Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A package of budget bills started moving through the Arizona House on Thursday. During the hearing on the education budget there was an exchange that deserves special mention. Arizona budget plan targets health care, education – East Valley Tribune:
Brewer’s budget also proposed cutting state aid to universities by $170 million. The deal the governor agreed to increases that by another $28 million.
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The plan will cut state aid to all Arizona State University campuses by $90 million, with a $30 million cut to Northern Arizona University.
David Martinez III, lobbyist for the Arizona Students Association, told members of the House Appropriations Committee they need to keep schools affordable. But Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said many students do not pay full tuition. He said that means the well-off students are subsidizing everyone else.
Along a similar line, Rep. Vic Williams, R-Tucson, defended cuts to various social service programs.
"The taxpayers of Arizona are burdened with the cost of one out of every five people in our state being on welfare rolls," he said. "At some point in time we as a Legislature have to protect the people who are generating the tax revenues that provide for the services."
Tea-Publicans view education as a privilege only for those who can afford it. This is antithetical to the history of public education in America. It is a foreign class-based, caste-based system that has never existed in this country. America led the way in establishing a public education system to educate all of its citizens regardless of class or income. Americans have always believed in educating all of our citizens as an investment in our future.
I don't know what these guys believe, but it is definitely un-American and boorish class warfare.
It is also unconstitutional, violating Article 11 of the Arizona Constitution, something they swore an oath to uphold:
Section 6. Admission of students of both sexes to state educational institutions; tuition; common school system
The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be established and maintained in every school district for at least six months in each year, which school shall be open to all pupils between the ages of six and twenty-one years.
Contact their offices and give these class warriors for the "two percenters" a piece of your mind about their un-American, and unconstitutional views.
Oops! Here are their email addresses: