Arizona: David Schapira

by David Safier
Things keep moving forward in the story of tuition tax credits paying for children from well-to-do families to go to private schools and STO directors using the nonprofits as their personal ATMs.

According to a Dem legislative press release,

House Democrats are requesting an investigation into the state’s Private School Tuition Tax Credits program, which reportedly is violating several federal and state laws, they said Tuesday at a press conference.
 
House Democrats also announced the creation of the Task Force on Private School Tuition Tax Credits specifically to address the program’s problems and work on bipartisan legislation to reform it.

“Arizonans have seen this go on for too long,” said House Democratic Leader David Lujan.

A loan forgiveness program that helps Arizona schools attract math, science and special education teachers should be broadened to help rural and inner-city schools attract teachers with any specialization, a state lawmaker contends.

"Some districts are experiencing across-the-board shortages that aren't just math and science teachers," said Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe.

He has introduced legislation to expand a law that forgives the student loans of teachers who commit to staying in Arizona to teach math, science or special education in public schools. HB 2293 would apply to teachers with any specialization who commit to work in a geographic area deemed by the state to have a serious teacher shortage.

State lawmakers began the process late Thursday of cutting more than $1.1 billion out of the state budget in hopes of formally approving the plan sometime today.

The package, crafted by Republican legislative leaders, cuts the operating budgets of most state agencies about 10 percent. On top of that, each agency will have to cut its personnel expenses by more than 4 percent.

That latter option could mean layoffs. But the package also allows each agency to instead require workers to take a certain number of unpaid days off between now and the end of the budget year on June 30.

But the big savings are in the area of education.