It’d be a shame if something happened to your public schools, Arizona. That’s effectively the message Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey delivered during his state of the state address on Monday.
Ducey boasted about his tax cuts for the super-wealthy—which could gut funding for the public schools that 92% of Arizona students attend—and said he wants to expand charter schools that benefit his wealthy donors at the expense of ordinary Arizonans.
He also failed to address the most imminent crisis facing Arizona’s schools: districts are on the verge of having their budgets slashed by $1.2 billion statewide unless a two-thirds majority of the Republican-controlled state House and Senate take action by March 1. If lawmakers fail to step up, school teachers could be laid off while some schools are shuttered altogether.
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Keya Vakil Keya is a reporter at COURIER, where he covers everything from healthcare to climate change. Prior to joining Courier Newsroom, Keya worked as a researcher in the film industry and dabbled in the political world.
