Arizona Education Network

2011 Legislative Session: Education Funding Voting Record by Legislator . . Find your legislative district by clicking here or visiting Project Vote Smart at http://www.votesmart.org/. . Review our 2009 Voting Record here, and the 2010 Voting Record here. . You can download a copy of the 2011 record by clicking 2011 Education Legislation Handout. . Legislative Districts are grouped by  Continue Reading >

As the First Regular Session of the Arizona Legislature concluded in the early hours of April 20, 2011, a disturbing pattern emerged: the silencing of those who would defend Arizona’s students.  This Legislature passed five bills–HB2002, SB1329, SB1365, SB1116 and HB2219–aimed at stifling stakeholders in public education. If all these bills become law (two have already been  Continue Reading >

**UPDATED 4/19/2011** Governor Brewer signed HB 2301 on Tuesday, April 19, 2011. To read about the benefit to public schools, see original post below. . On Wednesday, April 14, the Legislature sent a bill to the Governor’s desk that would allow public schools some flexibility with tax credit funds allocated prior to 2011. Currently, tax  Continue Reading >

On Sunday, April 10, the East Valley Tribune ran an editorial praising Governor Brewer and the legislature for making the hard choices necessary to produce a balanced budget.  The editorial singled out the Arizona Education Network because of our criticism regarding Governor Brewer’s failure to protect education. . The following is a guest commentary written  Continue Reading >

Explaining that the costs would unbalance the budget, Governor Brewer vetoed the expansion of the private school tax credit program yesterday (4/12/11). . HB 2581, passed by both chambers of the Legislature would have: increased the private school tax credit to $750 for an individual/$1,500 for those filing jointly.  With the veto, it will remain at  Continue Reading >

The Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts bill (SB1553) creates a new way for public funds to be used to pay for private and parochial schools for special education students.  The Empowerment Scholarship Accounts will be used to pay parents rather than private schools directly, answering the major legal objection to the previous attempt to use public funds to pay  Continue Reading >

As part of the K-12 education budget bill SB1617,the Arizona Legislature dealt a devastating cut to the successful Joint Technology Education District (JTED) program.  The following is a press release by the Pima County JTED outlining the cuts and the impact they will have on JTED in Pima County.  Cuts will apply to all JTED districts  Continue Reading >

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court private school tax credit ruling is bad news for poor children in the state of Arizona and a big boon for the wealthy.

On Monday, April 4, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion, dismissing the lawsuit challenging the Arizona’s private school-tuition tax credit program.

  April 1, 2011 – Governor Brewer yesterday showed complete disregard for our state’s faltering economy when she failed to defend public education funding as she had promised she would. . On Tuesday, former Intel CEO Craig Barrett, warned legislators that Arizona will not be able to attract good -paying jobs without investing in education.   Continue Reading >

**Updated with vote detail on related bills below.** . After an all night session, the House passed a budget that cuts $183.2 million from K-12 and $270.8 million from universities and community colleges for a total of $454 million in cuts to education in Arizona. The budget was a compromise negotiated among Governor Brewer, the  Continue Reading >