State Senate President Tim Bee, House Speaker Jim Weiers and others have put forward a bill that would permanently repeal the equalization rate portion of state property tax bills.
The equalization rate earmarked 43 cents per $100 in assessed property values toward local schools with the temporary tax cut offset with cash from the state's general budget fund.
According to the article, the proposal is supported by the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, and it's opposed by the Arizona Education Association.
This seems to be part of the Reps' long-term gameplan to undermine the effectiveness of public ed - they know they can't just end it arbitrarily and give the money spent on public education to private companies/campaign donors; instead they chip away at the funding that the schools need to do their jobs. Schemes such as corporate tax-credits for donations to private schools but not for public schools or directly taking money from public schools to give to private schools when a student transfers have been used to great success in this regard.
And as the schools become more underfunded, they become less effective in doing their jobs. With that, correspondingly more parents move their children from public schools to private and charter schools, taking even more money with them.
This isn't a "shot across the bow" signalling the start of a war; it's just the latest broadside against a nearly defenseless target.
If you live in an LD with a Democratic representative or senator (or even a sane Republican), contact them and urge them to oppose the bill.
The bill in question is SB1027; it is sponsored by Senators Bee, Waring, Harper, Burns, Gorman, and Vershoor and Representatives Weiers, Pearce (now there's a good reason to oppose the bill just on general principles), Biggs, and Boone.
1 comment:
Oh come now, "nearly defenseless target". You have certainly mistaken Goliath for David in your attempt to color the government school system as the underdog. Any reasonable person can recognize David in this scenario: the private schools and their mutant siblings the charter schools. Private schools must earn their revenue each and every semester to justify continued parental payments (tuition). Charter schools receive their revenue in less strenuous fashion via payments from the government. Government operated schools in Arizona are guaranteed a budget every year unless by some herculean effort anti-statists manage to convice >=50% of the state house plus >=50% of the state senate, plus the OK of Governor Napolitano, not to mention numerous committees in between, to modify the status quo. The actual nearly defenseless target here isn't even mentioned: the taxpayer.
Please forgive me for any grammatical mistakes I have made. I've attended government schools all my life. I am still working on making up for that deficiency.
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