Arizona has a government that is devoted to low taxes. It’s schools are underfunded and its teachers have the lowest salaries in the nation because the governor and the legislature doesn’t want to raise taxes to pay for public services like education.
“Gov. Doug Ducey inked his approval Monday to extending the 0.6-cent sales tax for education until 2041 as an education group that helped pressure for legislative action is mapping out what it plans to do to get some new money into classrooms — including a possible strike.
“Noah Karvelis, a music teacher at Tres Rios Elementary School in Tolleson, said the “Red for Ed” demonstrations that may have helped push lawmakers and the governor to approve the extension will continue. But he said teachers are hoping for a broader agenda, including a demand that the tax cuts that have been annual features of the Ducey administration as well as of predecessor Jan Brewer come to a halt.
“But that’s not going to happen.
“Gubernatorial press aide Daniel Scarpinato said his boss remains committed to a tax break for military retirees, exempting the first $10,000 of their pensions from state income tax. The figure is currently $2,500, the same as for retirees from other government agencies.”
“That carries a price tag of $15 million a year when fully implemented.
“Scarpinato said Ducey is not interested in other cuts this year. But he said that the future of other tax breaks making their way through the legislature, including a reduction in taxes on capital gains being pushed by House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, will have to be part of whatever deal Ducey reaches with GOP legislative leaders.”
Karvelis says he is earning less than $30,000 a year and is carrying $30,000 in student debt.
Arizona aleady has a 5% sales tax. Sales taxes are the most regressive form of taxation.
“While Democrats supported the extension, they made it clear that none of this does anything to meaningfully lift teacher salaries from at or near the bottom of the various national rankings. Several said that additional $64 million translates to about $18 a week per teacher, before taxes.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s neglect. They neglected public schools for a decade until it reached a crisis point.
They still don’t care. They’re having an “education summit” in DC right now. They’re saying the same things they’ve been saying for 20 years- one could recite the script- “status quo”, “innovation”, “a rising tide of mediocrity”
Actual, existing public schools don’t matter to these people. Every public school in Arizona could close tomorrow and ed reform wouldn’t even notice.
We need to hire some people in government who have an actual interest in and passion for public schools. Not the privatized system they dream of, but the schools the vast majority of kids attend.
They don’t even invite public school leaders to these summits. They deliberately and carefully exclude anyone who is currently working in a public school system.
The level of disconnect is remarkable. There have been two large political upheavals in and around and about public schools in the last 6 months- the gun regulation protests and the funding protests. It’s like it isn’t happening – the devotion to ignoring public schools is so strong in ed reform the fact that people are screaming “take care of our schools!” just doesn’t penetrate.
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I don’t think they’re going to get it unless and until they get fired. If closing down whole state systems doesn’t get their attention, nothing will.
For all we know ed reform is thrilled. If public school systems collapse they can put in their preferred privatized systems more easily. They knew they were gutting funding to the public schools and increasing funding for charters and vouchers. That had to be deliberate.
They made a conscious decision to sacrifice the public schools in pursuit of a new privatized system. They just neglected to tell the families IN public schools.
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“Napolitano spoke with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice at the first panel of the Reagan Institute Summit on Education, a daylong event celebrating the anniversary of “A Nation at Risk.” Romy Drucker, co-founder and CEO of The 74, moderated the discussion.”
A perfect description of ed reform, right there. The echo chamber remains intact.
Here’s the funniest part- Napolitano is the former GOVERNOR of Arizona. She somehow missed that the state’s public schools are collapsing due to neglect? At a public education summit?
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Arizona is the new Florida . . . only with far less water.
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One word: “HUH?”
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