Top Lobbyist Recorded on Tape Admitting Real Goal of School Vouchers To Shift Taxpayer Money to Enrich Private Schools
One of Arizona’s most powerful lobbyists has been caught on tape saying Arizona’s school voucher program should come with as little student accountability as possible, and telling private-school operators how they can benefit from the program that uses taxpayer dollars. Cathi Herrod is a lobbyist for Center for Arizona Policy and is close to Governor Doug Ducey.
Below is the statement from ProgressNow Arizona:
This recording shows the true motivation behind Arizona’s school voucher program. It was never meant to actually help students or give them better school choices, but about maximizing personal profit and eliminating accountability and oversight. These people do not care about the wellbeing of our school children. They simply see them as dollar signs. The school voucher program has been supported and pushed by Governor Doug Ducey and has a history of corruption and no transparency. All while our teachers and public schools are starved for funding, and our legislators and governor continue to take from our schools and give more tax cuts to corporations. It is appalling to see the greed of this lobbyist and private school operators as they scheme about how much more money they can drain from taxpayers for their own pockets. And this is all happening with Governor Doug Ducey’s support. Arizona taxpayers deserve to know how this program is wasting their tax dollars. It’s time we have real accountability and transparency with Ducey’s school voucher program.