Arizona Education Network

Word came out mid-afternoon Monday February 19, 2012 that a package of ten budget bills had been assigned to both the Arizona Senate and House Appropriations Committees for Tuesday, February 20, 2012. Both committees are scheduled to begin at 8AM.  The late notification gave fewer than 18 hours for the public to review and prepare  Continue Reading >

A Maricopa County Superior Court has rejected a legal challenge by the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) and the Arizona Education Association (AEA) to Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs). ESAs were established by legislation passed in a prior session allowing parents of special needs students to “cash out” of the public school system.  Ninety percent of  Continue Reading >

Arizona Voters Support Sales Tax Continuation to Fund Public Education. Poll shows high level of support as well as demands for reform. Seven out of 10 Arizona voters support the continuation of the existing one-cent sales tax to fund public education. That was among the findings of a poll commissioned by a number of educational  Continue Reading >

Today’s Arizona Republic offers a laundry list of issues Arizonans need to address before it’s too late.  In We’ve got problems, the Republic summarizes the Arizona Directions 2012 report. The state budget is about to go over a one billion dollar cliff as the one-cent sales tax expires in 2013.* Just 25% of Arizona fourth-graders were  Continue Reading >

In their 2011 Student Financial Aid Report, the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) highlights the affect of state budget cuts on university students in Arizona. The report tells us: The number of students demonstrating financial need for higher education has increased by 88% in the last five years. Less than 1% of the roughly one  Continue Reading >

Below are posted  the preliminary, unofficial bond and override results from the November 2011 election (as of November 9, 2011).  Results will be updated when all election returns are finalized in early December 2012. Several observations can be made: A higher percentage of bond projects was approved than of budget override measures.  (Ten of fifteen  Continue Reading >

What will happen to public education funding when the temporary one-cent sales tax expires in 2013? What will happen to public education funding when $538 million in corporate tax breaks go into effect in 2014. With no legislative attention being paid to these massive losses to the general fund–or to the $500 million structural deficit  Continue Reading >

Sunday’s Arizona Daily Star printed excerpts  from a wide-ranging conversation with UA’s President,  Eugene G. Sander. Sander talks about: UA’s national and international reputation and its benefit to the community; The $182 million cut in funding at the university level and its effect on the school; Providing an enrichment experience and engaging students; The challenge of  Continue Reading >

A diverse group of education supporters has been meeting this summer to hash out a people’s initiative to fund public education in Arizona.  Moderated by Susan Carlson of ABEC (Arizona Business and Education Coalition), the groups include AEN, the Arizona Education Association, Teach for America, Stand for Children and  charter school advocates.  The aim of  Continue Reading >

Governor Brewer will not commit to applying excess tax revenues to restore funding cuts made to education, according to the Arizona Daily Star on September 12, 2011. Nor would she go on record to to protect education from additional cuts in future budget talks.  The Governor does commit to spending the surplus wisely. Since the  Continue Reading >

On September 2, 2011 the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released the first study examining funding cuts to public education from FY2008 – FY2012.  Data was available for the period for 24 states, including Arizona.  Arizona spending per student adjusted for inflation has decreased 24 percent. While many states have experienced substantial cuts to  Continue Reading >

On September 3, 2011, the Arizona Daily Star reported that Arizona school districts cut more than 10,000 employees–including 6,640 instructors–from March 2009 to March 2010, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.  Arizona Department of Education spokesman Andrew LeFevre said a decrease in student population is partly  responsible for the drop in funding  Continue Reading >

Parents are being asked to provide an increasing amount of basic supplies to their children’s schools as Arizona students return to class.  As Alexis Huicochea reports in her article, Teachers Leaning on Parents for Supplies, (Sunday, August 14, 2011) some schools are starting the academic year with no budget for supplies.  These schools have asked  Continue Reading >

The Arizona Daily Star’s Josh Brodesky reports that Arizona’s divestiture in public education has occurred alongside the rising investment in an unlikely industry:  private prisons. (Private-prison expansion a crime, Sunday, August 14, 2011). As Brodesky puts it “education is a path to economic development and innovation.  But we are cutting it while funding hundreds of  Continue Reading >

An analysis by the Arizona Education Network of the Arizona Learns 2009-2010 Achievement Profiles for All Schools published by the Arizona Department of Education shows a significant decrease in the number of excelling schools in Arizona.  In 2008-2009 there were 321 traditional schools and 74 charter schools excelling in the state.  In 2009-2010 the number of excelling school dropped  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 >

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 >

  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 >

Each year the Arizona Auditor General releases a report on classroom spending. “Classroom spending” is defined by the Auditor General’s Report as: Classroom personnel—Salaries and benefits for teachers, teachers’ aides, substitute teachers, graders, and guest lecturers. General instructional supplies—Paper, pencils, crayons, instructional aids, etc. Textbooks, workbooks, software, films, etc. Activities—Field trips, athletics, and co-curricular activities  Continue Reading >

ASU President Michael M. Crow released a statement today detailing how the extensive cuts passed by the Senate would weaken Arizona State University.   The information in the statement shows exactly how dire these cuts will be to higher education in Arizona.  There is little doubt that cuts of this magnitude will have an adverse impact on the economic recovery  Continue Reading >

. . Overview of Events at the Arizona Senate Shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, the Arizona Senate voted to suspend rules and consider a budget proposed by the Senate majority party. Bypassing established rules, all thirteen budget related bills that impact education, vital health and human service agencies, as well as  Continue Reading >

It is time to take education funding out of the hands of ideologues in the Arizona Legislature. . These ideologues wrap themselves in the flag of anti-government rhetoric while systemically shredding the values symbolized by our great flag of the United States of America:  A democracy dedicated to educating its people and thereby promising equal  Continue Reading >

On Tuesday, March 15, 2011, the Arizona Senate voted to suspend rules for the consideration of the Senate’s budget package.

he Arizona Auditor General released its annual report on Arizona School District Spending Fiscal Year 2010 to the public on March 1, 2011. The major conclusions of the report are:

* Arizona’s per-pupil spending continues to trail the national average by nearly $2,500 (using AZ & US 2008 fiscal years for exact comparison).
* Arizona districts spent 55.9 percent of their available operating dollars on classroom instruction – a record low and about 5 percent less than the 60.8 percent national average.
* Arizona spent a higher percentage on student support than the national average.
* Arizona spent a lower percentage on administration – 9.5 percent (AZ) vs. 10.8 percent (US).

The Arizona Daily Star reported today (2/21/11) that ”the budget that is ultimately approved may substantially track the proposal that Brewer released in January.”  Let’s take a closer look at the Governor’s budget and how it may affect public education in Arizona. . Governor Brewer affirms that she has already reduced K-12 per pupil support 18% and university  Continue Reading >

The recent tax cut package passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Brewer will cost the state’s general fund millions in revenues and may potentially endanger funding to K-12 education.  The business tax cuts begin to phase in during tax year 2012.  It is important to point out that the special one-percent education sales tax will  Continue Reading >

Education Secretary Arne Duncan today (7/27/10) released the list of finalists for the second round of the Race to the Top federal grant program. Arizona is one of the 19 finalists.

The Joint Legislative Budget Council (JLBC) released an analysis of budget cuts to the state general fund operating budget over the last four fiscal years (2008-2011). According to the report, Arizona has faced four consecutive years with a budget shortfall. Over the last four years, Arizona’s K-12 public schools have seen a $883.9 million reduction in funding. Similarly, funding for the state’s community colleges has been cut by $53.5 million and the universities by $232.5 million.

The House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4899) authorizing $80 billion in spending for troop increases in Afghanistan. The bill also contained a provision to appropriate $10 billion for the Education Jobs Fund. The Education Jobs fund is designed to provide aid to districts to retain teachers that would otherwise be laid off.

The Arizona Education Network Executive team was recently highlighted on a local Tucson, AZ station.

Results by precinct of the May 18, 2010 special election.

We’ll be posting updates on the May 18, 2010 special election as they come in. Specific data by polls may not be available for a few weeks.

Before we move on to the statistics, however, we want to send a big THANK YOU out to everyone who helped support the Yes to Proposition 100 campaign. The strong coalition of parents, educators, business people, retirees and students was remarkable. Many people put in a tremendous amount of volunteer hours to get the word out, and many more people took the time to look past the soundbites and thoughtfully analyze our state, school and public service budgets.

Proposition 100 Results PROPOSITION 100 PASSES IN A LANDSLIDE THANK YOU ARIZONA! Voter turnout was high and Proposition 100 passed, with 64% of Arizonans voting for the measure. Select news coverage of the election results: KVOA: Prop 100 supporters celebrate win Amphitheater parent Lisa Ferko: “Parents have come out and said public education is important  Continue Reading >

On Thursday, April 22, the Arizona Education Network sponsored a community-wide forum on Proposition 100 where seven distinguished panelists from vital sectors in Pima County spoke of the fiscal, human and educational impact of Proposition 100 at the community level in Southern Arizona.

A rebuttal to a recent “Vote No” Op Ed in the Tucson Citizen.

“Education is the make or break for Raytheon’s future growth here. More than half of Raytheon’s employees are engineers, and the University of Arizona is the largest source of those engineers, supplying nearly 750 of them in the past 10 years, said Jeff Goldberg, dean of the UA College of Engineering. Meanwhile the Arizona Legislature keeps slashing university budgets.”

At a forum recently held at the Northern Arizona University, an internal comparison of budget scenarios was prepared to compare FY11 budget outlooks with and without the passage of Proposition 100. The following information includes both the cuts that will be implemented as part of the budget if Proposition 100 passes and the estimates of additional (contingent) cuts for universities if the May 18 sales tax election (Proposition 100) fails.

A new study by researchers at the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona finds that a yes vote on Proposition 100 would save more than 13,000 jobs and preserve more than $442 million in federal matching funds for Arizona.

. . In order to show the direct impact of  potential cuts to school districts if Proposition 100 fails, Governor Brewer’s Office of Strategic Planning and  Budgeting recently released a report that provides a district-by-district estimate of the impact of legislative budget cuts on Arizona school districts for the 2010-11 school year (FY 2011).  The report shows  Continue Reading >

Monday, Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan announced that Tennessee and Delaware were the only two winners of the phase one Race to the Top Grants. Arizona ranked fortieth out of forty-one applicants with a score of 240.2 out of 500.

On March 24, 2010 the Arizona Education Network held two press conferences in Phoenix and Tucson to release the 2009 Legislators’ voting record in regards to public education funding. You can visit the post with the table of records here. Please see below for the press conference transcript as well as resulting publications.

On Tuesday, March 9, several Arizona school districts held budget override elections in an effort to protect school programs and services, reduce class size, and/or preserve teaching positions. Of the 24 school district overrides, 15 passed.

On Friday, March 5, Governor Brewer called the Legislature into a seventh special session to begin work on two budgets. The first budget assumes the passage of Proposition 100, a 1% temporary sales tax which would generate $1 billion in revenue to close the budget deficit. The second budget assumes the failure of Proposition 100 and will contain drastic cuts to close the budget deficit.

The Department of Education announced yesterday (March 4, 2010) that Arizona was not chosen for phase one of the federal Race for the Top grant. Arizona can apply for the second round of grants in June, 2010.

As Yogi Berra once said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” It seems like yesterday that we were looking at the 2008 Auditor General Report on Dollars Spent in the Classroom trying to explain exactly what is considered “classroom spending.”

Schools Around Arizona are Closings Due to Budget Constraints

In an effort to work within the anticipated budget the state legislature is providing schools to educate our students, many school districts are beginning to look at the necessity of closing some of their schools.

The Arizona Republic is running a series about the next decade in Arizona called Arizona 2020, A Framework for the Next Decade. The article focuses on six categories: Education, the Budget, the Border, the Government, the Economy and the Vision of AZ. Two of these categories are of great interest to the Arizona Education Network.

The Arizona Legislature finally agreed to refer the decision to the voters on Tuesday, May 18, 2010.