Page 39 - The Edge - Fall 2018

public schools owned by public

Continued from page 37

In recent months, for-profit charter school owners have
taken advantage of this significant difference by selling
their schools’ land and buildings and personally reaping
potentially millions of dollars in gains. Yes, Arizona, that
is legal. But should it be? Does personal profit and self-
dealing have any place in the mission of public charter
schools going forward? It should not.
When tax dollars pay for the building of a public
highway, a state building, a city or county building, or
buildings in a traditional school district, the property
belongs to the public, not a private individual or
company. We need laws on the books now to ensure
that all prospective land, buildings and improvements
purchased with tax dollars – including those of charter
schools–are owned by the public. All dollars invested in
by the state should be to provide educational services for
Arizona students. Capitalism is not the issue, educational
investment priorities for Arizona’s future are.

Chuck Essigs is Director of Government Relations for the Arizona
Association of School Business Officials.

There’s More Purchasing
Power in the Partnership

Better Savings Enable Brighter Educations
We are proud to announce that National IPA and
U.S. Communities are now part of OMNIA Partners–the
nation’s largest purchasing organization in procurement
and supply chain management.
Together we connect thousands of educational
institutions and public agencies for combined
purchasing power. All contracts available through
OMNIA Partners Public Sector are competitively
solicited and publicly awarded by a lead agency
(government entity/educational institution), using
a competitive solicitation process consistent with
applicable procurement laws and regulations.
Visit www.NationalIPA.org and
www.USCommunities.org to learn more.

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FALL 2018 | THE EDGE 39