Author
Universal ESA vouchers: Arizona’s $1 billion failed experiment
Recent weeks have brought an unrelenting torrent of bad news around Arizona’s universal school voucher program, the largest and least accountable in the country. And what has been the response from our state legislature? Republican leaders concluded the longest legislative session in state history without even so much as a token attempt to create any […]
This is a jump-ball moment for the future of Arizona public schools
On Monday, legislative Republicans released a budget that utterly fails to prioritize public education and shows exactly where their priorities lie. Budget spreadsheets are crammed with line after line of pork-barrel spending for pet projects and a massive appropriation for ESA vouchers to subsidize private schools. For the first time in 14 years, Democrats — […]
Even more tax cuts will gut Arizona schools and our economic future
Arizona’s budget is precariously perched on a two-legged stool, and Republican lawmakers want to saw off yet another leg, as the erstwhile party of fiscal responsibility has lost sight of any shred of economic stewardship, blinded by obsessions with cutting taxes for the rich and defunding public education. And Arizona voters are waking up to […]
Universal vouchers dramatically defund and divide
The argument made by Republican lawmakers that universal vouchers would “free children from a broken school system” was utterly destroyed last week when the Arizona Department of Education reported that 75% of families seeking new Empowerment Scholarship Accounts have never stepped foot in a public school. Under Gov. Doug Ducey’s newly expanded voucher program, 85,000 […]
There are popular fixes to our education system. But will GOP lawmakers help or hurt?
Controversial or competent? Gridlocked or goal-oriented? In 2022, the Arizona legislature and governor must choose what type of leaders they will be. This year, the legislature has a real opportunity to improve the lives of Arizonans. Our state has the funds to fix abysmal teacher salaries, create lasting solutions for students, and provide for working […]