Among the titles in the local newspaper this morning two caught my eyes. (Usually I simply avert my eyes when opening the paper so that I can better prepare myself for the shock.) The first was “Brewer seeks to revamp school funding”1 and “Decapitated body found near Tucson Mountains”. My keen sense of synchronicity instantly recognized the inherent connection.

The gist of the first article was that Gov-Ignore Education Brewer was seeking to funnel more funds into private and parochial schools. The announcement coming fast upon the heels of the ruling in favor of Super-Intend-To-Dismantle Public Education Hup-Hup-Huppenthal (he marches to the sound of a distant Horne) did not surprise me. The rapidity of the renewal of their blatant attack on public education did sort of cause me to catch my breath.

These people are without shame or any sense embarrassment. They openly pursue their campaign to privatize education and make it more lucrative for those who indulge in the industry. In Aridzona can you become a teacher of children with no other credentials than that someone, somewhere in the building possesses them. Since we are also a Right-To-Work (and thereby Right-To-Remain-Poor) state, new schools, coming to a mall near you will be able to pay whatever they want to to potential ‘teachers’ and no one will care.

It is not an example of supreme irony that the number one contributor to many of the campaigns of Democratic candidates for elections are the local, state or national teacher associations. Weakening public education strengthens the Republicans in the legislature.

The other article is about a headless corpse found near the Tucson Mountains. My guess is that the body is the epitome of public education because actions by our less-gislature and Govignore have long sought to decapitate that institution.

I am tired. I have fought for public education and educators for over thirty years now. I would like to devote my time to playing with my grandchildren. I would like to leave the fighting to someone younger, someone with more energy but I can no more ignore this kind of despicable assault on the profession I love than I could ignore an attack on my family. Brewer, Huppenthal and Horne are enemies of public education, they have made that intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers and I cannot stand idly by and let them destroy the system that educated me, my children and the one I hope will be around to educate my grandchildren.

I can suggest where Govignore Brewer can find some more headless bodies though. I know it was a key issue supporting her border policies; those headless corpses in the desert. Well, I think I have found three more in Phoenix.

1 Az Daily Star, StarNet Newsletter 01/07/12