by David Safier
The rush to pass these cuts seems to be connected to the federal stimulus money. There are theories that if the education budget is cut deeply enough, we won’t qualify for federal stimulus funds. Many have asked me why the majority at the legislature would wish this for our K-12 and university system when we already rank so low in spending for these vital needs compared to the rest of the nation. My answer is that we are here by design; that these policies are driven by a desire to privatize our education system.
Despite promises to the contrary to hold the budget talks in the open, the negotiations went behind closed doors and Dem leadership was not invited to participate. Dems had a sensible plan to help balance the budget without such deep cuts, but it was rejected.
We are caught in the depths of an ideological war in Arizona and the casualties are our children, our disabled, our seniors; in short, those least able to speak for themselves. It is contrary to logic, wrong-headed and dangerous for our economy and our future.
Hang tight everyone, there are rumblings inside the AZGOP…people that are SICK AND TIRED of the John Birch crowd. Change is coming, slowly, to the Reps. I can tell you from a reliable source that a house cleaning effort is in effect, an attempt to get rid of the greedy, power-hungry, money-grubbing, elitist idiots.
Why should we let our schools be run by private companies when the gov’t will have to come bail them out again anyway?
The rally on March 4th was fantastic.
GOpers that voted against the budget:
In House….NONE!!!!
In the Senate:
Carolyn Allen (R) District 8
Jay Tibshraeny (R) District 21
They deserve our thanks. The others are pathetic.
By the way, wonderful statement by Nancy Wright Young. I am very glad I voted for her. Although, she still hasn’t returned my email, I am very proud that she has done and said the right thing.
Does anyone have a list of the GOPers that voted against the budget? I agree, they should be thanked.
AZbluemeanie, you are right on. I wanted to add something to what you said. These are the same folks that argue that Constitutions are some kind of holy document that must be interpreted literally like their Bibles. The ones that argue about adhering to the Rule of Law (which by the way IS what Constitutions are). They are wetting themselves all over the Arizona Constitution.
What someone needs to do is stop cowering to them and to file a lawsuit arguing that they have broken Constitutional law of this state…but explicitly and implicitly.
People in Arizona with school-age children should move out of the godforsaken state. If they can sell their worthless homes, that is. . .
I think we need to find those Republicans who did not go along with the madness that pervaded the budget process and write them thank you notes and do everything we possibly can to reinforce their behavior rather than give a ton of attention to the ideologues who made a hash out of the budget.
People have to rise up and yell “Foul!” about the legislature making us ineligible for stimulus money. I read that part more than once before I really believed what it said – Hey! at my age, I could be the crazy one! I have always had the opinion that we should be all over our legislators like fleas on a dog – with praise, if they do good, and to let them know, loud and clear, when they do not represent my/our interests!
did you read the Oped piece by that piece of work from the Goldwater institute the other day? He was advocating the deregulation of private post-secondary educational institutions. He thinks that anyone that wants to start up a nursing school should be able to!
Joe Sweeney has a friend!
The Arizona Constitution was drafted by progressive populists who believed deeply in public education. That’s why Arizona’s Constitution contains several provisions mandating that the state legislature must make “appropriations, to be met by taxation” to maintain a free public education system, and a university “nearly free as possible.” (It also prohibits the use of public funds for support of sectarian or religious schools).
So what’s an anti-tax zealot Republican to do? Why privatize education, of course! If the state no longer maintains any public school system because it has been privatized, then it no longer needs to comply with those pesky constitutional mandates to make appropriations, to be met by taxation to maintain a free public education system. Vioala! Republicans will then argue to cut taxes even further.
These greedy bastards really do think this way.