Republicans balking on AZ budget?

by David Safier All is not well in Conservative Land. It seems that some Republican legislators are unhappy with the options they've been handed by Russell and Cavanagh. "Right now I think there's more danger of the situation locking up and us not getting a budget out than vice versa," said Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler. … Read more

University students to protest at Capitol Wednesday

by David Safier A protest organized by university students is scheduled for noon Wednesday at the Capitol.   NAU student government President Brad Busse stated that students want to remind legislatures of campaign promises to support education. I'm sure they won't be asking for your student card if you decide to attend.

Dems’ options for Arizona budget

by David Safier Here's the Democratic Caucus News Release about their budget options. A spreadsheet is attached to the news release, but I haven't had a chance to look at it.  Note: I was sent corrected versions of the table and spreadsheet I posted earlier today. Here is the corrected table  comparing the Republican and Democratic options and … Read more

Talk of raising taxes in the air

by David Safier (TASL) Has the time come when Arizonans are willing to consider increasing taxes rather than gutting education? Apparently, recent polling indicates that, when people are asked if they would pay more taxes to improve education, a majority says Yes. (No, I don't have the data or a link. So accept or discount … Read more

Fool’s Gold: Cut teachers, improve schools

by David Safier Great idea from the Goldwater Institute: cut teachers — only the bad ones — and add their students to the good teachers' classes. No, I'm not kidding. From Fool's Gold's Matthew Ladner: Research shows, however, that students would be much better off if schools did let their most ineffective teachers go, and redistributed the … Read more