Arizona Senator Mark Kelly Fights for Public School Funding and Mars Exploration

Busy day for Mark Kelly and his team today, as the Senior Arizona Senator helped introduce legislation to prevent federal taxpayer dollars from being shifted from public schools to private ones.

The former Astronaut, with other Democratic Senators, and after the successful Artemis II Mission circling around the Moon, also called on the Trump Administration and Republicans to continue funding for NASA science projects including Mars Exploration.

Shortly after releasing an op-ed in AZCentral, reminding readers what a financially, plutocratic benefiting, and fraudulent catastrophe the Arizona Welfare for the Rich Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Private School Voucher Scam is, Senator Kelly, along with Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, introduced legislation, co-sponsored by 26 Senate Democrats, called the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act.

This legislation would repeal the Trump and MAGA Republicans’ tax code provisions that allow people to claim a $1700 federal tax credit for donations to K-12 Private Schools.

To be fair, the federal tax credit also applies to traditional and charter K-12 public schools.

It should also be noted that Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed MAGA Arizona Republican Legislation that would have allowed Arizonans to opt into the program, saying:

“We have seen what happens when these types of programs lack accountability, transparency, and oversight. I hope the administration ensures any federal school choice program will have the much-needed guardrails Arizona’s ESA program lacks,”

Based on the Arizona troubling experience with the ESA program, Kelly, in his op-ed, echoed some of Hobbs’s reasoning, writing about how the Grand Canyon State’s wealthiest have scammed the system, offering:

“Arizona’s experiment with universal school vouchers should be a cautionary tale for my Republican colleagues. It is busting our state budget and threatens to close public schools and make it harder for working class kids to get a good education. We should not take Arizona’s failed experiment national, but that is exactly what most Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration did in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

“Since 2022, our state’s universal voucher program has diverted and drained money from public schools; last year alone cost Arizona taxpayers nearly $1 billion. Instead of investing in classrooms, special education services, or school safety, lawmakers pushed massive tax giveaways and created a parallel education system that lacks transparency and accountability.”

In his press release on promoting the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act, Kelly said:

“I’m the product of a good public education and know how important it is to give every kid a fair shot, but universal voucher programs are threatening that for millions of hardworking families. In Arizona, we’ve already seen how universal vouchers are leading to rampant fraud and benefitting people who already had the means to send their kids to private school, while decimating public education for everyone else. If we want to keep improving education to build a better future for the next generation, we have to start with keeping public funds in public schools that serve all kids.” 

At the end of his op-ed, Kelly reminded everyone how a good public edcucation is key to a well informed and expanding Middle Class, writing:

“America’s public schools helped build the strongest middle class the world has ever seen. If we want to keep that dream alive and keep improving education, we must keep public funds in public schools that serve all kids. That’s how we build our children’s future and honor the American promise that hard work, not privilege, determines your path in life. It did for me, and I want to make sure it does for every kid. Let’s strengthen, not abandon, our public schools.”

Later in the day, Senator Kelly co-authored a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging them to stop the Trump Administration’s hemorrhaging of N.A.S.A. funding to the tune of $3.4 billion and the cancellation of 40 missions, including potentially those earmarked for Mars Exploration.

In the letter, the Senators, warning of ceding the new space race to China, whose scientific infrastructure is making inroads, while Trump fiddles on coal and oil, clean energy, and their own astronomy program, wrote:

“While Congress provided funding for NASA’s Science programs in last year’s appropriations, Mars exploration initiatives remained significantly underfunded and well below the House Appropriations level of $300 million. We are deeply concerned both by last year’s constrained funding levels and by the prospect of further reductions to NASA Science in the upcoming President’s budget request.”

“As we set sights on the high ground of space exploration, we must preserve our presence and talent, tackle the next challenges that enable eventual human missions to Mars, and build upon a foundation of success as reflected by the numerous American flags that already sit on the Martian surface. Any erosion of vital infrastructure and intellectual capital would deliver lasting damage to the U.S. economy and undermine our leadership on the global stage in science and technology. In addition, we cannot allow the U.S. to cede the high ground to the Chinese government, which is already working to land its own robotic Mars missions.”

Based on Arizona’s experience, Hobbs and Kelly were right to call attention to the disaster that would happen if Trump’s federal tax credit for schools is allowed to fester. Even though the legislation does call for donations to public schools like Arizona does in its tax credit program, America’s wealthiest, would its legions of tax accountants, would find every conceivable creative way to bilk the system if their are no guardrails in place.

Kelly is also right to call for full funding of NASA projects.

Fully funding these missions, along with restoring funding for other forward-directing science initiatives like clean energy projects, would move the country towards the future, lift people up with good-paying jobs, and stop the ceding of scientific progress to China.