Did You Know?
Did you know about the latest attacks on our public education system? They’re coming from multiple national and state entities. I’ll give you several highlights after a small parable:
Bill’s neighbors strongly suggested if his back was still hurting, he should hire someone else to mow his big lawn. So Bill hired John, who accepted payment of breakfast, a flat fee, and the use of Bill’s power mower and tools. The power mower ran out of gas on the second visit, and Bill told John, “That’s your problem.” John paid for and brought gas each week. By the fourth week, Bill decided it was too much trouble to make John’s breakfast, and despite their agreement he just quit providing it. On the sixth week, the mower was missing, and Bill said, “Oh I gave it to my son, because he needed it, and I have a lawn service now anyway. You can use the hand mower instead.” Try as he might, John couldn’t get it to look as good as with the power mower and couldn’t get the whole lawn done before dark, but he finished it the next morning. Bill refused to pay him the customary amount, because he hadn’t finished in time. John quit. A few weeks later, when the neighbors asked him why his lawn wasn’t mowed any more, Bill said, “I had to fire that guy. He didn’t do a very good job last time; he was incompetent and lazy and just wanted more money than he was worth.”
Obviously, this is the story of our public school system, which has been starved of resources, maintenance, and monetary backing for teachers and programs. A few of the latest happenings:
A 12 News report shows over $440 million is sitting unused in Arizona voucher accounts, while our public schools are in desperate need of funding. This is more proof the wealthy are using vouchers as “savings accounts” to pay for future college expenses. They obviously don’t need taxpayer money to help pay for their private/religious schools.
President Trump’s Dept of Education has frozen funds allocated by Congress for public education and due to be released on July 1. They released a small amount, but it won’t make up for the $100 million budget hole this creates for Arizona.
The “Big Beautiful Bill” includes a Federal voucher program similar to Arizona’s. It will give most people a dollar-for-dollar tax credit – up to $1700 - when they donate to private school scholarship funds. States must opt in to the program for their residents to participate, but there are no rules in the bill regarding who gets “scholarship” funds and how much they get. Persons living in states with state voucher programs are eligible to layer this tax benefit on top of their state benefit. There is some question about whether public school students are eligible to receive these scholarships, but the net result is likely to be less funding for public education.
These are just a few of the ongoing steps being taken to kill our public education system. Why would the radical right in the Republican party want to do that? That’s another article, but I will say “Follow the money, and you will know why.” That is, who stands to gain and who stands to lose?
Marian Hill
Recommended education information resource: Save Our Schools Arizona – sosarizona.org.