Arizona’s anti-education legislature has succeeded in cutting K-12 and university funding more than any other state in the last decade. They have gobs more money for private prisons, a border “strike force” and corporate tax cuts; just don’t ask them for funds to pay teachers and keep schools open. The results are predictable: the state loses out in the high stakes competition for well-paying companies looking to relocate and teachers are fleeing the state, causing a shortage of qualified instructors, says Principle Adam Sharp:
He’s had teachers leave the profession or go to another state like California or Texas where the starting pay is $8,000 to $10,000 more.
“So who’s filling all those seats?” said Sharp. “It's long-term substitutes, it's people that may or may not be qualified to teach your children.”
During his State of the State Address last month, Gov. Doug Ducey reminded us how much he values education, pledging to add another $114 million to state appropriations. He called it a “commitment our teachers can take to the bank,” where they’ll be able to deposit that whopping 4/10 percent pay raise, or an extra $182 per year.
But while Gov. Ducey is bragging up his yuuuge increase, the GOP-controlled legislature just introduced a bill that’ll remove another $211 million in “desegregation funding” from 18 of the state’s school districts. Phoenix Union, for example, would lose $55 million and Tucson Unified about $63 million. Even tiny Holbrook would lose about 10 percent of its operating budget. Without that money, say officials, the already strapped districts would be forced to close schools. At the very least, “Some of the state’s poorest and most disadvantaged students could fall back into the cycle of failure.”
The “desegregation funding” that the GOP is attacking goes back to the mid-1980s, when the state permitted school districts to use property taxes to level the playing field—primarily for inner city schools and heavily minority communities whose funding is nowhere near that of schools in the wealthy suburbs.
Now Republican lawmakers want to eliminate the automatic funding schools receive, using the same excuse the Supreme Court used to roll back voting rights: segregation is over! The bill, introduced by a Sun City legislator whose district does not include even one school that receives the desegregation funding, would force districts to put the property tax question to voters.
And while most education overrides are supported by voters (because the public knows how shitty the legislature has treated their schools), about a third fail. So if I were a superintendent in an anti-tax GOP stronghold like Mesa ($8.7M), Glendale ($6M) or even Holbrook ($2.5M), I’d be on the lookout for new money. Or preparing pink slips.
The bill’s supporters, who include the ALEC-driven Arizona Tax Research Association, have already threatened a lawsuit if legislators turn down the measure. Last night, more than 100 parents, teachers and other education advocates lined up to speak to the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging them to reject the bill. But then … Arizona:
Nearly two hours of fiery testimony later, [Redeem] Robinson, a father in the Washington Elementary School District, and the more than 100 people testifying on Senate Bill 1174, cleared the packed hearing room. Most of them were visibly disappointed.
The state Senate committee voted narrowly, 6-4, to move the bill to a floor vote.
As Robinson left the room, he said, "Thanks for screwing the schools."
If there’s a way to piss all over the poor in Arizona, you can bet an elected official from a wealthy white legislative district will figure out how to make it a law.