Arizona Education Network

Friday, March 9, 2012 Dear Friends: We want to share some very exciting news!  Today at 10 a.m., we launched the Quality Education and Jobs Campaign to strengthen our children’s education and our state’s economy.     We filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office that allows us to begin collecting signatures to place a once-in-a-generation measure  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 >

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 >

  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 >

. . On Wednesday, March 23, university students will rally at campuses across the state to protest the proposed $235 million cut to higher education in the proposed Senate budget now moving through the Arizona House.  For more details or to learn how to get involved, visit the Arizona Students’ Association website. . Campus schedule for rallies: .  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 >

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.

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.)

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.

The Arizona Education Network has compiled a summary of all legislators’ voting records pertaining to their support of public education at all levels (K-University) during the 2009 Regular and Special Sessions.

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

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.

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.

July 31, 2009: Remember when your parents implied that nothing good happens after midnight? After sitting bleary-eyed and watching our elected representatives in action into the wee hours of the night, we are beginning to think Mom was on to something.