If I were AZ I’d say “Fine. Take your funding and leave. And here’s all your regulations into the bargain.”
Is AZ courageous enough to do this? We know that education need not cost anything like it does and that a good chunk of the excess cost is directly due to Federal unfunded mandates. I’d say AZ would save a bundle if they could heave all the goods and people required to comply with Federal regulations and still be able to educate their children. They’d probably be better off all around.
Question is: Do they see this and are they willing to force the Feds to be the ones who blink first?
There's no probably about it.
For starters, ESL is dumb. If the spanish-speaking (or any other) residents are here legally, the folks should be learning English at home. Back in the 1920s and 30s, that's what my mom's family had to do growing up. Now, we're just empowering the parents to not acclimate to US society and laws.
There's no doubt that they'd save money without the feds. For starters, scrap pre-school and full day kindergarten. No more breakfasts served; if the families really need food assistance, then they pay for lunch with food stamps. Kick out troublemakers. No more silliness like one full time teacher for some students with disabilities. The list is endless. And you know what? I'd bet parents would be fighting to get their kids in 1950s-style schools without all of the BS.
Grrr....
Unfortunately, the federal government is far more insidious than that. You can’t have 40% of your income stolen from you every year and survive long before you have no money at all left. You may say to yourself, “Well, I make $50K. I could live on $30K for my freedom.” The problem is that the government has made so many others dependent on your money. You’re not getting much of that $20K back into your pocket at all, so of course you’re not going to miss it. But what about the guy who makes $20K,including lots of government aid. Now he only makes $10K. Oh, he’ll miss it. So now you’ll have $20K still taken out of your pocket by the feds... and another $15K taken out by the state.
Think you can live on $15K? Well, if everyone around you who makes $50K and used to be taking home $30K after taxes is only taking home $15K, how long do you think you’ll still make $50K?
LOL
Utah has already told the FedGov dept of “education” to shove it, their funding and thier rules. The anaylsis showed that 7% of the cost the NCLB act would only be covered by the Feds. Talk about unfunded mandates.
Teachers unions are sure to be up in arms, AZ is in the hurt locker due to liberal spending for too many years.
Alamo indeed.