Sandra Day O’Connor: Dangerous lefty who hates Arizona (She supports education)

by David Safier

Sandra Day O'Connor has never been on my all-time-favorite-people list, but I'm liking her more and more as she settles into Arizona and notices the difference between the state she left to become a Supreme Court Justice and the one she returned to. She has become one of those important conservative/moderate voices of reason we so desperately need to counter the Russell Pearce Republicans who have kidnapped the state.

O'Connor has an op ed in today's Republic talking about the state's constitutional commitment to education.

Article XI, Section 10 of the Arizona Constitution clearly states that the Legislature must not only properly maintain but also develop and improve all of our state's educational institutions, by taxation if necessary.

[snip]

The Arizona Education Commitment shines a spotlight on the only significant appropriation identified in our state's governing document: the preservation of our state's educational institutions. As a result, the Legislature has a duty to figure out which mix of revenue-generating solutions, paired with thoughtful and strategic cuts, is best for education and the long-term prosperity of Arizona.

Her O'Connor House is working with Expect More Arizona to promote more funding for education.

Let me quote from an Arizona Guide book written in 1940 to show the state's earlier commitment to its children's education:

[Arizona's] provisions for popular education . . . might seem almost extravagant, considering population and taxable wealth. Arizona people insist that Arizona schools be of the best, regardless of cost. Parents who never went beyond the grammar grades are determined that their children shall have university diplomas. Arizonans are generous in providing libraries, recreational facilities, especially anything that promises to help children enjoy childhood and become better equipped to meet the battles of later life.

These Arizonans of yore must have been close enough to their farming roots that they understood, you don't eat your seed corn. If anything, you tighten your belt and put a little extra aside to make sure your future crops will be more bountiful than they were in previous years.

My, how times have changed.