Legislative classroom probes are defeated. But ultravoucher bill passes.

by David Safier

In one way, the comparison between Arizona education legislation and the Virginia anti-abortion bills is a stretch. In another, the comparison makes a scary amount of sense.

Virginia was going to make a vaginal probe exam a requirement for any woman wanting to have an abortion. After protests, that part of the bill was removed. A victory for women everywhere! But the bill is still moving along, requiring an external ultrasound. If it passes and gets the governor's signature, it will be another victory for the anti-abortion movement, but lots of people are breathing a sigh of relief, because the bill went from horrific to only truly awful.

Now to Arizona. Remember Lori Klein's education bills that would prohibit teachers from promoting a partisan agenda, forbid them from using any language the FCC might object to and forbid the use of any materials in class that don't receive prior school board approval? Those three bills, which would insert legislative authority into the classroom, have all been defeated. Victory!

Meanwhile, the amount of money taxpayers can give to Student Tuition Organizations (STOs) for private school tuition and get 100% of the money back at tax time has doubled, from $500 per person ($1,000 per couple) to $1,000 per person ($2,000 per couple). Brewer signed the bill yesterday. There is no equivalent rise in tax credits for gifts to public schools, by the way. Voucher and back door voucher legislation is growing by leaps and bounds in Arizona, but the most recent awful voucher bill has gotten very little attention — and it really doesn't sound so bad, does it? — because those horrific bills proposed by Lori Klein were defeated.