Arizona Education Network

The Pentagon has received anecdotal evidence suggesting military troops are avoiding deployment to Hawaii because of poor funding of its public education system.

Response by Southern Arizona lawmakers to questions about the budget (including education) by the Arizona Daily Star. Article includes responses from Paton, Flemming, Alvarez, Young-Wright, Lopes, Bedford, Garcia, Aboud, Farley, Bradley, Lopez, Patterson, Heinz.

Arizona public school districts are responding to charter school models with innovative programs, and some are offering their own charter schools.

December state payments to Arizona’s three public Universities were finally made on January 21, 2010. The Arizona Republic is reporting that the payment did not include the amount owed the universities from the general fund; only the tuitionheld by the state was remitted.

Education Week has recently released its annual Report Card on American public education, and it shows mixed results for Arizona.

January 15, 2010 Governor Brewer released her Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Proposal plan to the public this afternoon.  You can view the full budget proposal, summary and related information via this link. . The Arizona Education Network volunteers will be reviewing the detailed budget information over the weekend.  You can find education funding and budget  Continue Reading >

A list of members for the Arizona House and Senate Education and Appropriations committees referenced regularly in AEN legislative updates. In general, each of these committees are charged with the important task of “hammering out” legislation that impacts Education, as well as our state’s budget.

. The recent issue of  The Atlantic looks into the hotly debated question of what makes a good teacher.  Proposals in the new Race to the Top standards will require teacher compensation tied to student performance.  Under this teacher accountability model, identifying teacher excellence will be even more important.  The article points out that; “[s]tates must try to identify great teachers, figure  Continue Reading >

. Update to post below: . US Census Department Figures show that the Arizona population increased 28.6% from April of 2000 to July 2009. . During the same period, average daily membership (the term used to refer to the total enrollment of students through the first 100 days of the school year) in Arizona schools  Continue Reading >

Arizona Excels at School Choice; Fails in School Investment . Arizona enters the new decade as the national leader in school choice.  Arizona parents can choose to open-enroll their children in the public school that best meets their needs, choose among almost 500 charter schools or even receive a tax credit funded scholarship to offset  Continue Reading >

Monday, January 11, 2010 Governor Brewer will deliver her much anticipated “State of the State” address, in which she will promise to “right our ship” and “bring Arizona back home.” Governor Brewer’s address signals the return of Arizona lawmakers to the Capitol where they will begin work to address the state’s budget crisis.

New Orleans is now the first major U.S. City with a majority of their students in charter schools (61% of all students in 2009-2010), according to U.S. News & World Report.  The New Orleans public school system was devastated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and needed to be rebuilt from scratch. Since the pre-Katrina New  Continue Reading >