Governor Brewer appeared on KFYI radio this morning.  She explained her decision to veto the education portion of the state budget, saying that it would cost the state federal funding, including stimulus funds, if Arizona cuts too much from education.  She feels that a 1cent increase in the sales tax is necessary to increase funding for schools and for programs for the most vulnerable elements of our population.   Otherwise, we face having our state "decimated."

At one point, host Barry Markson asked the governor if she felt that offering tax credits for money given to charter schools was no longer practical given our budget crisis.  She replied that, to the contrary, anything the state can do to support students going to charter schools is beneficial since charter schools are much less expensive than public schools.

I have worked as a substitute teacher in four different school districts in the Phoenix area, and I strongly feel that attendance at one of our expensive public schools should be a privilege contingent upon good citizenship.  I have had much direct experience over a six year period with the very harmful impact disruptive students can have on a classroom.  The cost of enrolling those students in public school is bad enough--much worse is the cost in lost learning opportunities for students who are well-behaved and willing to learn. 

Another cost is teacher burn-out.  Constant struggling with difficult discipline problems is a major contributor to teachers leaving the profession after only a few years. 

It would immensely improve the learning environment if persistently misbehaving students were removed from the top-dollar public schools and enrolled in less expensive charter schools that emphasize structure and discipline.  Most especially, children who have affiliated themselves with criminal street gangs should not be allowed to "gang bang" in our state's public schools.  I feel that expelling the worst-behaved students from our public schools, perhaps about 10-20% of the total enrollment, would save the state a lot of money and vastly improve the quality of education for the good citizens who remain.

John Lyon