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Democratic State Senator Steve Gallardo was none to pleased when he saw some Republican House members were keeping pictures of Latino kids on their desks, symbols of the state’s school-choice program.
Gallardo told New Times yesterday it was “insulting” for these House Republicans to have the pictures up, as he claimed — among other things — that the school-choice program isn’t actually too beneficial for needy Latino kids.
“The fact is that [Arizona’s Republican legislators] have done more to hurt the Hispanic community in last 10 years than any other group of elected officials,” Gallardo said.
Republican State Representative Steve Montenegro, on the other hand, said most of the kids who benefit from the program are Latinos.
Gallardo maintains that if Republican legislators were serious about educating Latino kids, they’d pass the DREAM Act, all-day kindergarten, and put more funding toward public education in general.
Gallardo also responded with the following comment on yesterday’s post:
Rep. Montenegro and his Republican friends have gone out of their way to ensure that public education fails Latino students. Now they play the race card in order to divert public dollars to private school profiteers. They look at Latino children as nothing more than a tax dollar to stuff in their greedy pockets. Montenegro should be ashamed at the way he allows profiteers to use him as a spokesman.
With some apparent fundamental differences over how to get Arizona’s Latino kids to college, is it actually “insulting” for some Republican state representatives to keep the pictures of the youngsters on their desks?
Cast your vote below:
