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Friday, October 30, 2020

Jennifer Berkshire: Will Education Cause The GOP to Lose Arizona? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jennifer Berkshire: Will Education Cause The GOP to Lose Arizona? | Diane Ravitch's blog
Jennifer Berkshire: Will Education Cause The GOP to Lose Arizona?



Jennifer Berkshire writes in this post about the educational awakening in Arizona, the result of #red4ed and the teachers’ revolt of 2018.

Proposition 208 is on the ballot. It calls for a 3.5% tax increase on people earning over $250,000 a year, to be used to raise teachers’ salaries and hire more teachers. Surprisingly, 60% of voters appear to favor the measure, including a sizable number of Republicans.

She writes:

That taxing the rich to pay for schools would emerge as a cause with bipartisan support in 2020 is not a complete surprise. More Arizonans now identify education, not immigration, as the top priority facing the state, reflecting mounting concern with schools that are notoriously underfunded, teachers who are poorly paid, and a teacher shortage crisis so severe that 28 percent of the state’s classrooms lack a permanent teacher.

Education has become a potent political issue since #RedforEd protests shone a harsh light on the condition of Arizona’s schools in 2018. After a historic teacher strike, educators doubled down on electoral organizing. Democrats gained four seats in the state House of CONTINUE READING: Jennifer Berkshire: Will Education Cause The GOP to Lose Arizona? | Diane Ravitch's blog

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