Local opinion: Consider candidates' public-education records
As we consider which candidates to elect or re-elect for local, statewide and national office, it is critical that Arizona voters consider each candidate's platform and/or record related to support for K-12 public education. With over 1 million Arizona public school students and 49 million students nationally, how we invest in our youth now is critical to the success, safety and security of our state, nation and world.
A September 2024 report from Consumer Affairs ranked Arizona 50th in the nation and said this: "Arizona, which scored last in our total ranking, had consistently low scores across the board and was at the bottom in pupil-to-teacher ratio, earning the distinction of having the most crowded public-school classrooms in America."
Public education matters, and we have an opportunity in this election to change the horrendous record of contempt for public education students and educators for which our state has become known.
Our severely underfunded and under-resourced public school system is now a national model for the continued destruction of public education as proposed in Project 2025. Universal vouchers and private school scholarships paid for by taxpayers are cornerstones of the Project, which also promotes withdrawing special education funding from schools and redirecting those funds to parents, eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, and much more.
Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) have siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars from funding that should have been earmarked for K-12 public schools. Under the guise of "freedom" and "choice," the vast majority of ESAs benefit private and parochial school students who come from wealthy families and homeschooled students who never attended public schools. Scholarship Tuition Organizations (STOs) also benefit privileged private school students. The cost and competition to get into non-public schools has ironically priced out many families whose children actually need special education services, the original purpose of Arizona's voucher program.
Think twice when a legislator proclaims they "prioritized K-12 spending" in the 2024 budget after they passed a flat tax in 2021 that has slashed funds available for all public services, including Arizona's public schools. These same legislators bristle when other elected officials suggest ESAs must be reined in due to the negative impact on the state budget and district public schools that are required to serve the majority of students.
This year's budget deficit was $1.4B. While most state agencies took a 3.4% reduction, this legislature cut $900M from education for the deaf and blind. At the same time, some ESA recipients are saving ESA funds for use in subsequent years — even for college — and using vouchers to purchase non-curriculum items for their children.
When we, as voters, re-elect officials who have previously refused to address obvious needs such as full-staffing for all K-12 schools, funding up-to-date facilities and educator salaries, reducing class size, improving school safety, and more, we are as responsible as those officials are for the way we have and will continue to disadvantage our students.
If school board members have not delivered on students' and educators' priorities, do not return them to the board. If legislators in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., have rejected efforts to help public school students be competitive in a global economy and society, do NOT send them back to repeat these hugely consequential, short-sighted decisions.
Arizona's K-12 students are yours or your neighbors' kids today. And they are tomorrow's workforce: entrepreneurs, community leaders, medical personnel, lawyers and law enforcement workers, educators and more. They are also tomorrow's voters who will help chart the future of our nation and the world.
Students enrolled in district public education deserve so much better. I hope you will join me in making a commitment to vote for pro-public education candidates who are committed to providing learning environments in which ALL of Arizona's K-12 youth can and will succeed.
Judi Moreillon, PhD, is a former Tucson-area school librarian, retired librarian educator, and active advocate for Arizona's district public schools and students.
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