I spent a number of hours yesterday watching the Arizona Senate and House debate the school voucher issue. I saw passionate members in both houses attempt to sway the other member's opinions. I truly love to see this kind of democracy in action. But on to my point of writing this.
I want to go on record as saying that I completely and unequivocally support school choices for parents. What parent does not want to make sure their child gets the best education possible? I moved into a neighborhood so that my daughters could attend Quail Run Elementary School. I did my research. I asked friends who had school age kids. I even spoke to the principal before enrolling them in that particular elementary. I moved into the school boundaries because I wanted my daughters to get a quality education from teachers who were outside the box thinkers and educators. It was one of the best decisions I ever made as a dad. The teachers at Quail Run were better than awesome. They cared about helping parents raise kids to be quality productive members of society. I will always be eternally grateful to them for the dedication they have to their chosen profession.
I say that I chose to move for a reason. Not everyone in Arizona has that option. I understand that. In fact, Representative Descheenie said that yesterday in the House. Not everyone has the means to just pick up and move. So in light of that, I feel that it is a good thing to be able to allow parents to choose the school that is the best fit for their children. However, there are certain schools that are performing well but parents decide to change their child’s education for personal reasons.
With this voucher program, a parent can move their child to any school of their choice, public, charter or private, and receive the funding that would normally go to the public school for that child’s enrollment. I won’t get into the details about the formula that is used to figure out school funding. But let’s just go with the figures of $4500 per student in a public school. Our public schools have been hemorrhaging fiscally for many years. I posted an article about this a few years ago and criticized the budget cuts to education. Article on school budget cuts Recently, in the Governor’s budget, there was a minimal raise for teachers.
The voucher program could work and I truly hope it does. In the right way that will be beneficial to Arizona students and families. There still is a need to help our schools with better funding, resources for teachers AND students, a stop to cutting programs. On that topic of cutting programs, why are the first programs cut always the music and art programs? Don’t those in positions to do that realize that music and art are imperative to the success of a student in mathematics and science? We need Americans who are creative again. How do we expect our children to grow up to be creative thinkers without an outlet to develop that creativity at a young age?
Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens. That’s my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet. In time I will figure it out. The future of our country depends on the next generation.
Senator Steve Farley from Tucson said yesterday about this bill, “A 6-year experiment in the middle of a child’s educational career IS their life.” I have been a life-long registered Republican. There is very little I tend to agree with the Democratic party platform on. And this will most likely be the same for the rest of my life. I tend to be more fiscally conservative than most Tea Party members but at the same time knowing and seeing those Americans that are in need from social programs. I believe in our Constitution more than most. I believe in the democratic republic that is the United States of America. Yesterday, I leaned toward our Democratic legislators in regards to this particular bill. I think it is a good idea but not a good implementation of it. Like “ObamaCare”, a good idea but bad implementation. Senator Katie Hobbs likened it to “lipstick on a pig”. Minority leader Rebecca Rios passionately made her plea against this bill. You should listen. Her time starts at the 23:00-minute mark. Floor vote from Az House
For the teachers and students in Arizona, I make a pledge to you that I will try to help figure out a way to get us out of the bottom of the barrel and off the bottom of the list. I am open to hearing your ideas as well. Maybe we can find the answers that our elected officials can’t seem to find.
