Arizona Senate passes huge school voucher expansion, 2 years after voters said no

[alp227]

Source: Arizona Republic

The Arizona Senate approved a massive expansion of Arizona's school voucher program Monday, just two years after voters decisively repealed a similar expansion of school vouchers to all students.

The Senate passed the bill on a 16-14 party-line vote, with all 16 Republicans voting for the measure. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives.

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts allow parents eligible to take funds from public schools and spend them on private school. The bill would expand the program, which currently serves only 9,700 students, making it available to an exponentially larger group.

Bill sponsors contend the voucher expansion will benefit only low-income students from so-called Title I schools, which receive funding for disadvantaged students to close educational gaps.

Read more: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona-education/2021/02/15/arizona-senate-passes-sb-1452-huge-expansion-school-vouchers/6757482002/

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In 2018, 65% of Arizona voters said "no" to Proposition 305. Back in 2007, a similar measure in Utah, Referendum 1, failed with 62% "no" votes. If school vouchers are such a popular idea as Betsy DeVos would tell you, why aren't voters in strongly Republican states supporting them?

[Sucha NastyWoman]

1. Sounds like good ammunition to help Arizona become blue.

[Gilbert Moore]

2. This isn't

If school vouchers are such a popular idea as Betsy DeVos would tell you, why aren't voters in strongly Republican states supporting them?

This isn't a strong Republican state. These morons want to pass a bill allowing the AZ House / Senate to be able to override our votes if. . . you know. . . they don't like it. . .

[alp227]

4. Arizona is a historically Republican state

Only twice did Arizona vote (D) for president since the 50s: Clinton 96 and Biden 20. That's why I can AZ a strong (R) state

[oasis]

3. GOP overplaying their hand, as usual.

[rickyhall]

5. Repugs don't give a fuck about we the people.

All they care about is the rich 1% donors.

[SmartVoter22]

6. Change you referendum laws first...DUH?

Like Wisconsin, we have GOP jerks who've changed the laws on referendums, that even if binding Constitutional changes, they can come in later and refuse to honor the voters choices.

We need to set some federal standards that states cannot abridge.
Like;

voting is for life, unabdridged.
a constitutionally binding referendum is forever, until voters change the last one they voted for, not the legislatures.
recognize human beings, quite the age, gender, faith, etc definistions. One human being law covering everyone, without any specificities.

[Lonestarblue]

7. Republicans never do anything to benefit low-income people.

Here’s the real reason from the article.

“But SB 1452 would also allow any student who lives in the boundary of a Title I school to be eligible for an empowerment scholarship account. The students would merely have to attend the school and would not need to be low-income themselves to qualify.

More than 1,300 of the 2,000 district schools in Arizona — about 65% — are Title I schools, and even wealthy districts include some Title I schools.”

The article also says that two-thirds of Arizona’s students would be eligible for the vouchers, which would decimate public education in the state as all the wealthier parents send kids to private schools, leaving little money for the low-income students. And you can bet that most of the private schools would have only a token number of minority students.

Republicans have become the most hateful people imaginable.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. All those people who "crawled over glass" to vote in 2020

need to do the same in "off years" (and that means EVERY year) to start changing the composition of the state legislature if they can (given so many of these states were gerrymandered out the wazoo).

[hunter]

9. People with any sort of critical thinking skills don't vote Republican

Vouchers suck money out of public schools and into schools that are frequently corrupt or controlled by anti-intellectual religions. (White Christian evangelicals are especially loathsome...)

The Republican Party knows this. Destroying public schools is just another dirty trick, another way of suppressing Democratic votes, another way of throwing up barriers to anyone who is not a straight white male.

It will be a better world when the Republican Party disintegrates. They've got nothing left but their racism, religious bullshit, misogyny, and greed.

[OldBaldy1701E]

10. And the delay on this happening

confuses me to no end. Is the country as a whole really this stupid and greedy? Oh wait... don't answer that.

[patphil]

11. The only way to counter that kind of action by a legislature is to vote them out of office.

Unfortunately, that will take a couple years, and most people will have forgotten about this by then.
The Republicans are counting on voters having a short memory...it usually works.

[4Q2u2]

12. Tax the Churches

It is time.
No more free rides for the fundies.