Vouchers Cause School Closures in Arizona
Wiping out public schools was always the goal
Beth Lewis writes in the Arizona Mirror about the crisis of school closures in Arizona. A crisis, she notes, that was brought on by a runaway school voucher scheme.
Last school year, 20 schools were forced to shutter their doors, causing uncertainty and heartache for many Arizona families who rely on and choose their local neighborhood schools. Now, even more districts are being forced to make agonizing decisions about school closures this year, with Kyrene schools in Tempe considering shuttering one-third of its schools and Amphi schools in Tucson looking at closing 5 of its 12 elementary schools.
Arizonans deserve the truth: It’s the vouchers.
By diverting education dollars to unaccountable private schools, Arizona policymakers have starved local school districts - and forced unpleasant choices.
Instead of investing in local public schools to meet students’ needs and ward off school closures to ensure equal access to quality neighborhood schools, Republican state lawmakers voted to force through universal ESA vouchers, which are now draining a massive $1 billion a year to instead pay for private, for-profit models that pick and choose students.
For decades, the Republican-led Arizona legislature has chronically refused to fund our state’s public schools, which remain 49th in funding in the U.S. This rock-bottom funding leaves zero cushion for school districts facing even moderate enrollment fluctuations or birth declines.
