Tucson, AZ - Asserting their power as workers, the educators at BASIS Tucson North won three major victories even before finishing bargaining a first contract. First, paid time off days will increase from five to ten. Second, some educators will receive pay at the rate of $40 per hour for being assigned extra subbing duties. Third, the punitive “attendance bonus” system, which compensated teachers for not using their days of paid time off and which unfairly punished educators with disabilities and illnesses, will come to an end. These changes will take effect starting in August of the 2023-2024 school year.
Charter schools and the voucher system are literally the single worst thing to happen to the state of Arizona.
Explain why? School choice is bad? A little competition amongst schools and higher standards is bad for kids? This sounds like union protectionism to me.
“School choice” takes money out of school districts, and in this case, out of the public school system entirely. This is harmful to everyone, but it hits the worst in underprivileged districts as the little money that was previously allocated to that school is going to a private institution. Essentially, it effectively defunds public schools, which creates an entire list of other problems, which are very apparent in the AZ public school system. Hence, it’s consistently ranked one of, if not the worst public school systems in the entire country.
It seems pretty obvious to me, the school system is already facing so many problems, many of which are manufactured by politicians who are invested in private schools like basis, disincentivizing parents sending kids to public schools, which in turn further defunds them.
I don’t blame parents for sending kids to “charter” schools; it’s not their fault the public education system is literally the worst. If I had the choice and I needed to stay in the state of AZ, I would probably do the same.
Idk what “union protectionism” is, the voucher system and defunding public schools has little to nothing to do with unions.
I dont see why it’s harmful to simply move money away from one school to another. Kids are still being educated and usually in charter schools it’s better education. The public school system has had a monopoly on education for a long time and the results are iffy at best. We’ve thrown a gajillion dollars at it too and that never seems to amount to much. I do have a problem with politicians using power to draw kids into private schools that they have a stake in. That’s BS and crony capitalism. However, that’s not the norm.
The public education unions have always been a problem, at least here in NY state where I reside. They devour a ton of the money for their lavish benefit packages. Sure, they start at lower salaries than most with a masters degree but due to automatic raises and tenure they soon make great money. Oh and they only work about 2/3 of the time that regular full time people work due to all this “fluff” time off and breaks. They get all summer off too. Not a bad gig. Plus, the massive pensions here which are unsustainable are another separate issue. The unions always claim that tax increases and costs we have to eat are “for the children” except it appears the adults are the ones that actually benefit. Sorry, I have a problem with unions in general and the public education ones are some of the worst here.
