Local Opinion: Ducey's big lie on benefits of private education

Gov. Doug Ducey’s justification for allowing any student in Arizona to attend a private school is a major insult to public schools and shows an elitist attitude toward private schools that is far right of reality.

The Arizona Daily Star quoted Ducey as saying “Every family in Arizona should have access to a high-quality education with dedicated teachers. This is a win for all K-12 students.”

As someone who has just finished her 49th year in public education, I agree with Ducey that every family should have access to high-quality education with dedicated teachers. The implied message in his statement is that private schools succeed in this endeavor while public schools do not. And that is just not true.

One of my responsibilities as a grant director in a public district is to oversee the expenditure of federal funds provided to private schools within our boundaries. I will attest that private schools have dedicated teachers and administrators who share the values and aspirations of the public schools that surround them. We all want the same thing: to educate students to be self-reliant, strong thinkers, who contribute to society in a positive way and who leave our campuses with the skills and ability to be successful in college or careers.

To imply that private schools are in some way inherently more adept at this than public schools is an injustice to those who valiantly strive to serve all students, regardless of their religious affiliation, ability to score high on an entrance exam, their physical or mental challenges, or the capability of their parents to provide volunteer hours and financial support beyond the tuition payment. In regards to the tuition payment, many of those who attend a private school are already doing so tuition-free or at low cost, thanks to existing tax credits paid by those who reduce their state tax obligation by contribution to that private school.

There are excellent private schools in Arizona and there are excellent public schools. There are private schools that employ inept teachers and there are public schools that, due to the teacher shortage, employ less-than-desirable teachers. There are families who have children who thrive at a private school and those who have children who thrive in a public school. I know families where one or more children go to a private school and the others to a public school.

Ducey said “Our kids will no longer be locked in underperforming schools.” How would he know that a given private school is not underperforming? The assessments that rule how a public school operates are not the same for private schools. The playing field is totally uneven. Placing a student from a low-performing school, especially those in rural areas with a high poverty rate, in a private school is not a guarantee that the student is going to excel.

Those trying to educate each and all in rural, high-minority, high-poverty areas are going to lose funding to private schools that face the very same challenges in educating, minus the myriad mandates handed down to public schools. Most private schools struggle to get highly qualified teachers in all subject areas because those educators are in such short supply and teaching salaries at both private and public schools are woefully low compared to other professions.

The only aspect of Ducey’s ploy to support education in Arizona for all students with value is his statement “Every family in Arizona should have access to a high-quality education with dedicated teachers.” If every Arizona public school was funded at the same national level as those in the top 25%, instead of at the very bottom, that might actually happen without siphoning funds to private schools.