The dominant populist right doesn’t have the same respect for, and deference to, free markets as the diminished small government, free market conservatives. Examples from the Arizona Legislature.
Monthly Archives: March 2022
To give a big boost in K-12 funding a chance, put the vitriol on pause
Despite justifiable hard feelings on both sides, there remains an opening for a grand bargain on income tax rates and school funding.
The unintended consequence of the so-called academic transparency bill, SB 1211
It will do more to sterilize classroom teaching, particularly in high schools, than inform parents.
On earmarks, Sinema and Kelly are no McCain and Flake
With $30 trillion in debt, what’s the federal government doing funding traffic lights and local jail air conditioning?
The limits on U.S. support for Ukraine
The risks to the United States from more direct intervention on behalf of Ukraine are impossible to assess. Staying within the mainstream of the European concensus, as the Biden administration has done, is the right course.
Ignoring that Prop. 208 passed is a big political mistake
Ducey and GOP lawmakers are picking a losing fight if they attempt to lower income tax rates without also enacting a Prop. 208 level increase in education funding.
Democrats’ best hope for 2022: Republicans
The political stupidity of the lawsuit by the Arizona Republican Party to have mail ballots declared unconstitutional is difficult to overstate.
A missing opportunity for the community colleges
This would be an ideal time for the Mariopa Community Colleges to move aggressively into offering four-year degrees, but legislative restrictions sharply, and wrongheadedly, limit that option.
Algebra 2 and rethinking high school
Allowing practical alternatives to Algebra 2 as a high school graduation requirement is a step in the right direction. But the whole sequential edifice of education, from high school on, needs rethinking.
Ducey’s water authority proposal isn’t even half-baked
Arizona should see what conservation and expanded water markets can do before committing to big-dollar augmentation projects, such as desalination.