Latest / Arizona Unscripted / Episode 8:🌵Arizona Unscripted - La Paz!
Transcript
- Arizona Unscripted: Welcome back to Arizona Inscripted. I'm your host, Bart, alongside my wonderful co-host, including Diane and Jim. And from time hey Diane, hey, hey Diane. Hey Jim. How are you doing? Good, man. From time to time we'll be joined by special pop-in guests from communities all across the Grand Canyon State, which we have one today, which Diane will then ⁓ introduce. But I wanted to mention for those folks that haven't been ⁓ on our podcast before or are new to the podcast, ⁓ we are all about Arizona. It's people's places of events and local issues that shape our everyday lives, from small towns to in Arizona to big cities, from hidden gems like we just heard about from our last podcast, which I have to go check out flags now. Is it flags? Just flags, right? Anyway, our goal is simple. Celebrate what what makes Arizona unique while bringing together voices from every corner of the state. So whether you're a lifelong resident, newcomer, or just someone who loves Arizona, we hope you'll feel right at home with us. So grab a cup of coffee or something cool. Sit back and join us as we explore the people, places, and stories that make Arizona one of the most fascinating states in America. Welcome to Arizona Unscripted. And with that, I will pass it over to you, Diane, to introduce our guest. Thank you, Bart. Yeah, you know, we've been talking about the libraries and the free services that are available there. And I was thinking about my friend Monica, who is in La Paz County, which is just south of Mojave County. And I absolutely love Monica and what ⁓ she brings to our conversations. And I was thinking about how education and our libraries tie together and how education is impacting our library. So we wanted to have Monica on here with us. And with that, Monica, welcome. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Glad you're here, Monica. So Tell us for you know for for us that haven't really visited La Paz that much, tell us all about kind of all about, but give us an overview of La Paz, what's going on there? Well, so La Paz is by founding the youngest county in Arizona. But I think by demographic, we are the oldest county in Arizona. Interesting. We need to claim both titles. We are also two different counties, depending on whether it's summer or winter. So quartzite in the summer is less than 2,000 people. Quartzight in the winter can be up to a million people. Wow. Yeah, huge, huge swing with without any changes in infrastructure. So wow. So it's like you have a cruise ship coming under every so often landing. ⁓ my goodness. You know, and we love our visitors when they come. They, you know, they're our friends. know some of them are family they bring you know tax dollars into our community and as much as we love to see them come we also like to see them come see them go yeah but look forward to them coming back again yes yeah yeah revisiting it's gotta be it's gotta be tough though that mean what that's such a swing though such a huge swing you guys have adapted well it sounds like though that swing you know and you just you know we talked with Laura For the last episode, and absolutely Flagstaff is where you want to be in the summer. La Paz is where you want to be in the west. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and a little fun fact, ⁓ maybe you can talk just real quickly about that. Camels. So every time when I go into La Paz and going into court site, I see this sign about camels, and I absolutely love camels. So, what is the deal with camels? So When the Army was testing their camel program, ⁓ in I want to say late 1800s, ⁓ they had a a camel driver that worked for the US Army ⁓ named Hajoly. And we have Americanized his name and call him High Jolly now. But when the Army ended that program, he purchased a couple of the camels and came to Court site. And because Diane, I know you love a good ghost story. We're told that there is a red camel that wanders the desert still. So I'm I'm not willing to go check it out, but I'll cheer you along how you do. Is it a is it a thing? Like people go and try to find a camel? They find it find the ghost? Do they? Yeah, I don't I don't know that anybody really try, you know, but we've heard he's out there. Yeah. But but yeah, so that's you know, but Hajali. Salad and quartzite. And so that's where our connection to camels comes in. That's awesome. Wow. Well, and we've talked about road trips. And I love road trips and I love going to La Paz County. We've been talking about libraries and all of the different services that are available there. So, what is the library system like in La Paz? So we do have a library that is very well used. It's part of ⁓ the the city runs it and it's Currently housed in town hall. Something we have going on right now, we have ⁓ an incredibly philanthropic citizen that purchased an old building that he is remodeling. And when it's done, he is going to turn it over to the town to become the new library. So we're really excited about that. And that'll be right on Main Street. It's much bigger. There's going to be space for meeting rooms. All that. ⁓ And this is somebody that he was a lifelong member of our library board. And this is how he's changed. This is his legacy. So we were absolutely blessed to have him as part of our community. And we're excited to see this project get off the ground. That's wonderful. And ⁓ Monica and I both have ties to education. That's a really big part of our life and our connection with each other. ⁓ house education system there. Challenges. There well challenges is a great word because you know much much more ⁓ optimistic than problems, right? ⁓ and and the the the challenges are not unique to La Paz County, they're statewide. Arizona is 49th in education funding ⁓ in the nation. Wow. No idea. Yeah, so you know, my California, which for one of my schools is literally a mile away. They get twice as much per pupil as Arizona students. So we're competing with very nearby districts, you know, from a neighboring state that have much better resources. And yet I have these absolutely incredible, amazing teachers that choose to stay in Arizona and teach in my school, you know, knowing that they could get more elsewhere. Because they love our kiddos and dedicated, yeah. Something they're really dedicated to the and yeah. I have one teacher that drives from Yuma, which is ninety minutes every day to teach. ⁓ And people don't realize that teachers are take a lot of training. This isn't just thing thing you come off the street and you suddenly g start become a teacher. Right. I wish people knew my my wife's a teacher and I wish people knew more about what it takes to be a teacher and that kind of dedication, especially in a resource area like yours where looking over the fence going, ⁓ my gosh, there's more money over there. Well and to to be a good teacher, right? I mean Arizona has We talk about Arizona having a teacher shortage. We don't have a teacher shortage. We have a shortage of people willing to teach, right? Because we have enough certified teachers to fill every single open space we have. They're leaving the profession because it's been devalued. ⁓ what's devaluing it? What's going on? What's happening? Well, we've had, you know, in trying to help, our legislature has done things like say, well, you don't need a teaching pathway. You have a bachelor, any bachelor, that's good enough. You can come in and teach. But then you don't have the classroom management experience that comes with being a veteran teacher. ⁓ yeah, it's tough. Right. Yeah. And and so, you know, those kinds of things when you've worked really, really hard for your education, as our teachers have, and then the state comes in and says, Well, good for you for going that route, but anybody can do what you did, right? Like, how does ⁓ they don't yeah, they're not yeah. That's what I by devalue. We we've we've made it feel like, ⁓ Anybody can do it and and anybody can't do it. It takes an absolutely special person to be a teacher. ⁓ yeah. We love our teachers. Well, and they touch everything, right? We're we're in a country, we wouldn't have doctors and we wouldn't have lawyers, and we wouldn't have anybody if we didn't have teachers. And they should be the best paid professionals we have, and yet that is Yeah, I think a lot of people think ⁓ like learning out of a workbook, for example, people maybe they're homeschooling, and I'm not against per se homeschooling, but but some of the tools, techniques, maybe you don't have all the resources that you a teacher has from their experience and what they can bring to the to the party. And so like here's a workbook, it just doesn't have the same level of depth and and ⁓ and nuance that teachers. Well and and every kiddo learns differently. There isn't a one size fits all. And teachers have to be trained, right? Are you you know we've got kids that are auditory learners. We've got kids that are visual learners. We've got kids that through doing and our teachers work really hard to incorporate all of those things. And again, you know, there are there are students that maybe need additional assistance and need special schooling. Yeah. We want to make sure that those kiddos have that opportunity. But the majority of Arizona students are in public schools. Wow. Is there anything draining the resources from the teachers? Anything going on that's ⁓ like for the public education? ⁓ Arizona was kind of the testing ground for the universal voucher program. Other states have watched what we've done. So that they know what not to do. ⁓ unfortunately, yeah. It's running rampant. ⁓ there's almost a billion dollars a year being sucked out of public education. Wow. To go in to go into voucher programs with very little oversight. So, Bart, if you decided that you wanted to homeschool your kid, you could get a voucher to do so. But then there's no checks and balances. There's no tests that your child has to do every year to make sure that they're learning. There's no set curriculum, there's no standards. yeah, how I how can I guarantee to be prepared? I the everybody would offer preparation and say, yeah, we're the best, and but there's no guarantee because there there are no checks and balances. And we've seen massive fraud throughout the program. ⁓ I was just reading an article yesterday that was talking about some of the different expenses that have been charged back to the VALCA program. And it's been, you know, ski lessons and luxury car driving lessons, amusement parks, but my favorite is lingerie, right? Like we're paying for lingerie. And our illustrative right, right. I'm not sure how that's educational, but our state superintendent had told the legislature that he had clawed back that money that that you know he had taken it back. And then he had to come out and admit that no he hadn't. Right. So and it affects not just education. I mean, because we talk about it from the education standpoint, right? But but it affects all of our services because it creates a budget deficit. Yeah. ⁓ the voucher program was billed as a way to save the state money because in theory it was going to be a little bit less per student than what a public school would get. And if it was only public school students that were taking vouchers, that might have been the case. But 70% of the kids that are getting vouchers have never and were never going to be in the public school system. They were going to be homeschooled or they were going to go to private schools. The it was also billed as a way to kind of level the playing field because it would allow low-income kiddos to go to schools. ⁓ Again, not the case. The zip codes that use the most vouchers are our wealthiest zip codes. And if tuition to a private school is twenty-five thousand dollars and you have a five thousand dollar voucher, they're gonna laugh you out the door, right? So it doesn't level the playing field. It it gives a tax break for people that were already sending. Yeah, it's something it wasn't well thought through. It needs revision. Yeah, yeah. And and so, you know, again, like I said, it was gonna it was gonna save us money, it it doesn't. ⁓ so much so that it has pulled from other things. One of the ones that I talk about most frequently is ⁓ our water augmentation. ⁓ you know, we we water is a huge issue in Arizona and we need to do everything we can to make sure that we are prepared for the future. And under I believe Governor Ducey, they had set up a fund that was supposed to go to WiFa, which is our water infrastructure. And they were gonna get a billion dollars a year for three years. They got the money the first year. Second year there was no money to give them the budget deficit. And the big change in the budget was the vouchers. And then the third year they went and they took the money that they had given them the first year back. Right. So ⁓ now, now this has affected our water. ⁓ Diane, you and I had a conversation about libraries and how it affects our library services. Yeah. ⁓ it it affects public safety because there's only so much money to go around. And now this pet project is just siphoning, like I said, a billion dollars who should the the community go talk to the city council people or what would you write? ⁓ and ⁓ the voters, Arizona voters have voted down vouchers time and time and time again. And yet the legislature pushes them through anyway, which is so regardless of political party, political affiliation. Hold your legislators accountable. Make sure that they're doing what you're asking them to do because they work for you. It's not the other way around. We don't work for them. And we've sent them to the Capitol with a job to do. they need to respect the will of the voters. Well, and I'm thinking about that budget. And we were talking with Laura in Coconino and we were talking about the fire danger. And the season with things ⁓ heating up and limitations on water. And I'm thinking about all of our public services. I mean, it impacts everything. So that's really something for us to be aware of and be advocating for the things that we want to see in our communities. Absolutely. Well, let's definitely support the teachers, definitely talk to the representatives and try to get them to, you know, go with the with the will of the voter, which is ⁓ no vouchers. And ⁓ and I I I do want to I want I do want to clear one thing up because vouchers in their initial form when they when they first started, they were a really good thing because what it allowed for was ⁓ your kiddos that did have special needs or needed special services, yeah. So within the education community, we supported that, right? We want every kiddo to have the best education and again. You know, kids aren't cookie cutter. And if it's not in the public school, we wanted those kids with those special needs to be able to get those services. So you know, but it went from, you know, when universal vouchers first became a thing, 60% of the kiddos on you know on vouchers were special needs students. Now it's 15%. Yeah. So it shifted way over to the ⁓ people people got a hold of it and it was kind of written in a way that allowed them to take advantage of it. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Well. Anyway, we should sp definitely this call call it teacher support day or year. Yes. Get out and support them. And then ⁓ and in the library, ⁓ we definitely people don't realize one thing I think maybe you mentioned earlier, but the library was like affected by this, it sounds like I would I would imagine, right? Because the budgets that come out can actually affect the resources at the l local library, which are which is community stuff. Right. Well yeah, again, this there's only so much money in the state, right? Like we, you know. Yeah. Outside of raising taxes, which nobody wants, we have limited resources. It's there's there's not a tree that grows out there. I want three of them in my backyard, right? But ⁓ yeah, we have limited resources. And if money is going into this project or that project in an overabundance, it takes from everything else that we need to do. Well tell but speaking of the library, it sounds like we need to support the local library. How's your local library? Is it is it good? Does it need ⁓ we have a really good local library. We have a group called Friends of the Quartzite Library that they do fundraising. and like I said, we have a new library being built that we're really excited for. Wow. So at least ⁓ not there's some money being directed in the right. Well, but again, that's but that's private money. That's that's the difference. It's not public money. It's an it's an individual that that values libraries, sees the importance of them, and this h this is what he wants to do. ⁓ okay. Privately funded. Okay. Right. It is completely privately funded. Once it's rebuilt, he will de he will donate it to the town. And then it'll be for the town to do the upkeep on it, but yeah, it's private. Well, good for that person though, doing something. Absolutely. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, is there anything without leaving on a ⁓ negative negative note, is there anything going on in in the area that we should know about? Any upcoming event or ⁓ of course my favorite is place to eat? ⁓ barbecue in La Paz. Yeah. Is it a thing? Well, no. Mech I mean we got some Mexican, we've got, you know, fast food. ⁓ we've got a we've got a several mom and pop restaurants here in town. You know, your local diners. Those are my favorite. Do you have a favorite one? Like when you would you would you see t t friends? ⁓ probably Mountain Quail. They've just opened a new location. So they now have two loc they're they're now franchised. They have two locations. ⁓ wow. You know, but again, sum summer is summer in La Paz County is different. It's it's quiet and it's slow. A lot of our restaurants close down. there are seasonal businesses. There's not enough workforce and there's not enough clientele to keep all of the restaurants. We have but we have one of the best pizza places along ten in Silials ⁓ here in town. And that's always Hoppin place. What's the name of that place? What's that place? ⁓ Ciliow. And it's and it's ⁓ I think they're on their third generation. Wow. So all right, everybody everybody go there. Right, yeah. Keep that thing supported. Monica. I know y'all are ⁓ gearing up to be really busy here shortly with ⁓ a river float and things get really hoppin' and then they chill out for the supper. Look forward to seeing you soon. Yes, thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks everybody. Yeah, thanks everybody.