What should Arizona do with the current state budget surplus? In a poll taken last week by Strategies 360, the number one answer was “Invest in public schools” with 72 percent. Number two was “Increase public school teacher pay” with 69 percent. Law enforcement and border security came in third and fourth, followed by funding for foster children services and all-day pre-kindergarten.
If you’re keeping score, education and children took four of the top six spots, including the top two.
OK, but maybe the poll is an unrepresentative sample that skews Democrat/liberal. In fact, no. The respondents were 43 percent Republican and 33 percent Democrat. Only 18 percent called themselves liberal, while 42 percent called themselves conservative. In another part of the survey, in separate presidential candidate match-ups, they preferred Trump, Rubio and Cruz to Clinton. And yet they thought spending more money on education and children was more important than spending it on police and immigration.
Other answers make it look like these voters, who, remember, skew Republican/conservative, aren’t very happy with what’s going on here. More of them think we’re on the wrong track—46 percent—than moving in the right direction—41 percent — and they’re split evenly on what they think about the Republican-majority state legislature (though Ducey rocks with 47 percent favorable vs. 31 percent unfavorable).
I’m trying to draw conclusions from this data with my head, not my heart, even though the conclusion I’m reaching makes my heart beat faster. It looks like a strong bipartisan majority of Arizona voters think we’re not spending enough on education and we have the money to spend more. It looks like they’re not overly impressed with the general direction we’re heading or with the legislature that’s taking us there.
This is a golden opportunity for legislative candidates who are pro-public education. If they state boldly that we should invest in public schools and we should increase teacher pay — say it over and over and over — they’re going to get a lot of potential supporters nodding yes, over and over and over, and even some people who aren’t likely supporters will shrug and say, “Well, at least we agree about that.” If they accuse their anti-public education opponents of not caring about investing in public schools or increasing teacher pay, of not increasing funding by more than the bare minimum ordered by the courts, they’ll get even more support, and put even more doubt in the minds of people who aren’t their natural political allies but might be persuaded to vote for them just this one time. And if they talk about education often enough and loudly enough to parents who feel their children are being cheated out of a good education and a better future, some of those parents who don’t normally vote might be worried enough about their kids and angry enough at the anti-education opposition that they’ll say, “Damn it, I’m voting this time. I’m doing it for my children!”
Of course, if some pro-public education candidates want to “play it safe” and soft-pedal their support for education funding for fear of being called tax-and-spend liberals or people who want to “throw money” at failing schools, that’s their choice. They can “play it safe.” Every time they don’t speak out forcefully for fully funding education is one less time people hear the idea repeated, and repetition cements ideas in people’s heads, and it’s one more time they make it clear they’ve decided that the possibility of saving their political asses by not taking a strong stand on important issues is more important than advocating for our children. But hey, it’s their decision, not mine.
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2015.
Once again there was no poll as to how much “wasteful spending should be reverted to salaries. You would love for us to believe that “everybody else” was OK with additional spending when that is not the truth.
Fix what’s broke first. Then we talk.
If Safier is writing it is a skewed lie!!!! Give the surplus back to the taxpayers after a few years of surplus, bank it in the meantime. Certainly not one cent to school administrators and if we want to pay teachers more, fine. But only once we get an accounting for how much we are paying for illegal children education and costs for the open border dump into AZ!
I’m not surprised to read that yes, even conservatives support expanding funding for public education and increasing teacher salaries. They are conservative, not stupid (and yes there is a difference). One of the things I do to keep bread on the table is track new construction starts for projects in excess of $10M throughout the country. Arizona rarely registers, literally months will go by without a single record. I have seen one report in two years for Tucson and yes, you guessed it, it was on a private student dormitory.
The point is there is not a lot of investment in states with dismal records in preparing students to succeed either in higher education or a demanding career requiring certification. Conservatives, not all, understand this and would like to compete for the new businesses that will not invest in a state with an under-educated and ill-prepared workforce. Being at the bottom of the scale in student expenditures and teacher pay does little to inspire confidence or attract businesses offering high pay and generous benefits (and the tax revenue streaming in to state coffers).
Just what is needed – more money to educate illegals.
To hell with our own children, we must exploit thousands and thousands of women being raped while crossing the border for the government dollars that follow them. Nice job, liberals.
There are a particular group of people who abhor facts. They always seem to be the first commenters on David’s essays, and they try to skew the conversation to their ideological positions. They incessantly complain about educating children of the undocumented (although it is settled law), complain that “school administrators” make too much money, though not understanding the difference between a school administrator and a district administrator, complain about money spent on a common public good, education, and complain about wasted money in schools, although we spend less now than we did seven years ago, and resources statewide have drastically been cut. These commenters add nothing to the serious debate on education funding.
Hola, “What, again?”
What again, indeed?
You seem to be drunk – once again – so early on such a beautiful morning.
Time for you to seek help?
Discrediting your detractors makes your blind ambitions no more valuable. Here’s a clue: Don’t start with more money. Put on your thinking caps.
I suppose extra money for public education would also have to include charters & vouchers. Yes David, if you’re using your head instead of your heart then you are finally beginning to see the real world…..the same as a conservative. See how easy that is?
You would think so Harold, but it’s not normally the case. They refuse to advocate for children in charters and private schools because they believe that they are “traitors” for leaving public education. They are treated like unions treat scabs. Thus the name they gave them.
It makes sense to me that our state would definitely attract more rich, successful corporations if we had good schools with a dedicated corps of teaching professionals and smart, upwardly mobile graduates. Everybody would gain, including all of those who complain about the slightest increase in benefit to an underpaid, overworked and discouraged group of decent people. Also – I would like to know exactly what the basis is for immediately blaming the “illegal” children who are overloading the systems in place. If this is so obviously true, I want to see the statistics and not more knee-jerk comments that pop up with predictable acrimony.
Blaming illegals is a scapegoat technique to avoid looking at the real problem. If Arizona is to compete in the national and global economies it needs a well educated and innovative workforce. I have two daughters in public school and they almost never have homework even though they are pulling As and Bs and I have witnessed on several occasions the absolute exhaustion of the teachers. They have huge classrooms and no resources. I have to send kleenex and hand sanitizer for the classroom because there is no funding for these vital items in an elementary school. Without breaking the cycle of poor education we will never break the cycle of impoverished generations. The school bus they ride on is down right dangerous and must be from the 1970s. The bus drivers even look over worked and stressed out. They always come home starving and saying the cafeteria always serves the same thing. My one daughter has not eaten pizza in months at home because she says its all they are served. They also tell me the milk is always warm. The first class of every day ECAP is a waste of an hour. That is a disgrace, the future of this state deserves better!