Your View: The Impact of Public Education Cuts

In our February 19, 2010 newsletter and on our website, we've solicited your stories on how cuts to public education funding are affecting you. Here you'll find some of the responses we've received.

These cuts are real and they are impacting classrooms around our state--in K-12 public schools and our community colleges and universities. Now is the time to have an open and frank conversation about the consequences of being at the bottom for public education spending.

Your voice matters. We encourage you to share your experiences. Send your story, photos, or videos to info@arizonaeducationnetwork.com.  

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Cuts to Education Leave School Computers Vulnerable, Students without Support during Loss of Teacher

School cuts have hurt our elementary school.

First, we lost our computer tech person. Recently, the computers were infected by a virus. Over a dozen computers cannot be used due the virus, and our computer lab has been shut down while we wait for help to be sent out to our school.

Second, a former teacher recently passed away. We don't have a school counselor any more. A counselor from another school came to our school for one day. Many of the children are still upset, but we don't have a counselor on-site; so if the kids want to talk to a counselor about their grief/feelings, there is no counselor on-site.

Terry, Tucson Unified School District

Fourth Grade Classrooms at 35 in Paradise Valley

Thank you for the opportunity to describe how the Arizona education cuts are affecting our children.

My son is in 4th grade in the Paradise Valley School District. At the end of the 2008-2009 school year, there were three 4th grade classes for the 2009-2010 school year, but one week before school started, it was decided that there were not enough children to warrant three classes. There are now two classes with thirty-five students each. This has been a huge concern for many of the parents, but no real solutions have been provided by the school's administration. The teachers are doing the best that they can, but it is difficult to spend quality time with any of the students.

I attended the latest PTSO meeting at our school and at this point, the same situation will be occurring in the 2010-2011 school year. Why is this acceptable? Why does the State of Arizona think so poorly of our children that we are number forty-nine in student spending? These children are the doctors, police officers and teachers of the future. When is someone going to get that?

Thank you for thinking of our kids. They deserve better.

Kelly M., Paradise Valley Parent

Flowing Wells Teacher: Sixty-three Percent Jump in Students and Work; $2000 Drop in Pay

I am a third grade teacher in the Flowing Wells School District. Although the district as a whole does its best to maintain reasonable class sizes, the tax cuts of last year hit us hard. At our school we lost 4 certified positions this year, which resulted in higher class sizes. Last year, my third grade class had 19 students. This year, my class has 31 STUDENTS. That's a 63% increase. My classroom is packed with desks--it's hard to find a way to seat the students effectively and comfortably. If I get even one more student this year, I will have no textbooks for him/her. Supplies are--well, in short supply. If it were not for the generosity of parents and other donors like the Tucson Jewish Federation, I would have run out of paper and other necessary supplies long ago.

And, although I did not get into teaching for the money, it is worth mentioning that I am making $2000 less this year than last because of the decrease in 301 monies. I am also working much more. 63% more students means 63% more papers to grade, and more time spent inputting grades into the computer, conferencing with parents, and planning and preparing for lessons. I am working 10 hour days and then going home and grading papers. I am exhausted and frustrated, and worried about the kids. I know it is going to get worse, and our kids deserve better. 

Middle School Parents: Larger Class Sizes with Less Support Staff, Supervision Having Negative Impact on Student Learning

We're seeing larger class sizes and in our middle school this equates to less support staff, less supervision, more difficulties in the classroom, which impacts their learning. The kids of middle school age are in great need of help I'm finding. They are at a time where testing their limits and and trying to figure out their own selves. The larger class sizes induces more interruptions, less help for kids who need it, and when teachers need to step out of the room for a minute- no supervision and kids act out and sometimes do obscene things with out the teachers in there. Therefore the focus becomes dicipline rather than learning. I'm exasperated by the things we hear from our kids and other parents who's children share their experiences. I want our kids to be in a safe learning environment!!!!!
Keven & Anna M.

AEN's Recent Legislative Update ~ February 19, 2009

Arizona Legislature Punts Decision on Funding for Education, Vital Services to Voters

On Tuesday, May 18, 2010 voters will decide whether to approve a temporary one-cent sales tax in a special election (the sales tax would repeal automatically on July 1, 2013). The revenue, generated over three years, would be apportioned between education and other vital services; two thirds of the proceeds would go toward education and the other third would fund health and human services and public safety.

The Legislature could have chosen to increase revenues rather than put this to voters, but in Arizona a two-thirds majority is required to raise any tax and the votes aren't there, thanks to the 31 legislators who have signed an oath to Washington special interest lobbyist Grover Norquist, promising to never raise taxes in Arizona - no matter what the situation.

Arizona Education Network is involved in a state wide discussion to support passage of the temporary sales tax to fund education. We will update you as soon as we know more.

To learn more see:
Arizona legislature punts decision on funding for education, vital services to voters

AZ Legislature Called into Sixth Special Session **Updated 2/12/10**

Public Education, The AZ Constitution & The No Tax Pledge!

In Budget Deficit, Legislators Want to Send Money to Private Schools

In another blow to fiscal responsibility, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to expand the private school tax credit program, tripling the amount of tax dollars that can be diverted from the general fund to private schools (HB 2664).

Already, $55 million a year is diverted from the general fund to support private schools.

The new limits would be $3,000 for a married couple, instead of $1,000, and $1,500 for an individual, up from $500. Remember that the public school tax credit limit is $400 per couple and $200 for an individual.

Legislators were supposed to be addressing the concerns raised by two separate newspaper investigations in 2009 that found numerous problems with Arizona's private school tax credit program, Rigged Privilege: An Investigation into Arizona's Private School Tuition and The Tuition Tax Credit: Tuition-aid benefits wealthy families, raises worry.

The House Ways and Means Committee also voted to extend the deadline for submitting tax credits to private schools to April 15 from the current Dec. 31 deadline. The tax-credit legislation now moves on to the full House.

To learn more see:
Legislators propose private schools tax credit increases while Governor proposes cutting funding to GED funding

Arizona's Private School Tuition Tax-Credit Program: How We Got Here and Where are We Going?

Researcher: Tax credits cost state millions


Tell Us Your Stories: How are education cuts affecting you?

The Legislature has already cut Arizona public education funding with more cuts expected. We want to know how these cuts are affecting your student, their classroom and your school. Send us your stories, your videos, your view and we will post it on a new section of our website. We will also be featuring individual stories in our newsletter. We want to hear your voice! Click here to send us your story


Take Action NOW!

• Call, write or email members of the House and tell them to vote against legislation expanding the private school tax credit program, go to: Legislator Contacts
• Write a letter to the editor and make your opinion known about state funding of education and/or the proposed expansion of the private school tax credit program.
     o Write a letter to the Arizona Daily Star
     o Write a letter to the Arizona Republic
• Forward this email to five friends, relatives, neighbors or colleagues and ask them to sign up to receive these updates. Education supporters can make a difference, but we must stay informed and take action.


Take care,
Ann-Eve, Melissa, MaryLee and your AEN team

PS. Check us out at:
• http://www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com/
• Follow us on Twitter, AZEducationNet
• Join us on Facebook!

AEN is a non-partisan, all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that exists to provide factual information and advocacy for public education.

Op Ed: Arizona Excels at School Choice; Fails in School Investment

Arizona Excels at School Choice; Fails in School Investment

Arizona enters the new decade as the national leader in school choice. Arizona parents can choose to open-enroll their children in the public school that best meets their needs, choose among almost 500 charter schools or even receive a tax credit funded scholarship to offset some of the cost of private school. Arizona parents have more choice than parents in any other state.

Unfortunately, while Arizona legislators have given parents more control over their children’s education, they have failed to keep up with other states’ investment in education. Arizona ranks at the bottom in per pupil spending for public education and 90% of Arizona parents have chosen traditional public education and charter public schools.

Why is investment in traditional and charter public schools important? In order to have a strong economy Arizona needs an educated work force to attract industry to the state. If business cannot find workers qualified for the positions available they will not come to Arizona. Moreover, if educated workers are not available businesses will leave Arizona. Arizona citizens want smart government that will enact policies that will help create broad prosperity throughout the state and education is the cornerstone to building a stronger Arizona economy. Investing in public education is investing in the economic future of Arizona.

As the legislature convenes for the new session, Arizona faces serious financial issues. Arizonans should be watching for action in the legislature that reflects Arizona values and priorities. New tax-credit proposals that diminish the general fund in a time of record deficits should be labeled fiscally irresponsible. Investment in public education should be employed to fire-up the economic engine of Arizona and help grow us out of our fiscal Grand Canyon. Investment in public education has been the greatest economic driver in the history of the United States. Now is the time for Arizona to re-invest in public education!

MaryLee Moulton
Board Member, Arizona Education Network
e-mail MaryLee Moulton at marylee@arizonaeducationnetrwork.com

Rep. Steve Farley & Sen. Al Melvin Discuss Arizona Budget Crisis

Yesterday, Representative Steve Farley (LD 28) and Senator Al Melvin (LD 26) sat down with Bill Buckmaster for the Friday Roundtable to discuss the state's budget crisis. Click here to view video.

*It's worth noting that Senator Melvin once again references a per pupil expenditure AEN debunked in a previous post on our website and here on the blog.

Debunking Latest Education Spending Report, January 5, 2010

In another effort to undermine the value of public education, the libertarian/limited-government-through-litigation group The Goldwater Institute sent out another email with misleading, outdated and disingenuous information.  Their "pitch" is that Arizona is spending more for education, and getting less for it.
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However, this dog won't hunt.  This is an old message that has been debunked repeatedly.   In 1979 Arizona was investing about 69% of the total general fund budget on K-12 schools, community colleges and universities.  Today about 57% of our state budget is devoted to our schools.  We are essentially paying LESS, and demanding MORE.
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While Arizona’s overall spending on education has increased during that same time period, it has not kept up with the growth in our population.  The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reported recently that Arizona actually spent more per K-12 student in 1986 than we did in 2006. This bears repeating:  Arizona actually spent $61 less per student than we did 20 years prior…and those latest figures were released before the most recent spending cuts.  The ALEC report also concurs with all of the other national education surveys that Arizona is ranked at the very bottom for educational investment among US states.
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"How much is Arizona spending per student?"
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The fact is that national surveys report that Arizona spends anywhere between $5,255 - $7,537 per student. However, special interest groups are claiming that we spend anywhere from $9,500 to “over $10,000” per student.  Notably ATRA, the fiscally conservative Arizona Tax Research Association, agrees that Arizona funding is $6,200* per student.
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.....* ATRA Special Report, April 2009 “K-12 Education Funding – How Do We Compare”

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As a general rule, other states identify three expenditures for per student spending:
• Teacher Salary
• Maintenance and Operations (M&O) costs to run the school
• Costs for the items directly used by the students in the classroom
The per pupil funding dollar is derived by adding total dollars spent of the above three items and dividing by the actual number of students served.
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"Reactionary groups claim Arizona is spending $9,700 per student.  How did they calculate that number?"
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In short, it's a  numbers game.

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They use all the income on the JLBC Report (1/27/09), including lunch money, after school sports, adult night programs, adjacent ways (sewer & road repairs as a result of city maintenance), and other non-revenue dollars and divide it by the number of students.
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No other state counts this in their per student funding numbers. Reactionary groups use these numbers and include these things because they want to inflate this data in a period where Arizona is cutting education spending.  They are using the hard work of the JLBC to spin their message.
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In taking a closer look at the 2000-2009 JLBC report, it is important to note that the 2009 figures are an estimate.  They do not include the cuts of $270M to K-12 Education or the elimination of $362M in New School Facilities (NSF) funding made during 2009.
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These are the FACTS that you need to know:
•  Arizona spends less per student than almost any other state in the nation
•  National Education Association: 51st
•  U.S. Census Bureau: 49th
•  National Center for Education Statistics: 48th
•  Education Week: 50th
•  American Legislative exchange Council: 50th
•  Average reported difference between what Arizona spends per student and what the average US state invests = $3,068 per student
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"Are these statistics acceptable for a 21st century classroom?"
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Absolutely not.
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For a full report on the above statistics, see Arizona K-12 EXAMINATION OF THE FACTS 2009, pdf.
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References
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US Population Statistics: U.S. Census Bureau, Cumulative Estimates of Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico and Region and State Rankings: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-pop-chg.html,
State General Fund Expenditures: The Fiscal Survey of States, National Governor’s Association, June 2009, http://www.nasbo.org/Publications/PDFs/FSSpring2009.pdf

Projected State Budget Deficits: Recession Continues to Batter State Budgets; State Responses Could Slow Recovery, Center on Budget Policy & Priorities, Table I, http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711
Education Expenditures and State Rankings:  American Legislative Council,  The Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis, 2008 http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/ReportCard08.pdf
GDP by State:  Bureau of Economic Analysis, Economic Slowdown Widespread Among States in 2008, Table 1 Real GDP by State 2005-2008, http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/gsp_newsrelease.htmysi
General Fund Spending as a Percent of Personal Income, Joint Legislative Budget Committee, 2009, http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/gf%25azpi%2010-08.pdf

Arizona corporate and individual tax statistics: Joint Legislative Budget Committee, 2008 http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/08taxbook/08taxbk.pdf

With fiscal house on fire, private-school tax credits are irresponsible

With fiscal house on fire, private-school tax credits are irresponsible
By MaryLee Moulton

As Rome burns, our state Legislature continues to fiddle away. Faced with a burgeoning budget hole and no solution in sight, the legislative leadership last week proposed a way to deepen — yes, deepen — our state debt.

It involves funneling even more state tax dollars to private schools and helping line the pockets of the middlemen who profit handily by skimming 10 percent of tax-credit dollars as they are diverted to private schools.

A House committee appointed by House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, allegedly to investigate abuses of the private school tax-credit system, instead last week released recommendations to expand rather than reform the program, which two separate newspaper investigations have found to be rife with abuse.

The newspapers found that the program, which was established to help pay poor kids' tuition at private and parochial schools, primarily benefits the wealthy, who receive a taxpayer-funded subsidy to pay for their children's elite and costly education. This comes at the expense of all other Arizonans, who are suffering job losses, closed state parks and woefully underfunded public and charter schools because of the state's budget crisis.

The private-school tax credit program has diverted $380 million from the general fund since its inception in 1997. This year alone — at a time when the state is talking about talking about issuing IOUs because it can't pay its bills — $55 million of your tax dollars will walk out the door with no benefit to average Arizonans.

Your state tax dollars will also continue enriching Rep. Steve Yarbrough, R-Mesa, the primary sponsor of legislation expanding private-school tax credits and the beneficiary of those tax dollars as head of the largest School Tuition Organization. Legislators have already refused to declare that Yarbrough has a blatant conflict of interest that should be illegal; instead of cracking down on his industry, the House panel voted to help him expand it.

Incredibly, rather than voting to restrict this program to only the financially needy, the House panel voted to recommend increasing the amount that taxpayers can direct to private schools from $500 to $750 for an individual and $1,000 to $1,500 for a couple.

How can any responsible legislator faced with a budget deficit of more than $3 billion recommend increasing a tax credit that is not limited by financial need? In the recent special session, the Legislature cut an additional $144 million to public schools mid-year. This is on top of the $133 million in cuts in January 2009. More cuts are on the way. Keep in mind that Arizona is already 50th in the nation in per-pupil spending on K-12 education.

Every Arizonan should contact their state legislator and demand they follow the fiscally responsible path. Insist that any scholarship offered through tax credits is means tested. Tell them to introduce legislation to reduce the 10 percent taken off the top to a more reasonable 3 to 5 percent. Finally, tell them they will be held accountable if they expand special interest tax breaks when Arizona has a $3 billion deficit.

Arizonans must take action to force our legislators to be fiscally responsible.

MaryLee Moulton is a co-founder of the Arizona Education Network. E-mail MaryLee Moulton at marylee@arizonaeducationnetwork.com

Legislators Take 2nd Trip to DC for Special Interest Group!!! Still no budget!

Mary Jo Pitzl, lead legislative reporter for The Arizona Republic, reports on another trip that 14 legislators are embarking on this week instead of calling a special session to address our state's $3B deficit.  This is the second trip lawmakers attended this year for the ALEC conference.  The last one was in Atlanta.

AZ lawmakers off to D.C.

by Mary Jo Pitzl: December 3, 2009

Fourteen Arizona lawmakers are in Washington D.C. this week for the winter meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

They're hearing presentations on such topics as "Ensuring Success Outside the Ivory Tower," the upcoming redistricting process after the 2010 census, and a special presentation on "Obamacare." They're also hearing address from Rep. John Boehner, the House Minority Leader and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia.

ALEC attracts mainly Republican lawmakers and serves as a laboratory for legislation that participants often take back to their home states.

Following is a list of the Arizona lawmakers, all Republicans, who are attending. They're not traveling on the taxpayer dime; their fees and fares are being paid for by scholarships sponsored by various industry contributors. That's the same method that will be used by a mixed bag of Democrats and Republicans who are lining up for the next legislative confab, the National Conference of State Legislatures, which is convening in San Diego. Stay tuned for that list.

No wonder there's no talk of another legislative special session until mid-December.
ALEC attendees this week:

Senate President Bob Burns-Peoria
Sen. Sylvia Allen-Snowflake
Sen. Pamela Gorman-Anthem
Sen. Russell Pearce-Mesa
Sen. Thayer Verschoor-Gilbert
Rep. Sam Crump-Anthem
Rep. Adam Driggs-Phoenix
Rep Doris Goodale-Kingman
Rep. Laurin Hendrix-Gilbert
Rep. Debbie Lesko-Glendale
House Majority Leader John McComish-Phoenix
Rep. Nancy McLain-Bullhead City
Rep. Jerry Weiers-Glendale
Rep. David Gowan -Tucson

We encourage ALL voters to contact the above legislators and ask them to focus on our state's budget woes.  For contact information, visit AEN's "Legislature & Governor" tab by clicking here.