override on the November ballot.

The override would:

• Generate approximately $45 million annually for the first five years

• Cost homeowners about $204 annually on a $200,000 home ($17 per month)

• Fund teacher raises, counselors, arts programs, and PE teachers

• Require a simple majority to pass

Dr. Ravi Shah framed the override as essential for district survival:

"Unfortunately, our state government is not coming to save us or our public schools. It's time for TUSD and our community to invest in ourselves... We're asking the voters to please help us as a district keep programs and services that are meaningful for our 40,000 students."

Shah is right about state government—Arizona Republicans have systematically defunded public education for decades. But the community shouldn't have to bail out administrative mismanagement.

The numbers tell a brutal story:

• TUSD teacher salary average: $56,898 (21% below national average)

• Neighboring district averages: Flowing Wells ($64,898), Marana ($62,000), Catalina Foothills ($63,000)

• TUSD is the only district in metro Tucson without a current override

TEA President Jim Byrne personalized the salary crisis:

"Coming from teaching in upstate New York... landing my first teaching gig over at the juvenile detention center... meant a big pay cut... I had to take the opportunities that presented themselves for subbing to add onto the salary, take as many PD opportunities, take the six-fifths opportunities just to work to make ends meet."

When teachers need multiple jobs just to survive, we've failed as a society.

Only Val Romero abstained from the override vote, citing community concerns about fiscal responsibility—concerns that become more understandable when you see how the district spends money.

Priorities Revealed: $6 Million for Turf While Workers Flee

In perhaps the most tone-deaf decision of the evening, the board unanimously approved $5.9 million for artificial turf installation at Pueblo and Sabino High Schools. The justification? "Safety concerns" and water conservation.

Let me get this straight: TUSD claims it's too broke to retain occupational therapists for disabled students, but has $6 million lying around for football fields?

The breakdown is staggering:

• Cost per field: $2.2 million each

• Water savings: 45,000-55,000 gallons annually per field

• Annual cost savings: $65,000-$80,000 per field

• Special turf features: Olive pit infill and coconut husk cooling additives

Val Romero raised the obvious questions:

"We have some of our inner-city schools that don't have working plumbing in their locker rooms or showers and bad facilities. But those aren't priorities—we're looking at the glitter when we're not taking care of the basic needs."

Romero gets it. When schools lack working plumbing but get million-dollar turf, your priorities are backward.

The timing couldn't be worse. As Susan Neal noted in written comments, artificial turf creates health risks, including increased injuries and bacterial infections from accumulated "sweats, skin cells, body oils, dirt, and blood."

So TUSD is spending millions on fields that could harm student athletes while driving away the therapists who would treat those injuries. Make it make sense.

Lillian Fox's Budget Analysis

Lillian Fox came armed with data and delivered one of the most fact-based takedowns of TUSD's financial mismanagement:

"The budget in TUSD is ridiculous. It's been ridiculous for years. You get far more money than any other school district in this county. Far more per student. You get the second most amount of money per student of the large districts. And yet you have the worst performance."

She brought actual budget documents showing the district's twisted priorities:

"We spent about $1.7 million last year watering the grass. We actually spent more than that. On the other hand, the total we spent on structural supplies, health supplies, and library median books was $1.2 million this year we're spending less."

So TUSD spends more on lawn irrigation than on books and basic supplies for students. Let that sink in.

Fox also highlighted a specific solution that could improve both attendance and equity:

"If we supplied sanitary supplies to girls, it would help your attendance. Because low income girls stay home when they have their period because they don't have sanitary supplies. That's a simple solution to a big problem that would pay for itself."

She criticized the district's staffing formula document for missing critical positions:

"The nurses aren't listed. The reading and math recovery teachers aren't there. So for a district that has abysmal academic performance you have a total of 12 math recovery teachers and a total of 20 reading recovery teachers because they're not here. Anything that's not on this chart administration can cut."

Fox did her homework and brought receipts. Her analysis exposed how TUSD's budget reflects administrative priorities rather than student needs—exactly the kind of community accountability the district desperately needs.

Budget Crisis: The Human Cost of Austerity

CFO Ricky Hernandez revealed the brutal mathematics of running a school district under deliberate state starvation:

Current "Savings" from Cuts

• Hiring freeze savings: $3.2 million (goal was $5.3 million)

• Position eliminations: 64.5 FTE positions cut, saving $3.7 million annually

• Departmental cuts: $12 million in reduced operating expenses

Projected Deficits

• FY2026 structural deficit: $13 million minimum

• Enrollment decline impact: $20 million reduction in M&O budget

• Desegregation budget overrun: $4.6 million, requiring M&O coverage

These aren't just numbers—they represent the deliberate starvation of public education and the communities it serves.

The enrollment decline isn't happening in a vacuum. As Rhonda Carwater warned:

"If we don't [provide services], they're going to continue to go off to charter schools, where they feel they can get that individualized and specialized needs that we're really struggling to present to them."

When you systematically degrade services, families leave. When families leave, funding drops. When funding drops, services get cut more. It's a death spiral by design.

A Bright Spot: Community Health Workers Making a Difference

One of the few encouraging presentations came from Julie Shivanonda and Noel Baillet, who detailed progress on the district's community health worker program funded by the Juul settlement:

Program Achievements:

• 197 one-on-one interventions with high-risk students

• 2,729 students received prevention presentations

• 689 parents received substance abuse education

• 36 schools actively participating

This program demonstrates what's possible when districts receive adequate, dedicated funding for student support services. Too bad it took a tobacco lawsuit to make it happen.

The program has MOUs with the Pima County Health Department and the Arizona Air National Guard, showing how community partnerships can work when properly resourced.

Voting Record: Where Board Members Stand

AI Policy: Following Tom Horne's Silicon Valley Agenda

The board approved an AI policy for educational use, with Sadie Shaw standing as the lone voice of reason against the tide of techno-optimism. The policy allows AI use for high school students only, with annual review requirements—a watered-down version of what could have been district-wide AI implementation.

TUSD's AI policy comes at the perfect time for State Superintendent Tom Horne, who has been pushing artificial intelligence in Arizona schools as part of his broader agenda to replace human educators with technology.

In his 2025 State of Education speech, Horne specifically championed Khanmigo, an AI tutoring platform: "Studies show the most effective means of teaching is one-on-one tutoring. We cannot afford to hire a million tutors for our million students, but Khanmigo gives every student a tutor."

Horne has already spent $1.5 million providing Khanmigo to 100,000 Arizona students, with plans to expand at $25 per student annually. So while districts like TUSD claim they're too broke to retain occupational therapists, the state superintendent is somehow finding millions for AI chatbots.

Sadie Shaw deserves enormous credit for recognizing this dystopian trajectory:

"I don't think that the use of AI is going to be helpful in a real way that is going to benefit the students ability to be self reliant in their own skills and creativity... It's really easy to learn how to use AI in your personal life."

Shaw gets it—when districts claim poverty while simultaneously pushing expensive AI tools, you're witnessing the privatization playbook in real time. Replace human workers with technology, then wonder why quality suffers.

The timing is no coincidence. Horne explicitly framed AI as replacing human tutors: "It gives them the equivalent of two assistants to do the grunt work so they can concentrate on creative teaching." "Grunt work" like providing individualized support to students with disabilities—you know, the work that actual humans like occupational therapists and speech pathologists do.

While Khanmigo markets itself as "not just giving answers" but "guiding students," the fundamental issue remains: we're replacing human relationships with algorithmic interactions. Even Khanmigo's own marketing acknowledges that the technology "sometimes makes mistakes."

So let me understand this correctly: Arizona has money for AI tutors that sometimes give wrong answers, but not for human therapists who provide legally mandated services to disabled students? The priorities couldn't be clearer.

Shaw stood alone in recognizing that this AI push represents the same corporate education reform that has systematically undermined public schools for decades. While her colleagues spoke about "innovation" and "21st century learning," she focused on what matters: developing students' "self-reliant" skills and creativity.

Thank goodness, at least one board member understands that education is fundamentally a human enterprise, not a tech demo.

What This Means for You

If you live in TUSD boundaries, this override election will directly impact your property taxes and your schools. The choice is stark:

• Vote YES if you believe public education deserves adequate funding despite state neglect, and you're willing to pay $17 per month to prevent further collapse of essential services.

• Vote NO if you think the district should somehow magic money from nowhere, or if you're comfortable with disabled students losing services while football fields get millions.

The real tragedy is that this choice shouldn't exist. Arizona should fund its schools adequately without forcing communities to choose between higher taxes and educational collapse.

For families with students with special needs, this override represents the difference between receiving legally mandated services and being forced to attend private schools or other districts. The exodus of related service providers isn't a future threat—it's happening now.

For teachers, the override offers hope of competitive salaries after years of falling behind neighboring districts. But without fundamental changes in how TUSD treats its workforce, money alone won't solve the respect and collaboration crisis.

The Path Forward: Community Power vs Corporate Neglect

This meeting exposed the fundamental tension in public education: community needs versus administrative priorities. While board members spoke eloquently about "investing in people," their actions reveal a different truth.

Immediate Actions:

1. Vote YES on the November override—despite TUSD's flawed priorities, students need these resources

2. Demand that the RSP study session be rescheduled immediately—contact board members and make noise about this broken promise

3. Organize community oversight of bond spending to ensure human needs are prioritized over aesthetic projects

4. Support educator organizing—when TEA bargains for better conditions, show up

Long-term Organizing:

The real solution requires sustained political work to elect pro-education candidates at the state and local levels. Arizona's per-pupil funding ranks among the nation's worst, and that won't change without electoral accountability.

Community engagement can't be performative. Parents like Breanne Butler are fighting for real shared governance, not consultation theater. Their voices deserve more than polite applause—they deserve to be heard.

This isn't just about schools. It's about what kind of community we want to be. Do we invest in the institutions that serve everyone, or do we allow them to be systematically destroyed by those who profit from their failure?

The November override election will test whether Tucson voters are willing to fight for public education despite its imperfect stewards. The alternative—continued decline and privatization—serves only those who never depended on public schools in the first place.

The next board meeting is June 10, 2025. Show up. Speak up. The future of public education in Tucson depends on sustained community engagement that goes beyond voting to active, ongoing accountability.

And subscribe to Three Sonorans Substack to keep this level of detailed, progressive analysis of local government coming. Democracy dies in darkness, but it also dies when we stop paying attention to the decisions that shape our daily lives.

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What Do You Think?

The contrast between millions for artificial turf and the mass exodus of special education providers raises fundamental questions about priorities and accountability in public education.

How can we ensure that future spending prioritizes human needs over administrative vanity projects? The disconnect between board rhetoric about "investing in people" and actual budget decisions demands serious community oversight.

What would real shared governance look like in practice? Too many parents and staff report being excluded from decisions that directly impact their schools and working conditions.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. This fight for educational justice requires all of us.

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Quotes:

• Tom Horne (State Superintendent): "We cannot afford to hire a million tutors for our million students, but Khanmigo gives every student a tutor" - Justifying AI replacement of human educators while districts lose essential staff

• Sadie Shaw (Board Member): "I don't think that the use of AI is going to be helpful in a real way that is going to benefit the students ability to be self reliant in their own skills and creativity" - Lone dissent against AI policy, recognizing threat to human development

• Tom Horne (State Superintendent): "It gives them the equivalent of two assistants to do the grunt work so they can concentrate on creative teaching" - Dismissing individualized human support as "grunt work"

• Paisley Goughney (Student Body President, Tucson High): "As a student leader, I lack to voice... here we are again with another interim principal" - Exposing administrative instability

• Paige Anderson (Former TUSD Speech Therapist): "I'm leaving TUSD to work in a neighboring district where I'll make 30% more salary with a similar caseload size" - On why essential workers are fleeing

• Natalie Fry (Speech-Language Pathologist): "It felt like something straight out of politics, slipping a high impact decision through while the public's back is turned" - On district removing RSP study session from agenda

• Val Romero (Board Member): "We have some of our inner-city schools that don't have working plumbing in their locker rooms... But those aren't priorities—we're looking at the glitter" - Criticizing artificial turf spending priorities

• Rhonda Carwater (Speech Provider, 17 years): "We have 18 OT positions, and this year we only filled 10.8. And next year we only have a projection of 6.5 coming back" - Revealing occupational therapy crisis

• Breanne Butler (Parent, Site Council Member): "I do not feel like I am part of shared governance or even really honest collaboration in this district" - On exclusion from decision-making

• Dr. Ravi Shah (Board Member): "Unfortunately, our state government is not coming to save us or our public schools. It's time for TUSD and our community to invest in ourselves" - Defending override necessity

All Names Mentioned with Context:

Governing Board Members:

• Jennifer Eckstrom - Board President, supported override, maintained procedural focus

• Dr. Ravi Shah - Override champion: "It's time for TUSD and our community to invest in ourselves"

• Natalie Luna Rose - Supported override, thanked students for speaking: "You're the reason why we're all here"

• Sadie Shaw - Supported override, opposed AI policy, promised door-knocking for campaign

• Val Romero - Only abstention on override, criticized turf spending over basic infrastructure needs

District Leadership:

• Dr. Gabriel Trujillo - Superintendent, presented override as "transformational package that can change the face of this district"

• Ricky Hernandez - Chief Financial Officer, detailed $12M in budget cuts and structural deficits

• Jim Byrne - TEA President, shared personal story of taking a pay cut to work in TUSD

Student Voices:

• Paisley Goughney - Tucson High Student Body President, condemned administrative instability

• Lauren Rios - Student representative demanding "equal treatment, for fairness"

• Lillian Celaya Hall - Borden Elementary 5th grader who led land acknowledgment

Related Service Providers:

• Paige Anderson - Former SLP leaving for a 30% pay increase elsewhere

• Rhonda Carwater - 17-year speech provider revealing OT crisis

• Natalie Fry - SLP criticizing district's broken promises on study session

• Holly Baroero - SLP explaining the cycle of service degradation

• Eileen Fisher - Reading colleague's testimony about 116-student caseload

Parents and Community:

• Breanne Butler - Davis Elementary parent, exposing exclusion from hiring processes

• Jeanette Rupal - English teacher and parent supporting override for basic services

• Lillian Fox - Community member criticizing the district's budget priorities and spending

Staff and Appointees:

• Rose Carreon - Approved as the new Davis Bilingual Elementary principal

• Christine Georgelos - Approved as interim Lineweaver Elementary principal

• Julie Shivanonda - Director presenting a successful substance abuse prevention program

• Noel Baillet - Program manager for community health worker initiative

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