AZ Legislature Week In Review – Group Prepares To Undo Legislators’ Good Work

WEEK ENDING JULY 15, 2022

Arizona capitol

Now that the legislature has adjourned sine die, and the governor has taken final action on the bills sent to him, it should be a time to relax and move on to something else.

Unfortunately, we cannot do that because we now have to contend with the efforts of some unscrupulous organizations, like the Save Our Schools Arizona, to undo the results of the good work done at the legislation.

One prime example of such irresponsible behavior is the push to place on the November ballot a proposition to repeal house bill HB2853, the bill that enables all parents of K-12 students to choose the school that they deem best for their children. Prior to the enacting of HB2853, certain classes of students were allowed to participate, but universal participation was limited to those parents wealthy enough to afford the mandatory tuitions that went along with their exercise of school choice. The greatest beneficiaries of HB2853 are lower- and middle-class K-12 students.

Please, do not sign the petition to repeal the school choice bill,

and ask everyone you know to also refuse to sign.

Why the folks at Save Our Schools Arizona want to deny school choice to less-than-wealthy students is beyond comprehension until we look at some of the tripe that they advocate. One example, taken directly from their website, https://sosarizona.org/ is this statement:

“However, Arizona’s public school system is the worst-funded in the nation. This means Arizona children are not getting the quality education they deserve. Schools have been forced to slash budgets for teacher and staff salaries, programs, nurses, counselors, extracurriculars, advanced coursework, the arts, and more.”

It is true that children are not getting the quality education that they deserve, but it is not for lack of funding. According to the AZ Legislature Joint Budget Committee, the state spent $6.71 Billion on education in FY2021. In FY2022 that figure jumped to $$7.22 Billion, for a 7.6% INCREASE in funding. Going back 10 years, we see that in FY2012 education spending was $4.36 Billion, which means that in the last 10 years spending on education has INCREASED by 65.6%. If that increase did not go to teacher salaries and other worthwhile expenditures, where did it go? Hint: It may have gone to promoting Critical Race Theory, indoctrinating students into questioning their gender, and other disruptive and questionable endeavors.

The foregoing numbers may be fact checked by going to the JLBC’s website at:

https://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/gfhistoricalspending.pdf

It is against this background that we must judge the validity and credibility of the arguments for repealing HB2853.

First, we must be clear as to exactly what it is that HB2853 does. This can be easily done by reding the bill at the AZLEG website link https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/2R/laws/0388.pdf

Doing so will reveal that the operating language is simply a modification of what constitutes a qualified student for the purpose of receiving a scholarship, under ARS Title 15, Section 2301, as follows:

“Sec. 2. Title 15, chapter 19, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-2401.01, to read:

15-2401.01. Definition of qualified student for Arizona empowerment scholarship accounts; expansion

NOTWITHSTANDING SECTION 15-2401, BEGINNING IN THE 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR, IN THIS CHAPTER, UNLESS THE CONTEXT OTHERWISE REQUIRES, “QUALIFIED STUDENT” INCLUDES A RESIDENT OF THIS STATE WHO BOTH:

  1. IS ELIGIBLE TO ENROLL IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL IN THIS STATE IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

(a) A PRESCHOOL PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES.

(b) A KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM.

(c) ANY OF GRADES ONE THROUGH TWELVE.

  1. DOES NOT OTHERWISE QUALIFY FOR AN ARIZONA EMPOWERMENT SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNT PURSUANT TO THIS CHAPTER.”

It should be noted that there is nothing in this bill that mandates that parents remove their children from their current school and move them to a different one. It merely states that they may do so if they so desire. Those district schools that are doing a good job need not fear HB2853, as parents are not likely to remove their children from such schools.

Therefore, most if not all arguments advanced by the SOS AZ organization are bogus. Here are some examples, taken from the Call to Action in their website:

Under “Stop Attacks on Education”

Claim: There will be massive cuts in public education.

Fact: Only those portions of public education that are doing a poor job will be cut, which is a bad thing for irresponsible districts, but a good thing for students

Under “Stop Misusing Taxpayer Funds”

Claim:” Vouchers are an irresponsible use of taxpayer funds with little to no accountability or transparency”

Fact: School districts wrote the book on irresponsible use of taxpayer money and lack of accountability or transparency. That is why so many people are dissatisfied with them.

Claim: Private schools and homeschools won’t have to demonstrate academic achievement.

Fact: Of course they will. There is nothing in HB2853 that addresses that. The main reason for parents to take this step is to improve academic achievement.

Under “Stop Raising Taxes”

Claim: Funding multiple schooling systems is massively inefficient and wasteful. Taxpayers will pay the price

Fact: The current district system is massively inefficient and wasteful. This bill will lead to the failure of districts suffering from inefficiency and waste. It will reward efficient and responsible use of taxpayer money, regardless of whether the recipients are district or private schools. There is nothing in this bill that calls for raising taxes.

Under “Stop Attacks on the Economy”

Claim: Our business leaders know that Arizona needs strong public schools

Fact: We need strong schools, public or otherwise. This is exactly what HB2853 will accomplish. Only strong schools will survive.

Under “Stop Discrimination”

Claim: Private schools can reject students on the basis of gender, religion, and sexual orientation

Fact: It is public schools that are infatuated with gender, religion, and sexual orientation. It is at public schools that students are encouraged to question their sex and have their minds polluted with ideas that they may have any one of several genders.

Any steps taken toward repealing HB2853 would be steps toward perpetuating the sad state of affairs that low- and middle-class parents face. Wealthy parents can afford to pay for the best education available for their children. HB2853 will go a long way toward extending that same ability to parents that could not afford it otherwise.

We must defeat this effort to torpedo our best chance to have true school choice in Arizona