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Democratic candidate for Governor David Garcia

New Book by David Garcia, Arizona Candidate for Governor, is a Blueprint to Dismantle Public Education

August 9, 2018 by Larry Bodine

An upcoming book by Governor candidate David R. Garcia entitled School Choice is a blueprint on how to dismantle public education in Arizona, complete with practical tips on how to implement school vouchers and ESAs (“empowerment scholarship accounts”).

The Blog for Arizona exclusively obtained a review copy of the 196-page book, which will be published one month after the primary elections on September 28, 2018, by The MIT Press.

The book is not an academic work. Garcia says it is for a “general audience” on page 97. It is a how-to playbook for the anti-public-school, pro-school-voucher agenda pushed by Gov. Doug Ducey and the Koch brothers, complete with strategies, arguments, legal precedents to cite, successful examples and historic points of reference.

Garcia is facing Democrats Steven Farley and Kelly Fryer in the primary. Gov. Doug Ducey is running for re-election.

As the 2018 midterms approach, Arizona is one of the biggest political battlegrounds nationwide and public education is a major issue. The Southwestern state features one of the top 9 most important state legislature races in the US in the midterm elections. Arizona is expected to decide the control of the U.S. Senate in this year’s congressional midterm elections.

Book has a strong bias against public schools

Damning Polls: 59% of All Arizona Voters Reject Gov. Doug Ducey

June 30, 2018June 27, 2018 by Larry Bodine

Gov. Doug Ducey is a stooge of the Koch Brothers, who fund him with Dark Money and instruct him on how to destroy life in Arizona. — Gov. Doug Ducey is a stooge of the Koch Brothers, who fund him with dark money and instruct him on their anti-education agenda.

In a stunning new poll of Arizona voters, 59 percent of Republicans, Independents and Democrats combined said that they want someone else to lead the state besides incumbent Doug Ducey.

Only 26 percent of voters said Ducey should serve another term and 15 percent said they were unsure in the new June 26, 2018, NBC-Marist poll.

Confirming how fed up Arizonans are with Gov. Ducey, a June 25 Emerson College ePoll reports that Ducey has a lower approval rating (31%) than President Trump (43%) in Arizona and that a majority of voters (64%) think education funding is not enough.

Devastated public schools

Under Ducey, Arizona ranks 48th for public school funding and dead last in the nation for teacher pay. Arizona has cut more from education funding than any other state in the nation, a decline of more than 35%.

Early Books Lecture Series in 15th year at UA Special Collections

March 28, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

As in the past, a group of UA professors lead by my husband UA Distinguished Professor (and recently knighted) Albrecht Classen, will introduce famous medieval manuscripts held in the Special Collections library at the UA. Now in its 15th year, this lecture series is open to the public and focuses on book masterpieces from the … Read more

“The Magic of the Middle Ages: Lessons from the Past” talk at Himmel library

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

My professor husband Albrecht Classen has been at the University of Arizona German Studies Dept. since August, 1987 and is an international scholar in his field and has published more than 95 books. In January 2018 he was knighted by Maximilian, Duke of Swabia and his new title is “Grand Knight Commander of the Most … Read more

Koch-Funded Prof Back Again with Lecture Against Public Schools

January 23, 2018January 22, 2018 by Larry Bodine

Remember professor Jonny Anomaly? When faced with public outrage last September, he canceled his anti-public school lecture at a Koch-funded University of Arizona class in Tucson.

Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining…he’s back. Anomaly will present “Public Goods and Education” on Thursday, January 25 at 12:30 pm in the Maloney Room, Social Science building 224, on the UofA Campus in Tucson.

The class description reads:

“But public financing of education can produce negative externalities by creating perverse incentives, and a public monopoly on the delivery of education can discourage experimentation and turn schools into an outlet for intellectual fads and political propaganda.”

“I conclude with a note of skepticism about the desirability of direct government involvement in education, even if it plays a limited role in financing it through vouchers, grants, or loans that can be redeemed at accredited schools.”

This talk is directly from the propaganda playbook of the right-wing Koch Brothers, their front group Americans for Prosperity, and their toady — anti-education Governor Doug Ducey.

The dark-money Charles G. Koch foundation donated $1 million to the UofA to create the “Center for the Philosophy of Freedom,” which is a think tank designed to turn students into future lobbyists for the right-wing, anti-education foundation.

Bogus economic analysis

Concerned parents, teachers, and elected representatives should attend to ask why a publicly-funded university is being utilized as an indoctrination tool to sabotage publicly-funded education.