Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs appears to be just another elitist Democrat who doesn’t believe residents in her state deserve the same kinds of opportunities she had, particularly when it comes to education.
Hobbs, Arizona’s current secretary of state who herself was educated in a private school setting, has come out in opposition to school choice for Arizona parents, according to a newly released education plan that would crack down on the state’s school voucher system.
“Too often, Republicans have completely disregarded public opinion in an effort to defund our public schools. At every turn, they have moved to expand school vouchers without common-sense measures of accountability, with the clear intent to eventually do away with our local public schools,” Hobbs notes in her proposal.
The Daily Wire adds:
Arizona expanded its school voucher program over the summer. Governor Doug Ducey (R-AZ) signed a bill in July allowing every Arizona student to get a taxpayer-funded Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) account to pay for their education at a private school, about $6,500 per child for grades 1-12.
In the first two weeks after the online portal for new ESA applications opened, the state received around 6,800 new applications for school vouchers.
But if she is elected governor and has the votes in the state legislature, Hobbs says she’ll roll back the voucher program and deprive Arizona parents of the same choice her parents had.
“Vouchers should not have been expanded to provide an unaccountable means of enriching private schools and defunding our local public schools,” she said in her plan.
She, of course, went on to assail Arizona Republicans, who she said “pressed forward with their latest attack on our schools” with the universal expansion of school vouchers (and school choice). “The unaccountable spending of taxpayer dollars needs to change,” she added.
At the same time, Hobbs’ plan calls for spending more on public schools (isn’t that a means of “enriching” them?) by eliminating the current spending cap known as the aggregate expenditure limit.
What Hobbs isn’t bothering to explain, however, is why Arizonans are flocking to private schools in the first place. It’s the same reason parents all over the country, when given the opportunity, move their children out of public schools: They don’t ‘educate’ our kids anymore. They serve as indoctrination centers for the left. They are enabled by Democratic politicians like Hobbs who think they are entitled to opportunities others should not have.
The Daily Wire adds:
Hobbs graduated from Seton Catholic Preparatory, a private Catholic high school in Chandler, Arizona in 1988. Seton has proudly highlighted Hobbs’ attendance in the past.
Hobbs herself has said she had a positive experience at the school. She noted in 2019 that Seton teachers encouraged her to look at things from different perspectives, like how to see the relevance in older classic literature.
“It really felt like a family,” Hobbs said. “You really had a chance to get to know the people that you went to school with.”
To that end, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk announced in June the launch of the first of a planned nationwide network of private schools that are focused on teaching “classic, pro-American” curriculum along with a full rejection of critical race theory, “wokeism,” and “anti-American ideas.”
Called Turning Point Academy, it will be a collaboration with Dream City Christian School, a current K-12 private school in Arizona that is expecting more than 600 students in the fall.
According to Fox News:
Kirk said Turning Point Academy will adhere to “bedrock principles,” including to “never waver from the truth and to teach self-government and liberty to students” and to reject critical race theory, “wokeism, deconstructionism, queer theory, radical LGBT agendas,” anti-American ideas, and more.
“Dream City Christian is an amazing collaborator in this project and we’re so grateful to do this together,” Kirk told the network. “They already have an amazing start, including a physical school, a faculty, and much of the groundwork laid.”
“Turning Point Academy, for our part, is uniquely positioned to take the school to the next level,” Kirk said, noting his organization’s role in helping shape pro-America education for a decade.
“We have access to some of the best educational resources, teachers, academics and curriculums this country has to offer – we can bring those to bear as we relaunch Dream City Christian as the first Turning Point Academy, ensuring it is a model for others to follow as we launch additional Turning Point Academies around the country,” he added.
Arizona parents and voters have an opportunity to keep their school choice programs or revert back to the failing public school model that was hijacked long ago by the Democratic left. Hobbs represents a return to the bad old days.
