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Blake's got some redecorating plans in mind.
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- 12:28pm — August 16, 2022
a smarter Tucson is a better Tucson
So how can Blakeism make taxpayer dollars with no accountability work for me as I spread a vision some may find morally repugnant? Stick it to the suckers, that's how. Arizona lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill to give tax money to religious schools. Well, I've got a church and I will teach those little ragamuffins all they need to know.... Read more»
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2 comments on this story
A two-class system of education, funded by tax dollars, has been the goal of the far right since the 1980s with the intent to privatize public education by the Edison group who brought in computers and promised to raise test scores, etc. That failed. At the same time vouchers raised its ugly head and was “fought” off for a few years, but gained momentum as Koch brothers and others started “buying” politicians to do their bidding and started infiltrating colleges and universities in order to control their curricula.
Arizona is right in the middle of this movement since Governor Slime-ington started cutting public education funds. In fact, from 2008-2016, the AZ State Legislature and Governors cut funding for Public Schools by 36.6%. Our current Governor and Legislature stole over $300 million from a voters’ initiative to increase taxes for public schools. The AZ Supreme Court ordered the State to put the money back. It has yet to be done. In fact the Governor added two more seats to the Bench and filled it with justices that will not support the Court’s decision in this matter.When I started teaching in 1967, Arizona ranked around 33 when compared to the other states’ funding per pupil for education. AZ now ranks 48/50.
Vouchers steal public school funds so that wealthier families get to use tax dollars to send their children to private or religious schools which are not held to the same standards as public schools and do not have to enroll ALL students. Families with less financial freedom don’t have the resources to pay the balance of tuitions beyond the voucher or to provide transportation to those same schools. It’s a smoke and mirror method of segregating schools. The rich go to schools where they can network with other families of wealth and learn how to increase their wealth, while the children of those families at the lower end of the economic scales learn just enough to become the worker bees. For many of these children, their only hope of affording higher education is to risk their lives by joining the military.
Education only for the wealthy. How American! As far as giving my tax dollars to a religious school? Just as soon as they start paying taxes.