OPINION — The Arizona we want includes an education system that can potentially benefit all of us. Education provides workers and engineers to build safe roads and bridges which we all use, paramedics and medical staff who save our lives, and expertise we all depend upon whether dining out, flying to visit family or hiring a home handyman.
People with hope and opportunity are far less likely to cause problems for the rest of us. Wide access is only achieved when we pool all our resources to ensure that each child in Arizona has the education needed to be the very person upon whom we may one day rely.
School funding is based on each district’s property tax amounts, the ability and willingness of their local district to pass bonds and over-rides, average daily attendance rates and great tax credits for those affluent enough to donate to fund their own school’s extra programs.
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers starting at $5 for your first month and support local, unbiased journalism.
OPINION — The Arizona we want includes an education system that can potentially benefit all of us. Education provides workers and engineers to build safe roads and bridges which we all use, paramedics and medical staff who save our lives, and expertise we all depend upon whether dining out, flying to visit family or hiring a home handyman.
People with hope and opportunity are far less likely to cause problems for the rest of us. Wide access is only achieved when we pool all our resources to ensure that each child in Arizona has the education needed to be the very person upon whom we may one day rely.
School funding is based on each district’s property tax amounts, the ability and willingness of their local district to pass bonds and over-rides, average daily attendance rates and great tax credits for those affluent enough to donate to fund their own school’s extra programs.
This formula guarantees that schools in affluent areas of the state will always have more resources than schools in poorer areas.
Vouchers were sold as giving better access to more children but as we can easily see from its implementation in Arizona, it is not benefiting the majority of our children.
All are experiencing less access to arts programs, to sports, to counselors, to trained teachers and support staff to handle the difficulties they face, to healthy food with the loss of school cafeteria staff, to neighborhood centers that bring people together to enjoy the benefits of life.
All children, the 95 % in public schools as well as the home-schooled and children in private schools, have less. In the poorer areas, they also suffer the loss of clean drinking water and safe buildings.
Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here