Letters to the Editor: Jan. 20

As state-mandated testing in public schools looms, I would like to know where tax dollars diverted to vouchers and tuition support organizations (TSOs) are going, what academic standards are being set for the “alternate” educational institutions, and if they will administer standard state and federal tests and report the results.

I would also like to know who the principals are in these non-public educational institutions and the benefits they receive. School vouchers and TSOs will siphon off millions of tax dollars from public schools with little or no accounting for the funds. The 10% “administration” fee allowed to TSOs is ripe for fraud as are salaries and benefits paid to “not-for-profit school” administrators.

Arizona Republicans seem to be proud to be in the bottom five states in the country in per-pupil spending and now wish to spend more of those limited dollars on non-public education with little or no oversight.

Todd Ackerman

Foothills

Stuck with the bill

Re: the Dec. 30 letter “The border.”

Gov. Doug Ducey misappropriated state funds. The state approved funds to erect a border security barrier, but tens of millions have been spent on transporting, placing, and then removing shipping containers that do not constitute border security barriers. Additionally, the Ducey administration bypassed the normal process of seeking bids when selecting a contractor. The governor then hired a private attorney with state funds, also an inappropriate use of state funds. There is no proof that the shipping containers stopped any migrants from illegally crossing, as admitted by a Ducey spokesperson who is quoted as saying, “We don’t know what we stopped.’’ Regretfully, Arizona will still be paying the bills for Ducey’s inappropriate behavior for years to come.

Regina O’Hare

Marana

Accomplishments

President Biden has been in office for more than two years and his greatest accomplishment is reducing the standard of living of low- and middle-class United States citizens. He should brag about that because he has been very effective in driving the economy to this state. It appears he and his administration have no sense of how to alleviate this situation and are deaf to our plight. The way this nation is going, we will have an economy similar to Venezuela in short order.

Loyal M. Johnson Jr.

Oro Valley

Ignored topics

I enjoy reading the Star every day. There are many topics that, unfortunately, many people seem to ignore. The subject of mishandling classified papers by the last two administrations, or presidents, has been against federal law and in my opinion, they should be held accountable. Accountability is a huge problem in Washington. Those who are convicted of certain high crimes should never be granted pardons. Both Trump and Biden have not handled classified papers with honor. No president or other lawmaker should ever be allowed to remove classified papers. Papers are the property of the people, not the president. I will never vote for either Donald Trump or President Biden for any office. Presidential pardons have been too often strictly politically motivated. This, along with signings, has been greatly overused and often for the wrong reasons.

I hope that this message reaches legislators in Washington. Years ago, I read that letters to the editor are read by many politicians.

Doug Morris

Foothills

Well done, governor

Re: the Dec 30 article “Ducey’s leadership reshaped the state.”

Sure enough, when I looked at a new version of the U.S. map, I saw that Arizona had been re-drawn into the shape of a dunce cap.

Alan Doan

SaddleBrooke

Immigration

I believe everyone should have the opportunity to improve their life. The U.S. has set up laws that govern how someone from another country can legally enter the U.S. Many are from different cultures and how they lived and the lifestyle they accepted in their country may not be compatible and accepted by the citizens of the U.S. So you need to ask the question, do we try to bring them up to our standards of living? Or will citizens of the U.S. be forced to lower their standards and hope we can meet in the middle? Most of the people crossing our borders illegally fit into a Third World culture. The government should understand many who enter our country illegally will bring their culture and acceptable standards of living with them. Allow enough to enter and there may be a time the U.S. is considered a Third-World country.

Thomas Fletcher

Southwest side

New bridge is a bad deal

I love my neighborhood in Arroyo Chico. In midtown, it may seem a distance from downtown, but it’s a short 3-minute drive thanks to the easy access at 22nd onto Aviation. Recently, the City decided to build a new bridge at 22nd that increases traffic lanes, destroys any realistic pedestrian crossing over Aviation, and completely eliminates access to Aviation from 22nd. Yes, you won’t be able to get into Aviation at 22nd if this bridge is built. Once again, don’t start major projects without getting feedback from the neighborhoods that are going to be affected! We want to keep neighborhood access onto Aviation! We want safe pedestrian and bicycle crossings over the large bridge! We want Tucson to follow the guidelines established for growth and development that puts community, equity, and safety first.

Chrysta Faye

Midtown

Censorship proposal shows failure

The censorship law some congressional representatives have proposed is an admission of failure. If they had any arguments, facts or logic to support their position, they would fight falsehood with truth. But they are not on the side of truth. They are not on the side of honesty. They are not on the side of the free and open dissemination of ideas the founders found necessary to government of the people, for the people and by the people. If they were, they wouldn’t need censorship. No. These people advocating new censorship laws in Congress hate freedom. They have no plausible arguments for their positions because their political ideology is a religious faith, rather than a reasoned argument. “You can’t question the vaccine, just take it,” they say. “You can’t question the war, just pay for it,” they say. If you won’t, well you’re a bad person. This is not how our republic is supposed to work. Only a person making an invalid argument needs to censor the opposing viewpoint.

Mark Bernheisel

East side

Border blaming

When I recently heard Juan Ciscomani on public radio, I first considered that he may be more thoughtful than I’d previously felt. Quickly, though, he veered into President Biden’s border crisis as if asylum seekers had congregated there solely due to who our president happens to be. Meanwhile, my local pharmacy closed because its two pharmacists quit, an acquaintance’s three appointments for an oil change were canceled due to no employees to do the job, and hospital nurse shortages are commonplace. All this as Venezuelan pharmacists, Cuban mechanics, Haitian nurses wait to make their livelihoods amongst us.

Granted, I’ve been elected to nothing. I have no solution to anything of current importance. However, I do know that blaming isn’t the answer. That is, if the goal is to solve the problem.

Dinosaurs survived here for millions of years. Will we humans last a fraction of their time without imploding on ourselves? If not, at least with our dying breaths, we’ll find someone to blame.

Betsy Lubis

Midtown