Arizona's dumbest law strikes again... (We don't need no education)

The Arizona Republic has this article and this article about the failure of many of the override ballot props up for a vote last night. These override elections are stupid. School districts have elected boards that can be recalled and defeated in subsequent elections if they raise taxes too much.

Even Tom Horne sees this as potentially catastrophic:

Arizona schools chief Tom Horne said that if the districts do not persuade voters to change their minds, they will face "catastrophic" cuts that could reduce teacher pay, increase class size and leave new schools without desks.

This change will reduce funding by about $70 million over 3 years for the affected school districts. Arizona already has one of the lowest spending per pupal averages in the US. We cannot let this spending cut happen. It is time to overturn this stupid, counterproductive, think tank conceived law. Here is some of my previous writing on the subject. Here are my previous entries on education.

We need to decide whether we want Arizona to be competitive economically and properly fund the activities or whether really want a low tax and tiny government haven. I don't think you can have it both ways.

Redistricting Schools: Good? Bad?

So, there is an effort afoot in the Maricopa to merge school districts. The idea is to create more efficient and cost effective districts, essentially to get more money in classrooms and pay teachers more. Please don't take my explanation as an endorsement, I am not sure where I stand. The Arizona Republic has this article in today's paper. When I first read about this it sounded like a good idea at least in theory. After reading the article today, I am not so sure... Teachers oppose it and parents from both poor and wealthier districts oppose it. It specifically talks about the Madison district, which is excellent and some of the poorer districts (Balz, Wilson, etc). Their reasoning seems quite sound. That is enough to give me pause.

Plus, why is the head of a financial company leading this effort? What expertise could he possible have when it comes to education? Can anyone out there shed more light on all of this? Do we really want greater efficiency at the cost of disrupting districts that are currently excelling?