With Republicans riding high and all this freedom ringing all over the place, the push for universal school vouchers to give rich people a discount on their tony private school tuitions continues unabated.
In Arkansas we’re still bracing for the full force of the Arkansas LEARNS-enabled welfare scheme to turn over $7,000+ in public money to private- and homeschool families.
Data showing vouchers don’t improve student performance (and may actually make it worse) hasn’t made a dent. Conservative politicians in Arkansas and elsewhere remain bullish on what amounts to half-off tuition coupons for families who don’t need them. Will we stay the course when the make-believe budget surpluses they so gleefully tout are sucked away?
ProPublica is taking a look at Arizona, where universal school vouchers are sucking up hundreds of millions of dollars. Water and highway projects and funding for community colleges are getting cut to cover vouchers, they report. That community college cut hurts especially, considering the accessible, affordable credits these schools offer serve as an on-ramp to higher education for middle- and lower-class students. Whittling down community colleges to send more money to already well-to-do private school families really chafes.
“… Arizona is now having to make deep cuts to a wide swath of critical state programs and projects, the pain of which will be felt by average Arizonans who may or may not have school-aged children,” ProPublica reported yesterday.
Check out their report, “School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.”