Since fiscal year 2008, Republicans in the Arizona
Legislature have shifted state funding away from education and toward the
Department of Corrections, which oversees the operations of for-profit, private
prisons.
A recent analysis by Children’s Action Alliance[1]
showed that spending for K-12 education, community colleges, and universities
has been on a plummeting trajectory since 2008. During the same time frame,
state spending on corrections has jumped by 33 percent.
This trend is, in part, the result of misguided Republican
priorities. Republican leaders continue to invest in private
prisons, which may
not be saving the state money, while divesting from public education. This
seems to indicate they are playing favorites with private prisons.
These choices look like they are already affecting the
state’s economy. Arizona’s
job market is the third worst in the country. Recently, the state’s
unemployment rate increased to 6.1
percent, while national unemployment remained at 5.3 percent.
Arizona has yet to recover all the jobs lost during the
Great Recession,[2],[3]and
we are losing out on opportunities because Republicans are funding incarceration
instead of education. The Phoenix Business Journal recently reported that
businesses
are avoiding the state because of its “reputation on education.” Two
companies decided not to relocate to Phoenix because “they
were afraid they would not find good schools for their own children.”
#AskDuceyWhy he and other Republicans in Arizona are
prioritizing for-profit, private prisons over our schools.
#EducationNotIncarceration.
