Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, running for Arizona’s highest office, released an education plan that bashes school vouchers and calls for tighter restrictions on charter schools.
“Katie continues to oppose the universal expansion of school vouchers. As governor, she will work to roll back universal vouchers, which the legislature enacted against the will of voters this year,” according to the plan. “Vouchers should not have been expanded to provide an unaccountable means of enriching private schools and defunding our local public schools.”
Republicans across the country have pushed for school choice, which allows children to attend private schools instead of their local public school district.
But Hobbs, who herself attended a private high school, plans to deny that opportunity to Arizona’s youth.
“Arizona taxpayers must have more visibility into the finances of charter school operators to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used to educate students, not generate profits,” her plan says.
The secretary of state, running against Republican firebrand Kari Lake, accused charter schools of misusing their funds, claiming that they “line their pocketbooks by diverting public education funding into for-profit companies or personal investments.”
“Katie will require charter schools to participate in the auditor general’s annual classroom spending report,” the plan says.
Hobbs’ children currently attend charter schools.
Lake is gaining momentum on news that Hobbs has refused to debate her, as the pair polls at a statistical tie.
Emerson College last week released a poll showing that the hotly contested gubernatorial race is tied at 46 percent for each candidate, with 6 percent undecided and 2 percent saying they will vote for someone else.
That poll was conducted between September 6 and 7 among 627 “very likely general election voters.” According to Emerson, the data were weighted “by gender, age, education, race, party affiliation, and region.”
The margin of error for the poll is 3.85 percent.
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Background Photo “Classroom” by Wokandapix.
