Arizona Education Network

All candidates running for the state Senate or House of Representatives in the 2010 primary were asked to complete our survey on issues surrounding public education in Arizona. The survey consists of 12 multiple-choice questions. A comment section follows each section allowing candidates the opportunity to clarify or elaborate upon their answers. Per our protocol, candidates were emailed the survey on on June 22 and sent two reminder emails prior to the July 16 deadline. If a candidate did not submit a survey, it is noted by their name.

The spring 2010 Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) scores were released Thursday by the Arizona Department of Education.

There are five candidates running for the state-wide office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. They are Margaret Dugan, John Huppenthal, Penny Kotterman, Beth Price and Jason Williams.

An analysis by the Arizona Education Network of the Arizona Learns 2008-2009 Achievement Profiles for All Schools published by the Arizona Department of Education shows that traditional public school performed better than charter schools over the same period.

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.

A recent poll conducted by Expect More Arizona found that most parents believe education at their local school should be of a higher quality and that they have not lost sight of education as a major priority.

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

Raytheon Missile Systems would like to see local and state governments be pro-business, support education and help create an environment that makes people and businesses want to come to Tucson. “…we need to put as much effort into science, technology, engineering and math education as possible for our youth,” Lawrence said.

Both traditional public and charter school financing in Arizona is complicated, but the Arizona Education Network takes it apart and answers your questions.

Arizona Gubernatorial, Legislative, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidates are gearing up for what promises to be an exciting election season. Here you will find a listing of candidates, as well as links to help you identify what legislative district you live in and related articles.

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 [...]

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.”

KUAT-TV is sponsoring a debate/panel discussion on Proposition 100 called “Arizona’s Sales Tax: Fix or Folly” at 6:30 p.m. this Sunday, April 11, at the Stevie Eller Dance Theater, 1713 E. University Boulevard (on the UA mall just west of Campbell.)

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.

Ideology, spin and inflammatory rhetoric are no substitute for factual information.

The majority of Republican, Democrat and Independent-leaning families in our state send their children to public schools–support for education is not a partisan issue. As a group, we will continue to insist that our elected officials use factual information and adhere to their constitutional duties to our children, communities and our schools.

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 March 13, 2010 the Obama administration released their blueprint for changes to the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The blueprint emphasized many of the same strategies as the Race to the Top grant program including teacher accountability for annual progress.

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.

As the Arizona budget continues to increase, legislators have been busy finding ways to further diminish the general fund. Several bills are making their way through the legislature under the guise of private school tax credit reform that would drastically increase the amount of the tax credit deductions for private school tuition.

On Monday, February 1st, Governor Brewer issued a proclamation, calling for a sixth Special Session to run concurrent with the regular session. Voting began in the Senate Tuesday, where legislation passed and has been transmitted to the House and was later assigned to the House Committee on Rules.

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

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.

It’s beginning of a new year and a new legislative session began this week. This update recaps the end of the last legislative session and provides information on what to expect going forward.

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.

A fifth special session has been called by Governor Brewer to address the remaining $1.6 billion deficit.

In this update we will cover two recent questions from AEN subscribers regarding Arizona spending statistics… How does our state compare and how much are we spending on education?

A recap of recent legislation as it pertains to education.

Governor Brewer signs legislation cutting $300 million from state’s K-12 and Department of Economic Security budgets. Governor and majority party will meet following Thanksgiving holiday to discuss scheduling a fifth special session to address $2 billion dollar deficit.

The Governor called the Arizona state Legislature into special session to address the $2 billion budget deficit.

A bi-partisan task force met in the House today for a second hearing covering investigations of School Tuition Organizations (STOs) and reform of the private-school tax credit program.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow was named one of the top 10 college presidents by Time Magazine this week. Time cites increased research funding and national merit scholars as some of the factors that led to this honor.

Lawmakers have been called back to Phoenix by Governor Brewer for a special session to address the budget deficit, now at $2.2 billion. House Majority Whip Andy Tobin said the deal that legislative leaders have reached with Gov. Jan Brewer would include $140 million in cuts to K-12 education. This would be to tackle the budget that was due June 30, 2009, now more than four months late.

Gates Foundation to take a more active role in education.

Az education forums heat up in light of the pending economic meltdown.

On Wednesday 10/21/09, the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its April 2009 decision that the Arizona School Tuition Organizations Program for private schools is unconstittutional.

The Arizona JLBC (Joint Legislative Budget Committee) now projects a 2010 budget shortfall at $1.959 Billion (Oct. 22, 2009).

The Arizona Republic and the East Valley Tribune have each published their respective analysis on private school tax credits, school tuition organizations (STOs), how they are meeting the spirit or intent of the tax credit legislation, transparency of programs and costs, and the players/organizations involved.

In response to a warning by Governor Brewer that some services may face cuts or elimination, Senator Russell Pearce suggested specific cuts to education.

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that unless the Governor and Legislature act soon the Arizona Department of Revenue and the Corporate Commission will have to make drastic cuts and may even run out of funds.  The AZ Department of Revenue has only $40.6M after the veto of an expected $67 million dollar proposed budget.  [...]

State tax reveues fall as Arizona awaits action on budget by Governor Brewer.

After another very contentious week of wrangling, the House and Senate finally passed a set of budget bills and sent the resulting package to the Governor for her review. A full recap and links to media articles provided.

The Arizona Board of Regents, university leaders and students in Arizona are engaged in an ongoing effort to revamp the structure of higher education in our state. This week the Arizona Education Network looks at some of the latest statistics and information related to our higher education goals and outlook for the future.

While charter schools like Basis are known for their excelling programs, many other charter schools have not met their promises.

With the recent k-12 budget cuts the AZ legislature has enacted, many students are coming back to the new school year with larger than ever class sizes.

In the midst of the protracted state budget drama, Arizona families are sending their children back to school. Since early spring of 2009, schools have been preparing their operating budgets based on worst case scenarios. But was their “worst” actually the “best” they should have been hoping for? Unfortunately, we were afraid of this.

By a vote of 14-11, the Senate fails to pass the sales tax referendum for the November 3rd ballot.