By now, just about everyone has heard that Arizona’s teachers are going to walk out this Thursday. I have a seat that very few folks get to see… Many know my wife has been teaching for many years. I get to watch her everyday. For weeks now, she has been riding an emotional rollercoaster. She has seen some solid support from the community for their walk-ins. I have participated every Wednesday morning. I have seen support from those driving by honking their horns, waving and many families standing with their teachers as they wear red, wave to everyone and walk into their school together. That is the high!
The lows are many…
- Having to vote to walk out of their schools. Watching her struggle with this decision.
- Having a passer by during a walk-in honk their horn and flip everyone off. Remember their are children in the mix. It takes a very low person to flip off while driving 45 mph away from the crowd.
- The consistent belittling the teachers receive on social media. Attacking them for nothing more than wanting to improve the educational system within Arizona.
- People flipping off and yelling at folks with the cars supporting #REDforED in the grocery store parking lots. Again very small individuals that would think of doing that!
- As each day grows closer to the walk-out, I have seen her really be affected in a way that I have never seen before. I knew she really cared for her students and her job. Watching her now, I can safely say that I really did not truly understand how much she cares. As a mom, I know she will do anything for her kids! Well, she has that same drive for the students! I guess they are her kids too!
My overall thoughts:
- If I was a business that was thinking of setting up shop in Arizona… I would love the wonderful tax breaks that our state gives to businesses. They truly go out of their way to open up the door. What I would be mindful of – is the overall cost of doing the wonderful tax breaks. Those taxes are something that definitely are being taken away from the general fund! As a business owner, I would have to wonder about my future workforce. Are they going to be educated enough to work in my business? Will I have to spend more money to relocate skilled workers from other places? Will my employees want to live in Arizona with the educational system that is nearly dead last in most averages in the US? I guess I can point out that your cost of living will be lower! I will have to paint a picture that leaves out the lack of funding in many key areas!
- Walking-out is difficult for everyone! We have support staff that will not get paid if the schools are closed. Food for low income families that count on the breakfast and lunch. We have parents that will have to figure out what to do with the kids during work hours. Plans have been made for when school was supposed to end, that could be impacted. Graduation for seniors! I have seen plenty of plans being put in place for every situation, but the vacation plans. That one is simple – go on your vacation! There are plenty of families that take vacations during the school year.
- I truly believe that the direction that our Governor and the Az Legislator has been taking and continues to focus on is truly focused on privatizing education. As a full disclosure – I volunteered with an STO – Scholarship Tuition Organization which administer the tax credit donation for private schools for almost 3 years – so I have an insider view. Under the “School Choice Mantra” – we get to see that removing funds from the general fund in the form of Tax Credits and Vouchers is doing everything to not having enough money in the general fund for education.
- Tax Credits for private school are as high as $1092 for couples filing jointly -vs- $400 for the public school tax credit. The tax credit for private school is for tuition. The public school tax credit is for extra curricular activities. 2016 Private School Tax Credits was just short of $101M. The Public School Tax Credits were about $53M. All of those funds were not added to the general fund.
- Private school donations can actually recommend a student for scholarship. Which is pretty good for those donating, but it leaves the process leaves it open to many issues. First, the family income for those getting recommendation could be significantly higher than helping struggling families. Giving scholarship money to a family that was recommended that has a $300+K per year income – just fundamentally seems wrong. Of course, each person’s threshold of what is too high is different.
- The public school tax credit is usually a parent or family member paying for their kids extra curricular activities like field trips and clubs. Some money may go to the classroom, but only if that is being done applies to all students.
- The private school space also has corporate donations. This is where business can take additional tax credits for low income and disabled/displaced families. Noble causes for sure. The total dollars collected in 2016 was $56.6M – which was not added to the general fund.
- Vouchers… They continue to be discussed, approved and expanded. Each dollar that is given to a voucher is yet again a dollar removed from the general fund. Many say, that we need to help with “School Choice.” Fact should simply be that any voucher that is issued should not be any higher than the average spent on per student funding that year. I am afraid that it actually is higher…
In summary, every action our Governor and AZ legislation takes has a plan. Just look at the staff for those legislator leadership and they are folks that are directly in the middle of the privatization of education. Some of the leaders that vote on “school choice” are even on Scholarship Tuition Organizations that administer the private school tax credits – they even collect a salary! Gov. Ducey early on say he did not want to get into a political circus with #REDforED. He quickly announced is #20×2020 plan and his TV ads making a political statement or adding to the circus… He has yet to sit down with #REDforEd folks to discuss what it would take to move forward. His plan was focused not on a complete plan but just to flip the narrative toward the teachers. We have to look at actions to date! No approval of his plan! No real complete plan! But, since 1998 – the Private School Tax Credit has collected $859.9M – money not allowed into the general fund! Additional Corporate Tax Credits has collected $429M. My google search for getting information on how much the voucher program has and will take away from the general fund has come up empty so far. I will have to keep digging!
It is safe to say that the overall direction for AZ Education is to go private. I truly hope I am wrong! Private schools are already set up! Charter schools are public, but the way they are set up the funding can easily switch to private! I wonder how difficult it will be for the public schools to go private?
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