Legislative Newsletter April 18, 2010

Arizona Education Network Who Is to Blame and Your Chance to Act! Sunday, April 18, 2010

Who Is To Blame For Cuts At Your School? Many school districts released budget proposals last week that contained substantial cuts to programs and teaching positions. The tendency when parents are unhappy with the school budget is to blame their superintendents and school boards. These are not the people responsible for the cuts at your schools. The Arizona Legislature is responsible. On March 24, 2010, AEN released a report titled "2009 Legislative Sessions: Education Funding Voting Record by Legislator." Please check out your legislators' record on funding public education. In 2009, 40 of the state's 90 legislators voted against public education funding 100% of the time. Even if Proposition 100 passes, Arizona schools will experience funding cuts.  While it is important to pass the temporary sales tax to avoid devastating cuts until our state's economy stabilizes, remember that all our legislators will be up for election on November 2, 2010.  Even more important, primary elections - where many of the seats are decided - take place on August 24. Hold your elected officials accountable! Related Articles: What Happens In Your School If Prop. 100 Fails: Contingent Cuts to Arizona School Districts Prop. 100: Conditional Impact on Arizona Universities Passage of Proposition 100 Will Save 13,000 Jobs, UA Study Predicts

Tomorrow is Your LAST Chance to Register to Vote! In order to vote for Proposition 100, you must be registered to vote by midnight on Monday, April, 19, 2010.  If you have not yet registered or want to receive your ballot at home, click here. Have you moved recently? You MUST re-register every time you move. Please forward this e-mail to your friends to make sure they are registered to vote in this important election. Thank you!

AEN Proposition 100 - Vote Yes Tool Kit! The AEN Proposition 100 Tool Kit is full of ideas, suggestions, and resources for getting the word out in your community about Proposition 100.  There are a variety of ways you can effectively advocate for your schools, including making signs, holding window decorating rallies, and more.  These activities can be limited to your immediate family or you can recruit an entire neighborhood or school community. Get your AEN Proposition 100 - Vote Yes Tool Kit by clicking here. Parents across the state are coming together and organizing a number of "Yes on 100" events. To locate a group in your area, click here. Have a group and don't see it on the list?  Please send your group's contact information to melissa@arizonaeducationnetwork.com and we'll gladly add it.

Arizona Public Media Debate: "Arizona Sales Tax: Fix or Folly?" On Sunday, April 11, Ann-Eve Pedersen, president of the Arizona Education Network, and Farrell Quinlan of the National Federation of Independent Businesses squared off in a debate on Proposition 100 - the temporary 1% sales tax increase. To view the debate, click here.

Tell Congress We Need Help to Save Teacher Jobs In the wake of massive teacher lay-offs around the country, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa has proposed the Keep Our Educators Working Act - a $23 billion jobs fund to prevent teachers from being fired because of budget shortfalls.  Contact Arizona's Congressional delegation and urge them to support this proposal! To contact your U.S. Representative or Senator, click here. To read the text of the bill, click here.

Take Action NOW! If you want to change the status quo, you have to get involved!  Forward this email to ten  (10) family members and friends today and ask them to join the Arizona Education Network! Membership is free. Our strength is in our numbers and we need all hands on deck.

_________________________ Come to a Community-Wide Proposition 100 Forum Sponsored by The Arizona Education Network Thursday, April 22 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.Tucson Association of Realtors Conference Room 2445 N. Tucson Blvd (Just north of Grant) Get directions here. Panelists Include: Dr. Nic Clement, Head of the Tucson School Superintendents' Collaborative Rainer W.G. Gruessner, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Surgery, University of Arizona Chuck Huckelberry, Pima County Administrator Penelope Jacks, Children's Action Alliance, Southern Arizona Director Sue Krahe, Our Family Services Director Stephen MacCarthy, University of Arizona, Vice-President for External Relations Ron Shoopman, President of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council A One-Hour Audience Question and Answer Period Will Follow the Panelists' Presentation. _________________________

May 18, 2010 Special Election for Proposition 100 - Temporary 1% Sales Tax Proposition 100 Facts    Without the temporary sales tax, as much as one-quarter of all public education funding could be cut. This could mean the equivalent of 1.5 to 2 out of every 10 teacher positions could be eliminated.     Proposition 100 will devote two-thirds of revenues generated to education funding and one-third to health and human services and public safety.     The tax will automatically repeal on May 31, 2013. It would take a two-thirds vote of the legislature or another voter proposition to keep the tax increase in place. For more information see Proposition 100: The 1% Temporary Sales Tax Increase-Your Questions Answered Arizona Education Network Voter Guide: Important Dates, Information, and Resources _________________________

Three steps you can take to support public education in Arizona: Vote,Vote,Vote Vote YES on Prop. 100, the sales tax referendum, Tuesday, May 18th.     Vote for pro-education candidates in the primary election, Tuesday, August 24th.     Vote for pro-education candidates in the general election, Tuesday, November 2nd. Helpful Links: Arizona Education Network Voter Guide; Find your Legislator

__________________________ Will you help us reach our goal? Fundraising Ideas Contribute online today via PayPal Or mail your check to: The Arizona Education Network 4728 East Sunrise Drive, #210 Tucson, AZ 85718 Thank you for your support! ______________________

P.S. Check us out at:     www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com     Follow us on Twitter, twitter.com/AZEducationNet     Join us on Facebook! P.S.S. Interested in having the Arizona Education Network speak at your school or community group?  Email us at outreach@arizonaeducationnetwork.com for information and dates. The Arizona Education Network is a non-partisan, all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that provides factual information and advocates for public education.

Arizona Education Network Holds Press Conference for the Release of Legislators' Voting Records ~ March 25, 2010

Video via the Arizona Guardian Ustream.

*Below you will find text from the press conference held at the Capitol on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 for the release of the 2009 Legislative Session Education Funding Voting Record, compiled by the Arizona Education Network.

Thank you for joining us today!

We are all parents with the ARIZONA EDUCATION NETWORK -- we are a group founded a year ago by parents from various school districts who were concerned about what was happening to Arizona school funding.

We are a non-partisan, independent, non-profit organization with no ties to any outside groups. We have a website where we regularly post analyses of education issues, as well as breaking news.

Recently, we decided to take a closer look at the voting records of our legislators on education funding issues during the 2009 legislative session. As you know, because of decisions made during that session, our schools experienced DEEP, DEEP CUTS.

And we weren't starting from a very healthy place to begin with -- considering we consistently rank at the bottom nationwide in per-student spending.

Our children this school year have experienced the effects of those cuts in the way of much larger class sizes, the loss of teachers at their schools, the elimination of librarians, counselors, art and music teachers, the lack of funding for basics such as books, computers, paper and even toilet paper.

What's on the horizon is even more bleak: All of those cuts will be continued, plus the loss of all-day kindergarten and funding for gifted programs are guaranteed. If PROP. 100 doesn't pass on May 18, our schools won't just be on a starvation diet, they will start losing limbs.

Many legislators, when they return home to their districts tout themselves as education supporters. No one likes to be seen as being against education. However, clearly these voting records prove that some legislators were willing to stick up for schoolchildren and others were not.

We think it's important for voters to see who supports education funding and who voted against public education funding 100 percent of the time in the last legislative session.

Forty of our ninety legislators -- almost half -- voted against public education funding 100 percent of the time.

When parents start to get mad at their principals, or their superintendents, or their school board members because of what's happening at their children's schools -- we want them to remember who really is to blame for the predicament we face.

And we want them to remember that when they go to vote in the August primaries and the November general elections.

We also want to remind Arizonans that it's not just our state's schoolchildren who are affected by these votes. These aren't just votes against children -- THEY ARE VOTES AGAINST EVERY SINGLE ARIZONAN.

Why?

A vote against education funding is a vote against businesses.

A vote against education funding is a vote against our military bases.

A vote against education funding is a vote against higher property values.

A vote against education funding is a vote in favor of more and more incarceration. (As we can see here today, that's a booming business in Arizona. [A private prison event was happening at the same time at the Capitol.])

Everyone knows that businesses are attracted and remain in states with strong education systems because they are guaranteed an educated workforce and good schools for their employees' children.

Everyone knows that our military bases have told the legislature that they will be at risk of closure during the next round of base closures if Arizona's education rankings don't rise.

Everyone knows that areas with strong schools have higher property values.

And everyone knows that if you don't educate, you incarcerate instead.

This particular legislature has been a disaster for our schoolchildren. It's pretty clear that the wheels are coming off the bus. What we want everyone to know is who unscrewed the lug nuts.