On Dec. 23, 2022, Kochs Off Campus! and allies emailed Governor Hobbs’s team, asking that she leave out of her proposed budget any dedicated funding for the “freedom schools” at our three public universities (UA, ASU, NAU). All of us Koch-fighters now have the pleasant duty of thanking Governor Hobbs for doing just that!

Under the Governor’s proposed budget, the millions lavished on the “freedom schools” for the past nine years will now go into the universities’ general operating funds instead (see link). More money for education, less for indoctrination!

This is a major breakthrough in our struggle against Koch influence in Arizona. So, please sign onto the thank-you letter accompanying this message (see right side of this page), and if you’re willing, circulate it on social media or via personal email to your friends.

The so-called “freedom schools” do not need or deserve help from Arizona taxpayers. They are amply funded by private donors and foundations in the Koch network.

The “freedom schools” advocate the elimination of state funding for both higher education and K-12. Not only is their goal of privatizing our public schools harmful to the Arizona public, but they are also being hypocritical when they accept state funding for themselves.

Dedicated State funding of the Freedom Center has allowed the Republican “Freedom Caucus” in the Arizona Legislature to influence hiring by the UA Philosophy Department. This is an unacceptable transgression of faculty governance and academic freedom.

Of course, Governor Hobbs’s bold move is not the end of the story, even for this current year. The “Freedom Caucus” may well put dedicated money for the “freedom schools” back into the final state budget this summer: Which is why our “thank-you” includes an important ask: namely, that the Governor exercise her line-item veto power to delete dedicated funding for the “freedom schools” and make it crystal-clear to the Republican majority in the legislature that she will do so.

So, stay tuned, and be prepared to be part of a push later this spring to finish the job that the Governor has begun.

Kochs Off Campus!