On Friday, @sos_arizona declared a “historic victory.”
But by Monday, SOS was conceding defeat.
What happened? The parent-led #DeclineToSign movement thwarted SOS's attempts to block the expansion of education choice, then SOS torched their credibility at a press conference. 1/
SOS claimed they handed in 142K signatures to put the Empowerment Scholarship Account expansion on the ballot. They needed 119K.
But according to a tally by @GoldwaterInst & @azpolicy, SOS actually turned in fewer than 90K. 2/
That's not only significantly less than they needed, it's less than they got for a similar referendum in 2018.
What happened? Parent power. 3/
“If SOS showed up to gather signatures, there was a #DeclineToSign parent volunteer also there,” said @grantbotma, a father of 3 from Gilbert. “The energy and effort that these pro-ESA parents put forth helped properly educate our community to limit SOS petition signatures.” 4/
@AzESASpEdMom, a mom of four ESA students from Wittmann, said that hen she was done speaking with voters, “The only signing they wanted to do was to sign up for an Empowerment Scholarship Account.” 5/
Unable to gather enough signatures, SOS either bungled the math badly or attempted a bold strategy: claim to have 50K signatures more than they really did, even though the truth would soon be revealed. 6/
Whether incompetence or malfeasance, SOS now has the credibility of a $3 bill. All that's left is for AZ Sec. of State @katiehobbs to certify SOS's insufficient number of signatures. That should have happened already, but she appears to be dragging her feet. 7/
It should not take long. As AZ Sen President @FannKfann noted, the Sec of State's office “relies on signature-review software to automate petition signature counting.” 9/
AZ House Majority Leader @RepBenToma also called on @SecretaryHobbs to expedite the process. Families are waiting unnecessarily to get their kids a better education due to SOS's chicanery! 10/
The parents who fought to protect the ability of all AZ families to exercise ed choice should take a bow. This victory is theirs. It's also a lesson to special interests & politicians nationwide who want to come between parents & their kids' future. 11/11
So-called "Save Our Schools" declared victory today, but their victory is ringing hollow. A 🧵 1/7 dailysignal.com/2022/09/23/app…
Beth Lewis, executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona put on her best game face today as she announced that SOS has gathered enough signatures to put the recent expansion of AZ’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program on the ballot. But she doesn't look happy. 2/7
She shouldn't be. SOS needs about 119K valid signatures to refer the ESA expansion to the ballot.
"Valid" is the key word. They only got 142K signatures and the average validity rate is 75%, which would require 150K. They'll need a validity rate of about 84%. 3/7
Earlier this week, the NY Times launched an assault on Hasidic yeshivas, claiming they leave students unprepared to earn a living.
They relied only on anecdote and innuendo to make their case but provided no data. That's because the data paint a very different story. A 🧵1/
The NYT piece was timed to influence a Board of Regents vote to regulate *all* NY private schools. Despite 350,000 public comments overwhelmingly opposed to the regulations, the Regents voted unanimously to adopt them. There was no debate. 2/ washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-ne…
The pretext for regulation is public funding. The NYT headline claims the yeshivas are "flush with public money" raking in $1 billion over 4 years.
But the schools they're focused on serve 50,000 kids, so that's only $5,000 per pupil. The public schools spend $31K per pupil. 3/
Yesterday's SCOTUS decision in Carson v. Makin was rightly decided but not revolutionary. Indeed, the justices themselves emphasized how "unremarkable" it was, given that it flowed directly from the logic of the Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza decisions. 1/
The core of the decision was this line from Espinoza: "A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious."
Yesterday, SCOTUS merely said, "Yes, we really meant that." 2/
As Justice Gorsuch made clear in prior concurrences, the "religious status vs. use" distinction is meaningless. The minority essentially said, "You can be whatever religion you want so long as you aren't religious in the public square." The majority rightly rejected that. 3/
No word about how the public schools down the street are doing. How many former students from those schools regularly get NYDN and NYT op-eds calling for a massive overhaul because of the failure of the system?
For those who want to know what's actually going on in Haredi schools, listen to my interview of Dr. Moshe Krakowski, who has spent years studying the schools.
"Education is the one great equalizer that can provide the best way out of a bad situation — it was for me and I know that this is especially true for our low-income and minority children." - Rev. Drew Anderson
Rev. Anderson cites a recent poll showing that 75% of Arizonans support #SchoolChoice, noting:
"The poll shows that minorities and Democrats, of which I am both, support school choice and ESAs even more so than Caucasians and Republicans."
#SchoolChoice is especially important for kids who fell behind due to COVID. As Rev. Anderson wrote:
"People of all parties & races support low-income & Black & brown students (who are now about 12 months behind their white counterparts) receiving the help they desperately need"