🏫 Voucher Vultures: How Arizona's Education System Became a Fraud-Fest
Exposing the billion-dollar boondoggle of privatized education and phantom students. How corporate shortsightedness is bankrupting our future one disaster at a time
Based on the 1/14/25 Buckmaster show on KVOI-1030AM.
🙊 Notable quotes from the show
Education and Voucher Madness
"A couple from Colorado came up with all of these like 50 kids who were involved with applications to the ESA program, 43 of which were ghost kids, meaning they don't exist at all. And they had defrauded the program of at least $110,000 and would use it for their living expenses." - Dr. Dave Wells, exposing the voucher program's fraudulent underbelly.
"They simply just accept all expenses and pay them back for anything under $2,000 and expect the auditors to catch it later if there's any fraud." - Dr. Dave Wells, sarcastically highlighting bureaucratic incompetence.
"The graduation rate in Arizona has not improved over the last 15 or 20 years. We're still at about 78%—well below the national average." - Dr. Dave Wells, revealing the epic failure of educational "reform"
Climate and Economic Apocalypse
"Last year, we spent almost half a trillion dollars on stuff we shouldn't have had to spend it on." - Shelly Fishman, dropping a fiscal truth bomb about climate disaster costs.
"One way or another, this country has decided that drill baby drill is a better strategy, which means that we are not going to be able to control, lead the world into controlling climate change." - Shelly Fishman, eviscerating environmental short-sightedness.
"Housing insurance has become largely unaffordable or unavailable in large swaths of the country." - Shelly Fishman, highlighting the economic apocalypse of climate change.
Urban Survival and Hope
"These two motor courts have basically been preserved... and in between them is a four-story complex... [with] 16 units immediately available for senior citizens who have had the unfortunate circumstances of not having a place except the street to live on." - Kevin Dahl, showcasing municipal compassion
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." - Kevin Dahl, the municipal manifesto of pragmatic hope
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🌍🎭 Imagine a world where grown-ups are playing a weird game of political musical chairs, except the chairs are made of broken promises and leaky budgets. 💔💸 In Arizona, smart people are trying to expose how the system is basically falling apart—from schools losing money 📉 to ghost students 👻 (yes, really!) to the planet getting hotter 🔥 and water becoming more precious than gold 💧✨.
Local heroes like Dr. Dave Wells 🦸♂️ are calling out how the state is spending billions 💰 on school programs that don't actually help kids learn 📚❌, while financial wizard Shelly Fishman 🧙♀️ is revealing how climate change 🌡️ is basically sending a massive bill to everyone.
Meanwhile, city leaders like Kevin Dahl 🏙️ are turning abandoned motels 🏨 into homes for people who need help 🤝, proving that sometimes fixing big problems starts with small, creative solutions. 🛠️💡 It's like watching a group of determined superheroes 🦸♀️🦹♂️ trying to patch up a ship 🚢 that's slowly sinking—except the ship is our entire community ❤️, and the only life jackets are truth, creativity, and the stubborn belief that things can actually get better. 🌈💪✨
🗝️ Takeaways
🏫 Education Voucher Vortex
Arizona's universal school voucher program is a fiscal black hole, projected to devour nearly $1 billion in the next budget year
Fraudsters are literally creating "ghost kids" to siphon off educational funds, exposing the program's Swiss-cheese accountability
The state's graduation rate remains stuck at a pathetic 78%, proving that privatization is more about profit than actual learning
💧 Climate Crisis: The Water Werewolf
Arizona is staring down the barrel of persistent droughts that make Mad Max look like a pleasant picnic
Water conservation isn't just a strategy—it's now a survival mechanism in a landscape becoming increasingly hostile to human habitation
The state's water management is equivalent to using a colander to bail out the Titanic
💸 Capitalist Catastrophe Calculator
The U.S. is spending nearly HALF A TRILLION dollars annually on climate disaster cleanup—that's 25% of our gross national product going up in smoke (sometimes literally)
Insurance companies are ghosting entire regions, leaving communities as economic zombies
"Drill baby drill" isn't an energy policy—it's a suicide note for the planet
🏙️ Urban Survival: Turning Motels into Lifelines
Tucson is transforming abandoned motels into affordable housing, proving that municipal creativity can be a form of radical resistance
16 units for seniors facing homelessness isn't just housing—it's a middle finger to systemic neglect
Local government can be a scalpel of hope in the tumor of urban inequality
Voices of Resistance: Unpacking Arizona's Systemic Challenges on the Buckmaster Show
On a bone-chillingly cold Tuesday, January 14th, 2025, the Buckmaster Show transformed the airwaves of KVOI 1030 into a critical forum for dissecting Arizona's most pressing social and economic challenges.
Host Bill Buckmaster, a veteran of 37 years in Tucson media, orchestrated a symphony of insight featuring three powerhouse voices of local resistance:
Dr. Dave Wells from the Grand Canyon Institute,
Financial wizard Shelly Fishman,
and Tucson City Councilman Kevin Dahl.
🏫 Education Vouchers: The Privatization Pandora's Box
In the labyrinth of Arizona's educational funding, Dr. Dave Wells emerged as a truth-telling gladiator, exposing the voracious monster of universal school vouchers. The numbers are nothing short of fiscally apocalyptic:
"The governor says we're on track to have these vouchers cost nearly $1 billion in the next budget year," Wells warned, his voice dripping with a mixture of disbelief and righteous indignation.
But the real bombshell? A fraud scheme that reads like a dark comedy of capitalist excess.
"A couple from Colorado came up with all of these like 50 kids who were involved with applications to the ESA program, 43 of which were ghost kids, meaning they don't exist at all," Wells revealed.
These entrepreneurial fraudsters managed to swindle at least $110,000, exploiting a system more porous than a cheap colander.
The state's response?
A bureaucratic shrug that would make Kafka blush. As Wells sardonically noted, State Superintendent Tom Horn's solution was to "simply just accept all expenses and pay them back for anything under $2,000 and expect the auditors to catch it later if there's any fraud."
The deeper tragedy lurks in the educational outcomes.
"The graduation rate in Arizona has not improved over the last 15 or 20 years," Wells pointed out. "We're still at about 78%—well below the national average."
It's a damning indictment of a system more interested in privatization than actual education.
💧 Water Wars: Surviving the Climate Crisis Crucible
Wells painted a water narrative that's equal parts scientific warning and apocalyptic prophecy. Drawing a stark parallel with California's climate extremes, he warned, "We're going into an area where Arizona hasn't quite seen the level of extremes that California has, but we're going to be in persistent droughts."
The governor's response—designating the Wilcox area as a water management zone—is less a solution and more a desperate finger in the dyke. "We can't count on the snowfall in Colorado or other areas to maintain that," Wells emphasized.
The subtext is clear: climate change isn't coming; it's here, and it's thirsty.
💸 Economic Rollercoaster: Capitalism's Cruel Comedy
Shelly Fishman transformed economic analysis into a blistering critique of capitalist absurdity. The latest employment report became a stage for market madness.
"The markets went nuts in exactly the wrong way," she explained, "because they said, oh my gosh, the Fed is going to not reduce interest rates all through 2025."
But Fishman's most scathing commentary emerged when discussing climate change's economic toll. "Last year, we spent almost half a trillion dollars on stuff we shouldn't have had to spend it on," she revealed.
The cost of capitalist shortsightedness isn't just environmental—it's a massive economic hemorrhage that approaches 25% of the gross national product.
Her brutal assessment of the "drill baby drill" mentality cut to the bone: "One way or another this country has decided that drill baby drill is a better strategy, which means that we are not going to be able to control, lead the world into controlling climate change."
The result? We're paying astronomical prices for our collective denial.
The insurance landscape tells a similarly grim tale. "Housing insurance has become largely unaffordable or unavailable in large swaths of the country," Fishman noted. California's recent fires are just the latest chapter in a book of climate-induced economic destruction.
🏙️ Urban Survival: Tucson's Housing and Hope
Councilman Kevin Dahl offered a glimmer of hope amidst systemic challenges. The city's innovative approach to housing—transforming abandoned motels like the infamous No-Tel Motel into affordable housing—represents a creative resistance against urban inequality.
"These two motor courts have basically been preserved... and in between them is a four-story complex... [with] 16 units immediately available for senior citizens who have had the unfortunate circumstances of not having a place except the street to live on," Dahl explained.
This isn't just housing; it's a radical act of urban compassion. By repurposing forgotten spaces, Tucson is writing a new narrative of municipal care.
🗳️ Proposition 414: Democracy in the Details
Dahl passionately defended Proposition 414, a half-cent sales tax measure to fund critical city services.
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," he urged, highlighting the proposition's potential to fund essential social services and public safety initiatives.
His pragmatic approach acknowledges the system's limitations while refusing to surrender to cynicism. "If it loses, we won't be trying it again for a while," Dahl admitted, a stark reminder of the fragile nature of progressive municipal funding.
🌅 Conclusion: Resistance is Fertile
The Buckmaster Show provided a refreshing platform for nuanced, critical dialogue in a media landscape often dominated by corporate-sponsored amnesia. These voices—Wells, Fishman, and Dahl—aren't just commentators; they're architects of resistance, dismantling systemic failures one truth at a time.
They remind us that hope isn't passive. It's a verb. It's action. It's showing up, speaking truth, and refusing to let the machinery of indifference grind us down.
Stay radical. Stay informed. Stay human.
🕵️ People of Interest: Who's Who in Arizona's Political Circus
Primary Voices
Bill Buckmaster
37-year veteran of Tucson radio and TV
Host of the Buckmaster Show on KVOI 1030
Dr. Dave Wells
Research Director, Grand Canyon Institute
Non-partisan policy analyst
Memorable for his razor-sharp critiques of educational and fiscal policies
Memorable quote about the institute: "We'll continue to try to put out things to help people understand policy issues"
Shelly Fishman
Financial advisor and business consultant
Economic truth-teller
Brutally honest about capitalism's failures
Memorable for connecting economic policy to climate crisis
Kevin Dahl
Tucson City Council Member (Ward 3)
Former Vice Mayor
Background in conservation and environmental organizations
Memorable for innovative housing solutions
Political Figures Mentioned
Governor Katie Hobbs
Pushing for limits on universal school vouchers
Attempting to create water management strategies
Mentioned as taking a stand against runaway educational spending
Tom Horne
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Criticized for weak oversight of educational voucher programs
Hired an auditor to investigate potential fraud
Referenced as having a problematic track record on education
Attorney General Mayes
Briefly mentioned in context of educational voucher scrutiny
Limited information in the transcript
Contextual Mentions
Kari Lake (implied but not directly quoted)
Conservative political figure
Context suggests ongoing political tensions in Arizona politics
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