The Arizona legislature will fund what they care about MOST. We believe they should care more about K-12 education than private interests. The $7.5 million in the 2019 budget for the ASU School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership (SCETL) and the UA Center for the Philosophy of Freedom (Freedom Center) should go to K-12 education.

Demand the Arizona Legislature fund K-12 programs instead of private interests.

Arizona’s public K-12 schools desperately need much more money from our state legislature. But what do we see instead? A legislature that spends millions of our tax dollars on state university programs that serve the private interests of the Kochs and their donor network and greatly increase Koch influence on university curricula, hiring, and research – an influence that is now spreading into our public high schools as well.

Join us in demanding better for Arizona!

The Kochs and their allies are declared enemies of public education at all levels, from kindergarten to postgraduate. It is the responsibility of our representatives to focus on increasing the pay and resources of our state’s K-12 teachers instead of using our tax dollars to subsidize university programs that advocate an anti-public education agenda.

Further Background:

SCETL and the Freedom Center are two of nearly 500 academic centers and programs around the U.S. that were set up by the political donor network coordinated by Charles and David Koch. The purpose of these university programs is to produce research that will bolster the Kochs’ anti-public services agenda. In Arizona, the Kochs have also sued to thwart “Save Our Schools” and keep Prop. 305 off the ballot this fall.

ASU School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership: Founded in 2016 as part of a $5 million legislative appropriation for "freedom schools" at Arizona universities, SCETL combined two existing Koch-sponsored centers: the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty and the Center for Political Thought and Leadership. Since ASU already had many units that explore political thought, economics, history, and philosophy, SCETL has enrolled fewer than 125 students this year despite receiving millions in state support. At a time when our K-12 classrooms are overcrowded and lack supplies, SCETL teaches to nearly empty rooms and spent $500,000 in state money on rare books. The Center for the Study of Economic Liberty website features an interview entitled, "The Demise of Government Schools." Ideas like this, which gain legitimacy through their association with a public university, are then used by the Koch-sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to create model laws in states across the country.

UA Freedom Center: Established in 2008 with millions of dollars in donations from Charles Koch and the Kendricks, the UA Freedom Center has introduced a biased textbook into Arizona high schools, and it supports research attacking public education. It has continued to receive large donations from Koch, the Kendricks, and other pro-privatization entities. Since 2016, the bulk of its funding has come from dedicated line items in the Arizona State budget.