Phoenix council candidate failed Isaac’s kids; now she wants a bigger job

Adobe Stock

As Election Day Approaches

To allow candidates the right to respond to criticisms about their candidacy before Election Day, the last day Independent Newsmedia will publish new election-related letters online is Oct. 27. Candidates may submit a 150-word reply addressing criticisms only and should email them to azopinions@iniusa.org along with their name, address, contact number and the headline of the letter they’re addressing.

OPINION — Patricia Jimenez is running for Phoenix City Council in District 4. Her pitch is experience. Voters should ask what that experience has produced. Jimenez has served on the Isaac School District board for more than two decades. She has been board president 13 times. When the district’s budget crisis hit, she held the gavel.

On Jan. 31, 2025, Gov. Katie Hobbs, Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan and House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos called on Jimenez and the board leadership to resign.

In June, Hobbs vetoed House Bill 2610, which would have automatically removed boards under receivership. In her veto actions she said again that the mismanagement was “unacceptable” and that Jimenez and the board leadership needed to take accountability and resign.

Jimenez did not resign. She is now asking Phoenix voters for a promotion.

A resume reflects what you did with the trust you were given. Isaac families, many in the very west Phoenix neighborhoods this council seat would touch, trusted her with their children’s schools and their tax dollars. The governor and her own party’s legislative leaders concluded that trust was not honored.

Running for city council is her right. But a city budget is orders of magnitude larger than a school district’s. A candidate who has never owned the failure in her last job has given voters little reason to believe she’ll own it in the next one.

Before asking for more responsibility, Jimenez owes District 4 an honest accounting of what happened at Isaac and what she would do differently. Until she provides one, voters should say no.

Víctor Ojeda is co-founder of Phoenix nonprofit Empresarios en Acción. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to azopinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.