Would you teach 15 kids for $105,000 a year? Or 20 for $140,000? This novel idea may quickly become a reality—first in Arizona, and soon across the nation, as Goldwater Institute Director of Education Policy Matt Beienburg proposes in Discourse Magazine.
Under Arizona’s historic statewide expansion of its Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, every family has the choice to opt their child out of the public school system and receive instead roughly $7,000 per child, per year, to customize their child’s education style around their unique needs. “Add those funds from a few kids together, and the opportunity for ambitious and effective education becomes immense,” Beienburg writes.
Arizona public school teacher salaries average about $60,000, and the pay schedule almost exclusively rewards longevity over quality. But thanks to the ESA program, which the Goldwater Institute first created in the state more than a decade ago, a talented, entrepreneurial teacher operating independently could enroll a cohort of 20 pupils to directly earn up to $140,000. “If, as the winds appear to be blowing, more states follow suit in 2023 to establish similar ESA offerings, teachers and students throughout the country may soon find themselves empowered to succeed,” Beienburg adds.
Read more in Discourse Magazine.
When Marine veteran D’Andre Bradley wanted to defend his Chicago-area home and family, the Illinois government’s bureaucratic apparatus deprived him of his constitutional right to bear arms. But thanks to a Goldwater Institute lawsuit, the state will no longer be able to use excessive bureaucratic delays to stop law-abiding citizens like D’Andre from exercising their Second Amendment rights, Goldwater Institute Vice President for Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur and Communications Manager Joe Setyon write in Townhall.
Illinois bureaucrats have routinely ignored a state law mandate that requires the government to grant or deny gun permit applications within 30 days. “Yet the onerous bureaucratic logjam doesn’t stop criminal elements from getting their hands on firearms,” Sandefur and Setyon write. After the Goldwater Institute sued, the state agreed to ramp up its processing system and clear the backlog. Illinoisans will now be able to better defend themselves—not languish at the mercy of a bloated bureaucracy.
“Endless delays and refusal to process applications can too easily equate to a denial of the underlying right,” Sandefur and Setyon add. That’s what was happening in Illinois with the right to bear arms. But no longer—thanks to the Goldwater Institute.
Read the rest of the op-ed at Townhall.
Celebrate Arizona’s huge wins for education freedom with Governor Doug Ducey on Tuesday, October 25, in Phoenix!
Arizona is leading the way in freeing families from a woke public school bureaucracy, teachers unions’ special interests, and a one-size-fits-all education system that puts students last. Join the Goldwater Institute and the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday starting at 9:30 am at the Biltmore Phoenix hotel for a free event celebrating Arizona’s impressive #2 ranking out of all 50 states in the Heritage Foundation’s first annual Education Freedom Report Card.
You’ll hear from speakers including Governor Ducey, as well as Goldwater Institute Director of Education Policy Matt Beienburg and Senior Fellow Jonathan Butcher. We’ll delve into the rankings, discussing Arizona’s universal school choice expansion and the Goldwater Institute’s landmark academic transparency legislation, and exploring what policy reforms the state can pursue to win the top spot in next year’s rankings.
Registration is free, and lunch is provided! Register here, and use invitation code “EDI.”
The Goldwater Institute is calling on Arizona voters to support Proposition 132, a ballot initiative that will require a 60 percent majority vote before any tax increases are approved at the ballot. As Americans for Tax Reform President and Goldwater Institute Board Member Grover Norquist writes in the Daily Caller, “This will protect Arizona taxpayers from initiatives funded by rich liberals in California to increase Arizona taxes.”
While the Arizona Legislature must already have a two-thirds majority to raise your taxes, special interests can raise taxes at the ballot box with a simple majority. Arizonans can close that tax hike loophole by supporting Prop 132, which extends the two-thirds rule to ballot initiatives.
Learn more about why Arizonans should vote “yes” on Prop 132 here, and find out where the Goldwater Institute stands on other 2022 Arizona ballot measures here.
