CURMUDGUCATION: AZ: Kelly Townsend Wants To Shut Teachers Up

CURMUDGUCATION: AZ: Kelly Townsend Wants To Shut Teachers Up

AZ: Kelly Townsend Wants To Shut Teachers Up

Arizona's #RedForEd movement was long overdue. The state has been one of the nation's top playgrounds for charter profiteers, but at the same time, they have starved public schools for resources, with low and stagnant teacher pay along with the worst level of per pupil spending in the country.

The state was lucky that its teachers walked out en masse last year, because they were already walking out one at a time and not coming back. In 2017, 74% of Arizona's superintendents reported unfilled teaching positions. Arizona's leaders seem determined to destroy their public education system; the state's teachers were doing the families of the state a favor by pushing the state to take even the tiniest steps toward saving its public education system.

Two out of three isn't bad.

Of course, not all the members of the legislature saw it that way. There's this dipstick-- GOP House Leader John Allen who theorized that teachers were working two jobs because they wanted boats and bigger houses.

But perhaps no legislator has been more angry with teachers than Kelly Townsend. After a stint as in the Navy, Townsend became a small business operator and a doula. Townsend landed in the House in 2013 and has now risen to position of majority whip.

Right on the front page of her election website, she weighs in on #RedForEd:

Since elected in 2012, I have been advocating for more dollars in the classroom, and have been consistently supportive of teachers. was not able to vote for the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: AZ: Kelly Townsend Wants To Shut Teachers Up