Mexicayotl Academy with locations in Nogales, and Tucson are ‘A’-rated, elementary schools, per the Arizona of Department of Education. The schools’ philosophy is based on a commitment to “Culture-Community Interculturalism-Social Justice.”
On Monday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced in his State of the State address that schools like Mexicayotl Academy will be able to “have new options to get more students through their doors through his proposed “Arizona Public School Achievement District” plan.
According to the Governor’s office, “Under this innovative plan, our state’s top public schools – schools that are at capacity and have waiting lists – would have new options to get more students through their doors,” through the creation of an “Arizona Public School Achievement District.”
Once part of the district, charter schools could apply for use of empty schools and empty classrooms, so they can expand.
The plan also includes an “Access Our Best Public Schools Fund,” which allows these public school new options to borrow so they can bring down their debt service costs and spend more money in the classroom, according to a statement released by the Governor’s office. These schools can also apply to become managing operators at schools that have been failing for three consecutive years.
“Our state has some great public schools,” referring to charter schools, “among the best in America, but unfortunately because of yesterday’s policies, many families are shut out of those schools,” said Governor Ducey. “They sit and wait, as their sons and daughters get another year older and their dreams of providing them with the best public education possible slip farther and farther away. This has gone on too long; I will not accept this inequality.”
Currently, there are nearly 400,000 empty seats in our public school system. Charters are handed out like Kleenex and with the emphasis on local control, as long as charter students meet and exceed the State’s low standards, the State has no control and little interest in the curriculum or pedagogy employed.
Opportunities in charter schools are wide-ranging. Just this September, Dr. “Cintli” Roberto Rodriguez, author of the X in La Raza, unofficially unveiled his new book, THE ANTS OF QUETZALCOATL: “Our Sacred Maiz is our Mother” at Mexicayotl Academy in Tucson. According to Cintli, he “taught 1st graders, and 2nd and 3rd graders, about the Nahuatl creation story of Maiz: “Quetzalcoatl, the ants and the Gift of maiz.” After teaching it to them, they extemporaneously performed it. It was awesome…”