Last year the Arizona legislature passed legislation to make vouchers available to all students in the state. Horrified parents and educators in Arizona—led by Save Our Schools Arizona—gathered over 100,000 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot. The Koch brothers sent in their legal team to try to block the referendum. They failed. The courts kept the referendum on the ballot. The referendum question is called Proposition 305. It asks voters whether they want universal vouchers.
To stop vouchers, vote NO.
To learn more about SOS Arizona, open this link.
ARIZONA: JUST SAY NO TO UNLIMITED SCHOOL VOUCHERS!
Arizona voters have the opportunity to show their state’s lawmakers – and the entire nation – that they support their public schools by voting NO on Proposition 305. Thanks to a successful and hard-fought grassroots campaign, the November ballot will include a question about expanding Arizona’s voucher program (currently targeted to special categories of children) to all 1.1 million students in the state.
A NO vote on the November referendum will keep public funds in the public schools, instead of diverting those resources to pay for vouchers for private and religious education. This is a particularly important vote in Arizona, where 95% of students attend public schools, while the state ranks 48th in the country in terms of public school funding level.
According to the “National Report Card: Is School Funding Fair?” published by the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education and Education Law Center, Arizona receives an “F” in the “Effort” category, meaning the state makes a lower than average effort to fund its public schools.
The grassroots group that spearheaded the voter referendum, Save Our Schools Arizona, is leading the campaign for the NO vote. The goal is to make sure there are no further cuts to public education, especially since a whopping $4.65 billion has already been cut since 2009. The organization notes that $160 million could be diverted from the state’s public schools – every year – if the expanded voucher program is implemented.
Arizona public school advocates know what many states, and even the federal government, have found to be true – voucher programs are highly unpopular and therefore extremely difficult to establish or expand. In November, Arizona voters will get the chance to save their schools and send a message that will be heard across the country: Just Say NO to Vouchers!
For more information about vouchers, visit Voucher Watch on the ELC website.
Education Law Center Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Policy and Outreach Director
skrengel@edlawcenter.org
973-624-1815, x 24
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In Florida there has been a huge campaign to keep the property tax cap which its supporters claim has been the key to the thriving economy. They are running nonstop ads on TV trying to sway the vote. This is a lie! Amendment 2 only applies to non-homestead properties. In other words this is a tax cap limit of 10% on second homes for people like Betsy DeVos and other wealthy individuals. Amendment 2 limits the amount of money that can be collected for education, and it should be rejected. Here’s the League of Women Voters truth based explanation of Amendment 2. https://www.lwvfl.org/amendments/amendment2/
LikeLike
Save Our Schools Arizona is a heartening group of true philanthropists. Out of state, misanthropic billionaires want to rob Arizona of its tax dollars and destroy its public schools. Vote No.
LikeLike
I am generally opposed to direct democracy and referenda. If the citizens of Little Rock ARK, had held a referendum on whether to integrate Central High School in 1957, even if the black people could vote, the High School would never have been integrated.
School Choice, and publicly-operated schools can co-exist.
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!”
― Benjamin Franklin
LikeLike
Charles,
You are opposed to democracy, period. But you are silent about billionaires paying off legislators to pass pro-school choice bills. Apparently, open graft is preferable to voting.
LikeLike
I disagree. I have lived under communism and in an Islamic Kingdom, under sharia law, where infidels have no rights. I am also a veteran, sworn to defend the constitution of the USA. I am terrified of direct democracy and mob rule.
I detest graft and bribery. That is why I have long supported public financing of political campaigns, to put an end to the big money directing politics.
LikeLike
You oppose decisions made by people at the polls yet support decisions made by crooked politicians paid off by billionaire donors.
LikeLike
If our nation had public financing of campaigns, then politicians would not be groveling to wealthy people for donations. I detest the huge money that is in politics, and the continual quest for money.
LikeLike
School choice is the product of Big Money. DEVos, the Waltons, the Koch brothers, Bill Gates, etc.
Ban their contributions and the campaign would collapse
LikeLike
Do you have any substantiation of your claim that these individuals are the reason for the school choice movement? It is my understanding that the late Milton Friedman instigated the modern school choice movement with his landmark proposals back in the 1950’s. see
https://www.edchoice.org/blog/milton-friedman-the-father-of-school-choice-esas/
Bill Gates was in rompers in 1955.
LikeLike
Of course. Read Mercedes Schneider’s well documented history of the school choice movement.
You really should try to read beyond your usual rightwing sources.
School choice originated with the Southern fight against the Brown decision. It originated with Southern governors trying to protect segregation.
Milton Friedman added a footnote to his 1955 essay saying that if whites and blacks chose separate schools, that was their choice.
LikeLike
I am very interested in reading this treatise. I like to see all sides of the issues.
I do not see the “sky is falling” attitude that most public-school perpetuators peddle. Consider Indiana, where virtually every family in the state, has the option to take the voucher, and opt-out of the public schools.
Less than 3% of families in the Hoosier state participate. The public schools, are still going strong there.
If the prop. 305 fails to end the expansion of ESAs in Arizona, I can safely predict, that a very small number of eligible families will rush down and sign up for an ESA.
Public schools are part of our landscape, and part of the “warp and woof” of our society. They will be with us for a long time. Good.
LikeLike
There are multiple voucher programs in Arizona.
95% of Az children attend public schools.
The governor and legislature have slashed funding for public schools.
Arizona teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation.
The state should not divert another nickel from public schools.
Vote NO ON PROP 305
LikeLike
Vote NO on Prip 305 if you support public schools and oppose graft
LikeLike