Horne: No stand on new taxes

by David SafierEd Supe Tom Horne was interviewed on Arizona Illustrated a few days ago. Jim Nintzel of Tucson Weekly, one of the panel, posted the video on his blog.Three points jumped out at me: Horne refused to say whether he supports a tax increase for schools, claiming that's up to the legislature. True, of … Read more

Supreme Court to hear ELL case Monday

by David SafierSarah Garrecht Gassen has written an excellent piece in the Star on the Arizona ELL case that will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday. If you want an overview and analysis of the 1992 Flores v. State of Arizona case, it's all here. Gassen makes one important point about the … Read more

Shoulda seen this one coming

by David SafierIf a dozen of us sat around a room when Brewer became governor and thought about things she was sure to do, one would have been to reverse Napolitano's decision to refuse abstinence education funding. Sure enough . . . The Arizona Department of Health Services announced it has applied for a $1 … Read more

GOP legislators find piggy banks to break into

by David SafierIf you poke around looking into Arizona school district bank accounts, you can find that they have saved up something like $330 million, according to Republican Rep. Carl Seel. That's because districts are allowed to hold back up to 4% of their funding. Great! Seel says. Let's take it! Put that together with … Read more

1 in 7 AZ students children of illegals?

by David SafierThe Pew Hispanic Center says one in seven students in Arizona schools are there as the result of illegal immigration. About 100,000 of the students are citizens with one or more parents here illegally. Another 60,000 are themselves not legal residents. The study said the national figure is one in fifteen. These number … Read more