Heather Mace: Stoking culture war instead of aiding education

If you’ve been on the internet for more than a few minutes today, chances are you’ve been exposed to rage bait. This term, which describes online content that deliberately tries to make people angry, can take the form of inflammatory headlines, offensive memes, or provocative videos. The goal of rage baiting is to keep users clicking, following, and engaging with content as long as possible to increase advertisers’ revenue.

As the concept of rage baiting gains popularity, however, it’s come to describe any type of interaction that purposefully annoys or irritates the receiver. Although I know this insidious content lurks everywhere, I was still surprised recently to stumble across an arsenal of rage bait in an unlikely place: the Arizona spring legislative docket.

As an educator, I always like to check out legislation that might impact Arizona’s public schools. With a record 2,121 bills introduced by lawmakers this year, I had hoped there would be plenty of proposals that aim to strengthen our educational system. But for every bill that addresses practical issues like funding school lunches or increasing teacher pay, many others read like bizarre compilations of political buzzwords. They seem designed not to solve real educational problems, but to fire up constituents. They appear to be, quite simply, rage bait.

Take HB2060, sponsored by Rachel Keshel (R-17), which would ban public schools and their employees from "encouraging or facilitating abortions.” Or consider HB2589, sponsored by Michael Way (R-15), which threatens teachers with jail time if they allow anyone under 18 to see someone performing in drag. Then there’s HCR2003, sponsored by Selina Bliss (R-1), in which lawmakers obsess over which bathrooms trans children are allowed to use at school. They are also considering SB1424, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), which would require public and charter schools to teach firearm safety awareness every year from kindergarten through graduation. And who could forget SB1567, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), which would prohibit schools from exposing minors to "sexually explicit materials,” including classic works by Shakespeare and Maya Angelou? (This bill is so unpopular that similar versions have already failed four times.)

Admittedly, it takes creativity to package all these topics – abortion, drag shows, restroom assignments, guns, and sex – as pressing public school issues. But the truth is, legislators propose these bills knowing there’s little chance they’ll become law. Arizona Democrats can’t move their legislation through Republican-dominated committees, and Republicans know many of their bills will be vetoed if they land on our Democratic governor’s desk. That means lawmakers can introduce bills with no other purpose than to stoke culture wars – and face almost no negative repercussions for doing so. The result is a slew of rage-baiting bills meant to keep voters indignant and agitated. But instead of online advertisers cashing in on our outrage, it’s legislators who benefit financially when party members translate their anger into campaign donations.

The problem is, districts and families are forced to navigate these stressful bills while critically important educational issues receive little attention. For instance, did you know that in 2025, a judge found the Arizona Legislature guilty of unconstitutionally underfunding our schools? Instead of fixing this massive, illegal funding issue, Republican leadership is expected to appeal the verdict. Or were you aware that Empowerment Scholarship Accounts – otherwise known as school vouchers – are projected to cost Arizona taxpayers over one billion dollars this year? With Republican legislators refusing to regulate this program, advocates have filed a petition to put ESA limits on the November ballot. They’ve been rage-baited long enough and have decided to take matters into their own hands.

Who can blame them? It’s not only frustrating to watch legislators waste precious time, energy, and money debating “educational” bills that were only proposed to rile up voters. It’s also disheartening. Just imagine what lawmakers could accomplish by channeling our community’s passion into actions that actually protect and support children. Imagine if their self-righteous political posturing was transformed into righteous anger at a system that underfunds and destabilizes public schools. Imagine if anger was the force that united our community to build a safe, nourishing, and effective educational system for our children. Now that's the kind of rage I would welcome.