Tucson’s largest school district won’t offer Philosophy 101, the controversial economics class with ties to the Koch network, at its high schools this year.
The course slipped into several TUSD schools two years ago, unapproved and unvetted, then was nixed in the middle of last school year when auditors discovered that the Governing Board hadn’t ever approved the course.
The Tucson Unified Governing Board on Tuesday was scheduled to revisit offering the course, which was developed through the University of Arizona’s Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, better known as the “Freedom Center.” The center receives funding from Charles Koch and other Libertarian-minded donors, some of them unnamed, as well as from a special appropriation from the Legislature.
But the Governing Board backed off reviving the course after they discovered that the textbook had still not gone through the required vetting review.
The district governing board in a 3-2 vote, decided to postpone the decision until the textbook has undergone the necessary 60-day review process, during which the textbook must be made available to the public.
Governing Board Members Mark Stegeman and Rachael Sedgwick voted against the postponement.
The delay means the course will not be available to students in the upcoming school year, though the Governing Board may revive the course for the 2019-2020 school year.
The district had proposed offering the class as at Tucson, Rincon and University high schools. But unlike in past years, the course would have only been offered as an elective. Previously it was a core class that satisfies the requirement that high school students take at least one economics course.
Critics argued that the course presents a skewed version of economics that ignores concepts that don’t fit neatly with free-market ideals, and that the main text used to teach it is pure propaganda.
Supporters noted that the course offered a much needed dual-enrollment option for students who wanted to earn college credit without the burden of a high-stakes test. They argued the controversy over the course was overblown and the class should be judged on its own merits, not on its loose affiliation to controversial political figures.
The textbook for Philosophy 101, “Ethics, Economy and Entrepreneurship,” was written by academics associated with the Freedom School. The course was developed through a grant from the Templeton Foundation, which is often called a “spiritually-inclined” nonprofit, and is part of the Koch donor network.
