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SOSAZ Claps Back at Supt. Horne
🔥 This week, we published an OpEd clap back to Superintendent Horne’s lies [[link removed]] about the voucher program. Check out the full piece in the AZ Mirror, and read some highlights below: [[link removed]]
“Tom Horne, our state’s Republican superintendent of public instruction, isn’t known for cozying up to the truth. But his latest attempt to spin private school voucher numbers marks a new low even for him.
Last week, Horne fired off a press release [[link removed]] bragging that the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA), the formal name for the universal voucher program, couldn’t possibly be causing the state’s massive budget crisis because his department ended the year with a $4 million ‘surplus.’
That Horne brags about a $4 million surplus is utterly laughable. It’s like saying your irresponsible uncle (the legislature) gave you $600 (that he didn’t have) and you only spent $596, so now there’s a $4 surplus and you’re “saving money.”
Horne’s deceptive messaging ignores the reality that the Republicans who control the Arizona Legislature allocated nearly $650 million in the K-12 budget to ESA vouchers — money the state could have dedicated to the public schools Horne is supposed to support — and that is what is driving fully half of the state’s $1.3 billion budget deficit…
Absent [universal vouchers], Arizona would currently have hundreds of millions of extra dollars in its coffers [[link removed]] to fund teacher pay raises and to lift Arizona’s public schools out of 49th place in state education funding. But Arizona doesn’t have any additional funds to spend, and instead faces massive shortfalls. In fact, this year the legislature was forced to slash funding [[link removed]] for roads, water, community colleges, universities, and K-12 schools to balance the budget.
Horne’s false math is a shell game that attempts to distract from the ESA voucher program’s rampant fraud, waste and abuse. Horne would rather we not talk about the three dune buggies his department approved [[link removed]] for voucher spending. He’d rather we look the other way from $1,800 Lego collectible sets [[link removed]] , more than $100,000 in non-educational spending, ‘ ghost students [[link removed]] ’ in fraud cases and the $10 million in taxpayer funds he’s using [[link removed]] to advertise the irresponsible program.
… To position Arizona for the future, we must elect a pro-public education legislature that will rein in ESA vouchers, put an end to the fraud and abuse in the program, and shift priorities where they belong: to ensuring our schools are properly funded, our students have access to excellent neighborhood public schools, and our educators are finally paid what they deserve.”
Step up to help flip the legislature to one that supports public schools!
See the “Take Action” section for ways to plug in, or go to sosarizona.org/upcomingevents [[link removed]] .
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Contact Us
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Save Our Schools Arizona
PO Box 28370
Tempe, AZ 85285
United States
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