Pastor Anderson from Democrats for School Choice spoke with us about the new school choice bill and what to do to protect it from the assault of the teachers unions. Video in article.
Anderson had given testimony in the Arizona House in support of HB2853 which expands Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, ESA, worth ~$7,000 per year to all Arizona K-12 students. Anderson spoke with us after Governor Doug Ducey had signed the bill into law. The school choice bill is currently under assault from public school teachers union aligned SOS PAC.
What's your statement to those who try to kill this school choice/voucher bill with the veto referendum?
I would pray that no one would try to veto this bill, because this bill is going to be life changing for millions of kids to go forward. No matter if it's public, private, charter or home school, as long as it's not prison, kids are winning. Let's stop being so concerned with where kids go to school and just be concerned that they do go to school.
What if enemies of school choice do end up getting enough signatures to get a veto referendum on the ballot, suspending the law? How will you fight to make sure the school choice bill remains?
If they do get enough signatures to get this to the ballot, I will work tirelessly with every pastor, every leader in Arizona to make sure that that the voice of the people is heard. 75% of all African Americans and Hispanics that were polled are supporting school choice. We need school choice so we will fight tirelessly till the end to make sure that it happens.
Some extremists say that school choice is really white people fleeing public schools to get away from the black students. What's your response?
Right now there are some public schools in Arizona that are over 90% white and nobody complains about that. So why would anybody complain about a private school being 90% white? What I know for a fact is that men lie, women lie, but numbers don't. The numbers say that whenever a kid gets a good education that kid will go off and have a good life. I don't care where they go to school I just care that they do go to school. School choice is not for the rich kids to get free private school. It's not to help racist kids stick together. School choice is about every kid waking up and having an opportunity to be properly educated and not properly incarcerated.