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Weekly Full Policy Report - 5/31
- atenmorin0
- May 30
- 3 min read
The Blue Dot Shines a Silver Lining
There are few “highlights” or “silver linings” we can point to when it comes to trans messaging in politics these days. In a recent stunner, Democrat John Ewing pulled off a surprise upset in Omaha’s mayoral race, defeating longtime Republican incumbent Jean Stothert 56–44 percent. Ewing’s victory makes him the first Black mayor in the city’s history—and delivers a sharp rebuke to anti-transgender campaign tactics.
Omaha, known as the Blue Dot in very Red Nebraska, Republican Stothert had blanketed airwaves and mailboxes with anti-trans ads (as one does these days to align with the ultra right) attempting to turn the race into a propaganda-fest on trans existence. Nebraska Democrats didn’t flinch; instead of distancing themselves, they leaned in —mocking Stothert’s messaging and pointing out the absurdity of making trans “issues” a centerpiece in a race fundamentally about roads, housing, and city governance. The outcome marks one of the first real-world tests of post-2024 anti-trans politics in a contested swing district—and this time, it backfired for Republicans.
Voters see through the moral panic.
LEG UPDATE
The leg was on a break until May 28. The House came back on May 19, did some floor action and recessed for another 2 weeks. They can always come back early, but with graduations and vacations scheduled, it’s more than likely that they’re not coming back early.
The Senate reconvened on the 28 for the one day to attend to unfinished confirmation hearings and adjourned again until June.
This is what is called the Budget 2-step – each chamber does its own thing until they are forced to pass a budget. The deadline to pass a budget is Jun 30, 2025. Beyond that date, state agencies and services would shut down until a budget is passed.
SCHOOL BOARD
YUMA is considering a bathroom ban without talking about bathrooms. The Yuma Union High School Governing Board is considering overhauling their educational records policy to ensure accuracy – and to change them may need an act of Congress. There are five (5) layers of decision making for parents and students to traverse to correct their educational records (this does not include grades, which can only be changed by the instructor).
This proposed policy, heavily couched in parental rights and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that begins en force on page 11. TL;DR parents have rights - a lot of them - and this policy is in line with others that weaponize both parents’ rights and administrative hurdles.
TAKE ACTION
As school boards head into summer session, it’s a critical time to connect with board members about important issues impacting LGBTQ students: bullying, misgendering, harassment, and violence. Some boards may take these circumstances to push for bathroom policies – known as bathroom bans – or other anti-queer, “pro-privacy” measures. For example, the Yuma Union High School Governing Board is another example of a vague and dangerous policy. It’s slated for their next meeting, June 11.
When contacting members of the Yuma Unified School Board, remind them that transgender students belong in school and that schools are legally obligated to protect all their students from harassment, bullying and violence. Yuma Unified School District
Sign up to become a Hall Monitor and help us keep school boards accountable. You’ll get tools to track agendas, attend meetings, educate your community, and organize when it matters most.
👉 Email policy@educationactionalliance.org to sign up.
Your voice matters—especially when the decisions are happening right in your backyard.
CIVIC LITERACY
Civic Engagement means being involved in one’s community and it’s governance. Ensuring that one’s community is registered to vote, informed on the issues and ready to cast a ballot are all vital to the tending of civics – and so is engaging with local school boards.
School boards are petri dishes of democracy: local control, invested communities, and decisions that impact everyone. Most of the 650 school boards in Arizona have five members (some may have more). These members are elected and collect $0.00 in salary – they are volunteers.
It’s vital in these moments that school boards are monitored for discussions surrounding the humanity of students couched in policies that seek to marginalize them through limiting access to bathrooms, notifying parents for pronoun usage, and banning trans girls from playing women’s sports.
NEWS
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