Letters to the Editor: Feb. 9

The 2023 Empowerment Scholarship Account Program’s first quarter report was recently released, and I am perplexed. It states the average award was $11,332.11 per student. Public schools received $8,770 per student. Why is ESA so much more costly than public education? The report also states 4,665 students each received “$30,000+.” What does $30,000+ mean? What “school expenses” are my taxes paying for? And why has the list of “approved purchases” been removed from the website?

The ESA report touted a 98% application approval rate. According to Superintendent Tom Horne, two staff members processed 25,000 applications in one day, which means each “scrutinized” 26 applications per minute during their eight-hour workday. Is Horne on a quest to grant every single application rather than having them properly vetted?

The ESA is estimated to cost almost $400 million this school year, well exceeding the amount appropriated by the Legislature. As taxpayers, we should know where our money is going.

Jean Meconi

North side

A million trees?

Mayor Romero must be suffering from a severe case of botanical myopia. Does she know that we live in a desert and are running out of water? Even if each tree only required one gallon of water per day, it would amount to a million gallons. I suggest that the city pay more attention to the trees it already has, many of which are heavily infested with mistletoe, a parasite that will eventually kill them.

Gerry Maggiora

Foothills

Making Southern Arizona proud

Southern Arizona should be proud that our U.S. representative for CD6, Juan Ciscomani, was asked to speak in Spanish following President Biden’s State of the Union address.

Rep. Ciscomani has repeatedly touted his hope and belief in the American Dream. Yet one of the first votes he took on Feb. 2, as per his website, was “denouncing the horrors of socialism.” Many in his party have called the Affordable Care Act an act of socialism and have tried numerous times to eliminate or repeal this program. The ACA has insured thousands of Arizonans and their children. Is Rep. Ciscomani’s dream to deny children health care? To deny them the chance to grow up to be healthy and productive citizens?

Fran McNeely

Northeast side

Counting votes

State Sen. John Kavanagh proposes a man vs. machine contest to settle, once and for all, whether hand counting is a reliable way to run elections. Good idea?

Thought experiment. Imagine that hand counting had been mandated for the 2022 election. Now imagine that Kari Lake and Mark Finchem had lost. What would those two be saying now? It was a fraud! Democrat vote counters conspired to bias the tallies. They snuck in fake ballots. We have photos.

The root of today’s election controversies isn’t vote-counting methods. It’s the habit of some politicians to lie, continually and shamelessly, to achieve status and power and the willingness of their followers to believe the lies, no matter how absurd or ridiculous those lies may be.

Suppose Sen. Kavanagh’s test demonstrates the inferiority of hand counting. Would these individuals believe it? They’ve abandoned evidence and logic. Could we expect them to be swayed by evidence or logic this time?

David Lazaroff

East side

Safer Tucson streets

Re: the Feb. 6 letter “I drive the speed limit and so can you.”

Thank you to the letter writer for the confession about driving the speed limit. I also have a confession; I take a certain amount of pleasure in driving the speed limit as reckless motorists blow past me, while they lurk directly behind other vehicles, swerve frantically through traffic, pass on the right without signaling and generally drive like maniacs. Invariably, I catch them at a red light (unless they run it, which I do see daily). They never learn.

Reckless drivers kill a lot of people in Tucson. I read about deaths on our streets almost daily. Many involve impairment or jaywalking; for the vast majority, speed is cited as a factor.

I was in an intersection last week waiting to turn left as the car approaching blasted through the new red-not even yellow turning red light. The policeman directly behind the offending vehicle ignored the blatant high-risk behavior. Perhaps our pedestrians, cyclists and fellow motorists would be safer if extreme driving violations were more rigorously policed and prosecuted.

Christopher Rodarte

Midtown

A free society is all that’s needed

Re: the Feb. 7 letter “Private education all that’s needed.”

What is important in a free society is an educated public, exposed to diverse ideas to free and protect it from pre-defined channels of thought that tend to result in limited thinking. With a concept of “private” goes an easy decision to restrict (like, does that next new thought fit into our pre-ordained set of ideas) and that’s not education.

Citizens certainly have the right to express their preferences. That’s why we have a democracy (and that’s why un-manipulated voting is so important!). We also have a government carefully established to ensure a platform for those diverse ideas unencumbered with a need to respond to any limited set of ideas. We elect that government and establish rules for its conduct to protect our freedoms, but not all our perceived prerogatives.

The letter writer’s view that “government equals force” incorrectly overlays government’s real role to further “the public good”; and that’s absolutely vital to a democracy. I believe public education is the public’s answer to private prerogatives and limited thinking.

Frank Parsons

Northeast side

State of the Union

I watched our president address our country on Feb. 8. I was very happy to see that he commented on all the great things that have been accomplished due to cooperating between Republicans and Democrats and that we can work together, that’s wonderful!

Ordinary citizens elect “officials” to help solve “our” problems.” The problem is that the U.S. Congress cannot work for ordinary U.S. citizens. Such a shame our representatives in the entire Congress cannot understand they work for us! We don’t always get what we want but there is so much that all Americans want, whether it’s your party you align with. We all want to cross the finish line and work with all American ideas and opportunities. We need to work together to keep our country strong.

Mary Beth Schneider

East side

Restoring pride in America

I just finished watching the State of the Union address given by President Biden and I am so comforted and relieved to hear a competent, caring, hardworking president who displays decorum, while offering a vision for the America I remember before the “trumping” of all protocols and respect that is/was inherent to the Office of the President and therefore, our country.

I feel confident that despite our differences, the president sets the tone for how this country is governed. President Biden, thank you from the bottom of my American heart for restoring my faith in our system of government. We may have differences of opinion, but we can respectfully and successfully govern by working together and coming to a consensus on most issues if we keep one thing in mind: An America united prevails, an America divided falls. Thank you for restoring my faith in our country, Mr. President.

Terri Hicks

Northwest side