Brewer vetoes one bad ed bill, signs another

by David Safier

This doesn't qualify as good news/bad news. It's status quo/bad news.

The status quo part is, Brewer didn't make things worse on the online education front. She vetoed a bill that would force school districts to accept online courses and boost the amount of money paid to the online corporations. This is the latest online education moneymaking strategy being pushed nationwide. Since online schools seem to be reaching their limits — how many parents can have their kids at home all day? — the latest push is to make it easier for students to take a few online courses. In some states, they're even making it mandatory every student takes one online course before graduating.

The bad news is, Brewer signed a bill expanding the number of students who can participate in the Goldwater Institute-generated vouchers on steroids idea called Empowerment Scholarships (The concept gets around vouchers' problems with the state constitution by putting state money in "Education savings accounts" parents can use to pay private school tuition and other education expenses). Newly eligible students include children in schools earning a D or F grade, children in military families and foster children. "Empowerment Scholarships" are the SB1070 of education — part of the conservative agenda which begins in Arizona with the idea it will spread to other states.