AZ Charter school advocates, take note

by David Safier I consider myself an advocate of charter schools, but not the way they're set up here in Arizona, where it's too easy to get a charter and slip by without any accountability, and too rare for bad charters to be shut down. So I'm pleased to see there is a national movement … Read more

Parents and retirees who CARE

by David Safier Dave Perry, publisher and editor of The Explorer, wrote a very good article on CARE — Concerned Area Residents for Education — a group recently formed by northwest Tucson parents and retirees as a response to the K-12 budget cuts. The group is scrupulously nonpartisan and independent of other organizations, and very … Read more

Presented without comment (because comment is unnecessary)

by David Safier In a Star article about killing the suspended equalization property tax, quoting Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert: "Education does not create jobs," he said. "Entrepreneurs and businesses create jobs." Biggs added that it wouldn't matter whether Arizona has the best-educated work force in the country if higher taxes drive companies out of business.

Another good Star op ed

by David Safier I don't know who Alfredo Diaz is, but he sounds like he's worth knowing. The Star describes him as "an entrepreneur in Tucson." He wrote an op ed that's both a logical and an emotion indictment of the forces in our state willing to balance the budget on the backs of children … Read more

What wonderful thing has happened to Kathleen Parker?

by David Safier Ever since Kathleen Parker jumped conservative ship when she was forced to confront the choice of supporting or renouncing Sarah Palin (she renounced, forcefully), she's been a changed woman. Parker has been ostracized by the conservative establishment and struck out on her own, feeling her way down a new path. Her op … Read more