The Desert Dissent: June 8th, 2025 Edition
Program Cuts, Education Funding Delays, and Curriculum Debates...Oh My!
Hey Arizona! It’s Cameron Bautista, with Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition, and welcome to our very first edition of The Desert Dissent! As we head into the second Trump Administration, we’ve seen unprecedented attacks on students around our country and around the state of Arizona. In this newfound newsletter, we dive deep into the world of politics and unpack everything from executive orders to local school board action, analyzing how Republican policies at the federal, statewide, and local level are harming students all around Arizona.
Join us for your one-stop shop for everything impacting students: The Desert Dissent!
Let’s go!
Federal: The “Big, Beautiful Bill” is really a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Bill”
We’ve all heard about Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” — the federal budget that already passed out of the House and includes sweeping cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and the Department of Education, among other vital government programs. All of these cuts supplement approximately $3.75 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy while leaving the working and middle classes without healthcare. In fact, a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis found that this budget will increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion while leaving up to 16 million Americans without health insurance. So much for the party of “fiscal responsibility,” right? Take a look at what ABC News had to say:
“The budget office is projecting 10.9 million more people will be uninsured in 2034 because of changes to Medicaid included in the Trump megabill.
The CBO projects overall a total of 16 million people could potentially go uninsured over the next decade, due to 5.1 million who could lose coverage due to new Affordable Care enrollment rules and expiring tax credits.
The budget office also estimates the bill will cut taxes by $3.7 trillion and cut spending by $1.2 trillion. The CBO has not yet completed an analysis of the macroeconomic effects of the bill.”
-Alexandra Hutzler and Lauren Peller
According to a report by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS - Arizona’s Medicaid program), 1,670,574 Arizonans rely on Medicaid as of May 2025. The kicker? 56,625 Arizona children rely on Medicaid.
Long story short: The Republican budget places tens of thousands of Arizona students at risk of losing healthcare.
Education cuts harm students, you know…
If cuts to Medicaid and SNAP benefits were not enough, the Republican proposal also threatens federal student loan borrowers and Pell Grant recipients. Explicitly, Pell Grant eligibility is impacted in four ways, reducing awards from around half of current recipients and eliminating awards altogether from around 10% of current recipients. The bill:
Increases the required number of annual credits for full grant eligibility from 24 credits to 30 credits.
Increases the required number of annual credits for part-time eligibility from 12 credits to 15 credits.
Eliminates Pell eligibility for students enrolled half-time.
Eliminates Pell eligibility for students who have a Student Aid Index twice that of the maximum Pell award.
In addition, the proposed budget modifies student loan repayment plans and impacts student loans. Notably, the bill compiles all Income-Based Repayment Plans into one plan, increasing the monthly payment by over 50% for millions of borrowers around the country, especially those with higher student loans. The bill also creates a tiered Standard Repayment Plan, potentially impacting borrowers on current plans by resetting their payments.
While it’s unclear the exact financial impact, what’s clear is this: The “Big, Beautiful Bill” harms millions of students around the country and targets lower-income borrowers and Pell grant recipients.
Elon Musk has something to say (uh oh)
Apparently, this “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Bill” was terrible, horrible, no good, very bad enough to even insight criticism from Trump’s former right-hand man and oligarch Elon Musk, who shamed Republican members of Congress for voting on it!
And now, he’s on a tirade calling on members of Congress to “KILL THE BILL.” Elon’s online temper tantrum can’t help but make me think of this image…
Elon’s attempts to kill the budget bill led to a very public breakup with his former icon Trump, claims that Trump would have lost without his support, and even claims that Trump is in the Epstein files! I couldn’t have been the only one with my popcorn, watching this all unfold…
In other news…
WWE Superstar, multibillionaire, and wholly-unqualified Education Secretary Linda McMahon was recently grilled for deflecting questions about the Tulsa Race Massacre and Ruby Bridges. Take a look:
Statewide: So…we’re delaying funding for Arizona public schools?
At the state level, Republicans are completely neglecting a vote on a renewal of Proposition 123, a measure passed in 2016 allowing for a greater percentage of interest distribution from our State Trust Lands, from 2.5% to 6.9%, to fund public schools. The proposition resulted in an increase of around $280M per year towards public education, providing a much-needed reprieve to the prior cuts in funding. However, the additional funds must be renewed every 10 years, expiring in June of this year. And now, rather than passing a clean extension of the measure, Republicans are wishy-washy (as always) and dragging their feet on public school funding.
At first, Republicans hoped to double whammy the bill, passing a modified version of Prop 123 in addition to provisions enshrining universal vouchers into the Arizona Constitution. Yet again, the party of “fiscal responsibility” makes the most fiscally irresponsible choices, as the universal ESA voucher system already drained our state budget by hundreds of millions of dollars in years past. For what, you may ask?
How about a $16,000 cello? Lego sets? Dune buggies?
However, after realizing that their poison-pill proposal was vastly unpopular (and likely violating the one-subject constitutional requirement for ballot measures), Republicans did the next best thing and…gave up. According to the sponsor of the Prop 123 renewal, the bill is “mostly dead”:
You may be wondering…now what? Since the funding was set to expire this year, the additional $280M would be filled in from the state’s general fund and included in budget negotiations. Rather than continuously funding our public schools and the around 900,000 students that attend them, Republicans would rather hold the propositions hostage to their political game and private school agenda. Great!
In other news…
Recently, the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus announced Kimberly Yee as their preferred candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Portraying herself as moderate, Yee announced her candidacy alongside Fake Elector Jake Hoffman, who is notorious for driving at 89mph while claiming legislative immunity.
Yee is one of the architects who handcrafted Arizona’s ESA voucher system and has already called commonsense restrictions on the program “government overreach.” It’s clear that Republicans have no interest in standing up for our public schools, and would rather embrace religious private schools and ESA zealots. I mean, just take a look at Yee’s announcement video!
Scary!
Local: Yes, George Floyd and BLM are parts of our history, whether you like it or not.
The Scottsdale Unified School District recently voted 3-2 on approving a new Social Studies textbook for high school students in the district. U.S. History Interactive — the new curriculum — drew up community outcry from the far right. Why? The book included discussions surrounding George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and police brutality in the United States.
MAGA board member Carine Werner, who also represents the district in the State Senate, claimed the book was “anti-police.” However, the board majority — all three elected last year — agreed that the book underwent rigorous review and contained all necessary curricula for students.
Yet again, Republicans are launching their crusade on books that portray anything other than what they deem “appropriate,” attempting to erase our history in their stride. Yes, it’s true, police brutality exists in the United States. But rather than providing our students a holistic education that includes the good, the bad, and the ugly of our history, Republicans would rather police what we can and cannot learn.
This situation is a reminder to pay attention to your local school board elections and fight for candidates that support public education!
Thank you!
From the federal budget, to public school funding, to contentious curriculum, thank you for tuning in to The Desert Dissent! Thanks to supporters like you, Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition remains committed to fighting against these harmful Republican policies and standing up for the interests of students in our state. Tune in in a couple of weeks for another edition of your one-stop shop for everything impacting students, The Desert Dissent!
In Community,
Cameron Bautista
