YIKES: @KrisMayes pledges to get rid of golf courses if re-elected: "We have way, way too much grass in Arizona. We probably frankly — and I'm sure the golf industry is not going to like this when I say this — we probably have too many golf courses in Arizona right now." #AZAG

NEW: Kathy Hochul just chose kids over the teachers' unions. Teachers' unions waged a fierce campaign to keep New York out of the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, which allows people to make tax-deductible contributions that will go to scholarships for New York students. Hochul’s announcement makes New York the 31st state to opt in. She is the second Democratic governor to do so. Hochul deserves credit for holding firm against teachers' unions and their allies. We should hope other blue-state governors will demonstrate the same courage. Via @dany_egorov city-journal.org/article/fed…

$6.25 billion. 25 million children. $250 each. Susan and I believe the smartest investment we can make is in children. That’s why we’re so excited to contribute $6.25 billion from our charitable funds to help 25 million children start building a strong financial foundation through Invest America. 💪📈🇺🇸 onedell.com/investamerica/

$6.25 billion. 25 million children. $250 each. Susan and I believe the smartest investment we can make is in children. That’s why we’re so excited to contribute $6.25 billion from our charitable funds to help 25 million children start building a strong financial foundation through Invest America. 💪📈🇺🇸 onedell.com/investamerica/

I’m seeing activists toss around numbers saying districts will lose 5% enrollment due to the federal tax credit. Nothing in the research record—even in the case against vouchers—supports this. On the one hand, let’s stipulate that there’s no acceptable voucher-induced public school enrollment loss. On the other hand, what actually happens is very small per district. The median voucher-induced enrollment loss by district is something like 0.5%. My financial criticism of state vouchers has been based on the state budget impact of new costs—not mass exodus from public schools (which doesn’t happen). This is precisely why vouchers cost *states* so much money—they’re new costs to states that have to pick up the tab for kids *who were never in public school in the first place.* And the federal credit does not affect state budgets. We don’t know what the FSTC will do to public school enrollment but there’s no reason to believe it would somehow exceed, several times over, even the worst universal state voucher system. Especially when, unlike state vouchers, kids can stay in public school to use the federal version at their districts for their own needs.

Told ya. And this is why I said ‘no’ this boondoggle months ago. Public funds should go to public schools. Simple as that.  washingtonpost.com/education…