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This Week
QC senator casts doubts on school spending cap waiver BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services
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NEWS ........................ 3 New town manager eager to fill old boss’ big shoes.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2023
FREE | QueenCreekTribune.com
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
tate lawmakers took the first tentative steps last week to ensure that public schools don’t have to shut down before the end of the academic year. But it remains unclear whether there are the votes in the full Legislature to make that happen – especially as a Queen Creek lawmaker has raised doubts about whether
school districts have earned it. Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, head of the Freedom Caucus, said the group’s members – about a third of all legislative Republicans – have questions about whether the money the schools already have is being properly spent. As proof, he cited figures that only 28% of eighth graders are considered “proficient’’ in reading. “And only 32% of 11th graders were able to pass the state’s math assessment,’’
Hoffman said. The problem, he said, is that schools are not emphasizing “the basics.’’ “They’ve now embarked on ideologies and political ideologies that, unfortunately, don’t help children achieve proficiency in reading or math or English or history or science,’’ Hoffman said. He specifically mentioned “critical race theory, comprehensive see
SCHOOLS page 5
$30M deal launches huge Riding high QC industrial center COMMUNITY ......... 14 QC woman leading run for active military, first responders.
BUSINESS...............16 Founders of QC’s popular Backyard Taco mark a decade..’
COMMUNITY ..........................14 BUSINESS................................16 OPINION...................................18 SPORTS......................................20 GET OUT.................................... 23 CLASSIFIEDS............................ 27
BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer
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hompson Thrift Commercial, a national real estate company, has paid Queen Creek-based Barney Farms about $30-million for 67 acres of land at the southwest corner of Germann and Meridian roads for the first phase of a mammoth light industrial center. The 67 acres will be home to 400,000 square feet of light industrial space for the Germann Commerce Center, which will total 1-million square feet at buildout. “Queen Creek is one of the fastest growing cities in Arizona and has emerged as a preeminent industrial submarket,” said Ashlee Boyd, managing partner for Thompson Thrift Commercial. “We value the relationship our company has established with the city of Queen Creek over the years, and we are excitsee
COMMERCIAL page 8
The Queen Creek Police Department brought some smiles to this little girl, identified only as Liliana by her parents, and hundreds of other kids when it showed up with an all-terrain vehicle at Gilbert Regional Park for the Truck-A-Palooza presented by Earnhardt Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Jan. 28. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)