The wit and wisdom of John Huppenthal: $40,000 per student

by David Safier

At Thursday's Ed Supe debate in Tucson, the candidates were asked their opinion of private school tuition tax credits.

John Huppenthal got a little defensive, and, unless he can back up this figure, ventured way, way off into Fantasy Land — or at best, into cleverly worded Deception Land.

Huppenthal was making the point that the $55 million dollar a year tax credit drain on government coffers is small potatoes. That's quite a statement for a fiscal conservative, but a good right winger has to learn when to be outraged over spending and when to shrug off $55 million. Huppenthal has the shrug down pat.

Then he said, Hey, public schools spend outrageous amounts of money too.

But you know Scottsdale, I mean, the amounts of money they spend on their districts. I mean, you could make the same complaints about some of the things that go on in district schools. Some district schools in this state spend $40,000 per student. So these complaints can go both ways.

In the 2007-8 Annual Report out of the Ed Supe's office, Scottsdale is listed as spending $8,170 per student. Maybe you can raise that figure by adding in other expenditures, but it isn't going to amount to $40,000.

But to be fair, Huppenthal doesn't really say Scottsdale spends that much. He says, "Some district schools in this state spend $40,000 per student."

Is there anyone out there that can come up with a district that spends anywhere near $40,000 per student? I can find a few at $21,000 per student, but those are always small districts with small, scattered populations that spend enormous amounts on transportation (sometimes heating as well) and often don't have enough students at a given grade level to fill classrooms. The only options for those districts are to spend a lot of money or not serve their students.

However, Huppenthal used what may have been a very clever turn of phrase to keep himself out of the out-and-out-liar category. He didn't say "school districts." He said "district schools." It may be he can come up with some Arizona schools, somewhere, that spend that much.

If so, he should list them so we can see if these schools are a case of extravagance or an exception based on special circumstances.

At worst this is a lie. At best, it's deception. Huppenthal needs to put some $40,000 per student schools or districts out there to back up his assertion.