Arizona Faces Loss of $1 Billion for Schools Thanks to Trump/Musk Scheme

But AZ's Education Secretary is cool with that

Photo by Nohe Pereira on Unsplash

Yet another state policy analysis reveals the significant potential harms of the Musk-Trump Administration’s “dismantling” of the Department of Education.

But What Does It Mean?

The post above notes an analysis from Kentucky suggesting the Bluegrass State could lose as much as $1 billion depending on how funding is impacted - and, even if some money flows to the states directly, key protections for students could be lost.

Now, Save Our Schools Arizona is offering an analysis of the potential impacts there. Again, as much as $1 billion could be impacted - and, to be clear, even if the final number lost is only a fraction of that amount, it will have real consequences for students and schools in the state.

As a recent SOSAZ email notes:

As President Trump and billionaire special interests work to dismantle the Department of Education, Arizona’s State Superintendent Tom Horne agrees — falsely claiming this week that the Dept. of Ed doesn’t do anything for Arizona: “They monitor us… I don’t think we would miss it if they were gone.”

SOSAZ continues, outlining the reality of Ed Department funding and the pure chaos the Musk-Trump plans would create:

Horne has falsely claimed that by eliminating the department, the Arizona Dept. of Ed would “have more funding for teacher pay raises.” Yet Horne ignores the fact that federal funding streams are strategically dedicated to specific groups of students and programs through acts of Congress — not teacher salaries.

The now infamous Project 2025 urged a future President Trump to return federal funding streams to states in “block grants” (which operate like vouchers), though any plans for disbursement at the state level remain unclear. Experts predict these funds will be subject to being “voucherized,” or being diverted to private schools and homeschool. As SOSAZ Director Beth Lewis states, “If federal dollars were sent to the states, and that funding were reallocated to private school vouchers for example, our public schools would shut down.” This, of course, is the entire point as the special interests behind Project 2025 aim to privatize public education.

So, you know, that seems bad.

The oligarchy is moving fast - on purpose. The speed of the actions and the chaos they cause provide cover. By the time any resistance realizes what’s happening, six more things have happened.

Why Congressional Democrats are still play-acting instead of walking out and denying quorums is beyond me.

Peter Greene offers some additional insight:

This is the Randian dream-- to create a country in which you never have to care about anyone but yourself and your close personal circle (as long as they stay loyal to you). That is what being a king really means-- nobody can ever make you care about anyone else. (Well, that's what it means to people who don't bother with history.)

A country in which nobody has to empathize, to sympathize, to care about other human beings. Where there's a long list of less-thans, and you can treat them as poorly as you want. Where people are moved by fear and/or power. That's the foundational animating principle under all of this.

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