AZ Schools Now is hosting a town hall on public school funding Thursday, March 30, 6 p.m., at the Pima Community College West Campus Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road.
The governor’s education budget proposals and the Democrats’ proposals will be presented, then people in attendance will be asked to give their thoughts and ideas about education funding.
AZ Schools Now includes ten organizations which advocate for public education funding in Arizona.
Healthy Skepticism Note: Governor Ducey loves to portray himself as a “friend of education.” Ducey’s no fool. He knows supporters of public education are marching forward with the wind at their backs, with a majority of Arizonans supporting increases in education funding and teacher salaries, so he wants to look like he’s leading the parade. A favorite ploy is to talk about how he’s working together with the education community to look for solutions. But lately when he said he’s working with education groups on renewing Prop 301, the six-tenths of a cent sales tax for education which expires in 2020, AZ Schools Now was very clear, Ducey hadn’t reached out to any of its groups.
Democratic legislators are also wary of Ducey’s faux-Kumbaya moments with people who say we need a significant increase in education funding.
“My caveat with this governor is always the devil is in the details,” [Senate Minority Leader Katie] Hobbs said. “Yes, I’m happy that he supports the extension and possibly expansion [of Prop 301]. However, I would like to see specifically what the proposal will look like. . . . I will buy it when I see it. He’s made a lot of promises on education that he hasn’t really delivered on.”
Like Hobbs said, Ducey is long on promises, short on delivery. Buyer beware.
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2017.
Maybe we should look at the highest level of liberal indoctrination institutions for the money.
“Over a six-year period, Ivy League schools have received tens of billions in tax dollars, bringing in more money from taxpayers than from undergraduate student tuition. In fact, they received more federal cash than 16 state governments. “
“The spending is controversial because these eight schools — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University — have enormous resources at their fingertips, including endowment funds (money raised from donors) in 2015 exceeding $119 billion. Take that total and split it up among Ivy League undergrads and it comes out to $2 million each.”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/29/critics-to-ivy-leagues-taxpayer-gravy-train-needs-to-end.html
Well, you’ve certainly convinced me, Mr. Again Sir.
If I remember correctly TUSD received monies for pay raises and TUSD did not get it to the classroom. I can’t see giving them more money, because I know what they do with it. Close some more schools and sell the property. You have plenty of money, plus that would put those properties back into a tax funding position instead of tax free.
If we could take the money spent educating illegal immigrants and the children of illegal immigrants and all the associated extra cost of ESL, etc. we would have plenty of money to educate our children.
As your average taxpayer why would I ever vote to spend my hard-earned tax money on education when I know half of it goes to pay for educating illegals who have 3, 4 or 5 kids in the system to my 2?
Did all 10 of the education groups in Arizona Schools Now! push Proposition 123 for Governor Ducey, or only some of them? Are they now left holding a completely empty bag….as Ducey ignores them, once again, when he doesn’t need them? Backroom deal-making was rampant prior to 123: I understood that at one point some consortium of these groups made Ducey an offer: just pay off 25% of the money the state owes to the schools and we will leave you alone, happy with our funding. It was No Go…and on to Prop 123. A) who do these people think they are and B) what did they think they would receive for our schools in response to trading away our kids’ future chances for public education?. Not only did they push 123, the 123 monies didn’t even make it to the teachers in TUSD (where the members of these groups that I am familiar with either send or sent their kids). So I am left wondering whether Arizona Schools Now is actually meant to benefit students or if, at least locally, they are instead meant to shore up various political players here in Pima County?
The Arizona constitution states the cost of a university education should be nearly free! Ha ha what a joke… All the education dollars go toward deadwood professors and administrators!