Brewer’s repsonse to school children: Let them eat websites!

by David Safier

Gov. Brewer has a solution to Arizona's education problem. Will she use the recent tax surplus to hire more teachers? No, don't be silly. She decided to create a website: Arizona Ready.

I'm sure our school children will be happy to have a brand new virtual textbook to add to their class curriculum, filled with timelines, pretty pictures of smiling children . . . and, of course, a smiling Brewer on every page.

The state legislature's House Democrats are, shall we say, underwhelmed by the gesture.

Tovar to Brewer: ‘You want to support education? Fund it.’

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – House Minority Whip Anna Tovar, a former teacher, released the following statement about Gov. Jan Brewer’s empty promises on education:

“Today Gov. Brewer launched another website as her solution to the massive problem she and Republicans created by slashing our children’s education funding, firing teachers and creating a nearly impossible learning environment for our kids.

“If she wanted to fix education, she should fund our schools. Instead, she just continues to build on empty promises. She created a perception that she would use the sales tax hike for education but this year turned around and made another massive cut to education — $273 million to universities and $180 million to K-12.  She then handed that money over to bail out, through tax cuts, big corporations and rich CEOs, not middle-class families. 

“The proof that Gov. Brewer supports education is in the pudding. Gimmicks and websites don't make up for cuts that increase class sizes, eliminate access to books and technology and limit access to full-day Kindergarten. As a former teacher and current mother of children who attend our public schools, I know how much those tools mean to our kids’ future and so do Arizonans."

Brewer’s website timeline – What have these websites done to create jobs and fund education?

• Jan. 24, 2011: Brewer unveiled a “Schools Choice” website – www.arizonaschoolchoice.com
• June 16, 2010: She launched “Keep AZ Safe” – a border security online donation site – http://www.keepazsafe.com/
• March 18, 2009:  Brewer launched a federal stimulus website – www.azrecovery.gov
• March 2, 2009: She launched a faith-based/charity organization website as a solution to offset her own budget cuts: www.arizonaserves.gov.