By 8 a.m. this morning, and after nearly 24 hours of debate, the state Legislature passed a $9.1 billion state budget that still greatly screws over universities, but that at least is giving some funds to community colleges and scratched a mandate to K-12 schools asking to cut 5 percent of their non-classroom money.

Universities are losing $99 million instead of the $104 million we heard of earlier this week, Joint Technical Education Districts are getting $30 million in cuts. Pima and Maricopa community colleges lost all state aid—a combined $15.6 million in cuts—while Pinal will get $2 million. 

This is what state Sen. Steve Farley had to say about K-12 in his Farley Repor:

K-12 schools will suffer from a $352 million cut in district assistance and other areas, and TUSD is singled out for another $17 million hit starting this coming fiscal year, which will be shared by Pima County, likely leading to higher property taxes for Pima County residents along with cuts. The exact portion of the cuts/tax hikes will be apportioned by an unelected Property Tax Oversight Committee based in Phoenix. The inflation funding lawsuit settlement, which the courts have set at around $332 million, was funded at only $74 million. And $900 million in K-12 rollovers remain, a budgeting gimmick used years ago that has still not been paid back. This means that public schools are receiving their state funds not in advance, but as reimbursement — 90 days in arrears. 

Many state lawmakers said the decision was rushed and carried out without much opportunity for public input.

Democratic state Rep. Eric Meyer of Paradise Valley released this statement:

“The Republicans made sure the budget process was quick and provided little opportunity for public comment. Despite this effort, hundreds of teachers, students, parents and concerned citizens came to the Capitol to deliver a clear message. This budget is bad for education and jeopardizes our economic stability.

“Instead of listening to the people they represent, Republicans have chosen to perpetuate the education funding shell game which prioritizes special interest tax cuts and corporate giveaways over the needs of middle-class families. They’re slashing more than $100 million from higher education. Those cuts include eliminating all state support for the largest community colleges. These policies are irresponsible and shortsighted. Without a solid education and access to affordable higher education, Arizona kids won’t be ready for 21st century jobs.

“I encourage the governor to listen to what the people of Arizona are saying and to veto the budget. There are other options; balancing the budget does not require us to mortgage our future.”

Gov. Doug Ducey is thrilled with the budget, and has said it represents "99 percent" of what he has proposed in January.

"The people elected us to get the job done and that's what we've done. We've passed a balanced, bipartisan budget that prioritizes wisely, protects our most vulnerable and restores Arizona to a structurally-balanced budget by fiscal 2017. If we want to see meaningful and lasting improvement in our schools and economy, government must start living within its means and practicing fiscal responsibility. We recognize that families, businesses and taxpayers do this every day. This budget reflects my commitment to representing Arizonans - not special interests. I want to thank the Legislature, especially the leadership of President Biggs and Speaker Gowan, for working diligently to get this done for the people of Arizona. This is a budget that reflects our state's priorities and for that we should all be proud."

This is the fifth letter a group of anonymous voices, the self-proclaimed Extremely Concerned TUSD Administrators; Teachers and Parents, have sent out since last September expressing their dislike (to say the least), for TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez and the way the governing board functions under President Adelita Grijalva. 

Our own David Safier was critical of some of these.

Last week, I attended the board's meeting, and state Sen. Steve Farley was there to tell Michael Hicks what he thought about the board member's support for SB 1371, which would eliminate funds for the district's desegregation programs (a total of $64 million). During the call to the audience, Hicks got an earful from several other people. When it was time for him to defend himself, Hicks was interrupted by strange phone noises that came out from the speakers and by Grijalva, who kept telling Hicks to stick to what had been discussed in the call to the audience rather than going to tangents.

Full disclosure. I'm so enraged by the budget Ducey and his cronies are trying to strong-arm through the legislature, hoping they can pass it before too many Republicans defect, I don't have the composure to write a careful, fact-laden post about the budget. The proposed budget is awful. It's immoral. It works against the best interests of our children and our state. If you want details, sorry, you'll have to go elsewhere.

If you're also outraged, live in Pima County and want to do something, register your complaint by calling or emailing Governor Ducey. Most likely if you're from around here, your legislators are as outraged as you are, so calling or emailing them won't do much good. The phone number is (602) 542-4331. Here's the page where you email his office.  A few words will suffice, but if you'd like help framing your message, go to the Call to Action page on the website of the newly formed group, Arizona Stands UP. You'll find a short, basic script you can either follow or use as a starting point. (Another full disclosure: I'm working with Arizona Stands UP). Helpful hint for the phone shy: if you want to call but don't want to talk directly with someone, call after hours and leave a voice message.

If you live in Pinal County or other Republican-heavy areas around the state, you can contact your legislators and urge them to vote against the budget.

Pima County school superintendents and local business leaders came together this afternoon to tell state lawmakers that enough is enough—the continuous cuts to education at all levels have a detrimental effect on Arizona's children and the overall future of the state's economy. 

At a press conference earlier this afternoon, there was a huge concern for the $30 million in possible cuts to Joint Technical Education Districts.

News of a budget deal between Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP leaders arose late Monday, and today the heads of Tucson Unified, Sunnyside Unified, Vail Unified, Sahuarita Unified school districts, as well as JTED and representatives with the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, demanded legislators to vote against it and persuaded all voters to put pressure on the state government to stop the abuse, and realize (as if it weren't obvious enough already) that education, business and economy go hand-in-hand—there is no way to cripple one without crippling the other.

"JTED was a referendum approved by tax payers in Pima County, approved at over 70 percent across the board, a huge percentage of passing a bill that says 'we want to raise our taxes because we want more money to go into career and technical education programs,'" said Alan Storm, JTED superintendent. "The current budget being proposed would take away 7.5 percent from every member district for every student (that attends) career and technical education courses and programs. Districts cannot possibly withstand a 7.5 percent cut on every one of their career and technical education programs."

At TUSD's level, that would be $330 per student that enrolls in a career and technical education course, according to TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez. 

Vail Superintendent Calvin Baker, whose district would lose about $2.5 million from its sponsored charter schools funding, said that JTED is the most successful partnership between education and business that has occurred in Pima County "for the last couple of decades." 

There was a common confusion: Ducey supports attracting more businesses to Arizona and fueling the economy, but defends a $104 million cut to universities, a $30 million cut to JTEDs, and about $98 million to K-12 (although overall funding would rise $102 million, Legislature Democrats say the number is misleading because the increases are largely driven by higher enrollment and inflation, and this budget deal actually means a $98 million cut to K-12 starting next year, according to The Arizona Republic), and pretty much zero, yes zero, state funding for Pima, Pinal and Maricopa community colleges. 

Storm and all others present reminded lawmakers that the first thing businesses search for in a state is a skilled workforce, and JTEDs—quality education in general—are at the forefront. 

A similar school district collaboration happened in the Phoenix area. And, as we speak, a protest is happening at the state Capitol.

The appropriations committees in the state House and Senate are expected to vote on the budget today, with a final approval in both chambers coming either tomorrow or Saturday. 

Late last night, the Arizona Capitol Times wrote that Gov. Doug Ducey and the Republican leadership in the state House and Senate had reached a budget deal that will make even deeper cuts to universities and some community colleges' funding. 

Earlier this year, Ducey proposed to take $75 million in total from the three public universities—about $22 million would come from the UA—now that number is up to $104 million. Community colleges are screwed, too—this deal, which would still need to be approved by the state Legislature, asks to eliminate all state funding for Pima, Pinal and Maricopa community colleges, according to the Arizona Capitol Times.

Bachelor's and master's will become words kids won't know the meaning of anymore in the future.

Also, is the state's goal to completely gut community colleges? 

I went to Pima for my associate's degree because it is considerably cheaper than the UA. It saved me at least $10,000 that I don't have to worry about paying back in loans now that I've out of school for years. Like many of you out there, I come from a single-parent, very middle-class household, and community colleges are at the top of the list for the first two, three years of the bachelor's degree journey, or is it not? 

At least from the 3,000 more beds in private prisons Ducey wanted, this new proposal only lets him get 2,000. Whoopy. 

There will be another protest tomorrow afternoon at the state Capitol. It seems like all there is left to do is make a lot of noise and hope these politicians' knees tremble a little bit, and tremble enough to think twice before cutting more money from universities, community colleges and public schools. 

Lets make our voices heard and let the Governor know we are tired of the cuts to education. Please share this event on your timeline if you are in the State of Arizona. If you are a teacher or a concerned parent or community member, please share this so we can get representation on Thursday. Even if you can't go, others may be able to attend. The cuts have to stop. Our teachers and students deserve better. The protest last Wednesday was a success, and we hope for even better participation this time – let’s make a statement that cannot be ignored. We aren’t just parents, or teachers or students – we are ARIZONANS WHO VOTE!

Arizona's high stakes testing opt out bill, HB2246, made it through two committees. Republicans in the committees voted for it while Democrats either voted No or were absent during the vote. I understand the Democrats' concern, since killing Common Core is a cause célèbre for the far right, and one of their strategies is to throw a monkey wrench in the works by attacking the tests. But testing and Common Core aren't the same thing. The merits of the Common Core are worth debating. Lots of teachers using the Common Core standards like them, including people whose opinions I respect, while others are less happy with what they've seen. But the yearly high stakes tests, which have been around since No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, are a destructive force in our children's educations, more destructive than any good that might come from the new standards. Allowing parents to express their concerns about the tests by opting out is an important first step toward replacing the yearly tests with something that will help, not harm our children and our educational system.

At a press conference in Phoenix this afternoon, Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, with Tucson Unified School District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez by her side, announced that, for now, TUSD is not losing 10 percent of its monthly state aid, or $14 million, over allegations the district was in violation of the state's anti-Mexican American studies law.

Although she is happy with TUSD's "progress," the Arizona Department of Education will continue to monitor the district through the end of the school year to ensure they are "in compliance with the law."

Again, Douglas brought up that the content itself is not the issue (but that is protected by the Unitary Status Plan, a federal court order that says TUSD must include culturally relevant classes in its schools), rather the methods used by some TUSD teachers to implement it in the classrooms. She said the education department is concerned that some of them are not following the culturally relevant curriculum approved by the school board.

What exactly are teachers doing that she does not like or that entails "not following the curricula," it's still vague. Earlier today, I spoke with Cholla educator Andrew Walanski, who's English from an African-American perspective class was deemed illegal in part for using content written by rapper and activist KRS-One (who recently visited Cholla High!), and he said ADE still hasn't told him what exactly he is doing wrong, even though they have been in and out of his classroom for months now.

Douglas and Sanchez seem to be working well together, though.

"I have been very appreciative and impressed by the support provided by Superintendent Douglas and her staff," TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez said at the conference. "(I am) committed to doing good work, fully reestablish public confidence in all of the things we do. I am committed to working with Superintendent Douglas, and teachers and staff in TUSD. Together we were able to avoid a costly loss of funding and I remain committed to improving culturally relevant classroom instruction so that in the future monitoring will no longer be required. I am impressed with the dedication that Superintendent Douglas is showing in personally resolving this issue so that TUSD can expand culturally relevant courses while complying with state law.”

In January, former schools superintendent John Huppenthal sent TUSD a notice of noncompliance red flagging U.S. history and English classes taught from African-American and Mexican-American perspectives, saying the courses promoted "the overthrow of the United States government, resentment toward a race or class of people," and "advocating ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals." TUSD had until March 4 to fix that or the state would penalize the district.

Since then, ADE officials have visited both the classes that were highlighted in the notice of noncompliance and other classrooms in some of TUSD's high schools—Cholla Magnet, Tucson High... 

Teachers have also been having to turn over their lesson plans and all other skeletons of what they intend to use as teaching tools in their classes. They had to do that back in December, too, and a month later the notice of noncompliance arose, without any ADE official ever speaking to the teachers or students.

The NY Times has an interesting article in its Business section discussing a recent paper that concludes, a big, booming financial/banking sector results in a drop in national productivity. When times are good and money is flowing in, the authors contend, banks prefer to lend to collateral-rich areas like real estate and construction.

But these industries are also among the least productive, and that leaves fewer dollars for more promising research-and-development start-ups that may have only intangibles, such as knowledge and ideas, to offer a banker as collateral. Even though such start-ups have far more potential than projects backed by tangible collateral, they don’t attract the financing they need.

I'd never thought of that aspect of the negative effects of Big Finance, but I've long thought, from an educational standpoint, that the big money in finance-based professions creates a societal brain drain, luring some of our top minds away from productive businesses that thrive on brilliance and innovation.

People love to moan about how our higher education system isn't turning out the great, innovative minds we need to compete and thrive in the global market. I agree, it would be to the country's advantage to turn out more first rate mathematicians, scientists, computer engineers and the like. Is the problem that our colleges and universities are doing a lousy job educating our young adults? Is it because American kids today are so spoiled and lazy, they're not willing to put the necessary effort into their educations? Both of those are possible, but here's a third possibility I find more compelling. So many students with dollar signs in their eyes are choosing to be business majors, it's robbing other fields of much-needed talent.

It's worth sitting up and taking notice when a poll says almost two-thirds of Arizonans support a tax increase—especially when 50 percent of Republicans are on board.

Nearly two-thirds of Arizonans, including more than 50 percent of Republicans, would be willing to pay an additional $200 in state taxes annually to better fund K-12 education, according to a new poll.

Why are respondents willing to dig into their own pockets to support our children's educations?

Respondents overwhelmingly chose K-12 education as their top priority, and 50 percent said Arizona high school graduates are not as prepared as students in other states. Almost three-quarters of those polled said Arizona spends fewer tax dollars on K-12 education than other states, and almost 80 percent said the state doesn't spend enough.

Those are amazing numbers. Even if the poll is a bit skewed and overstates the pro-education sentiment by 10 percent, it's still an impressive show of support for education, a sign that Arizonans understand that we need to spend more money on schools.

So. Democrats. Have you ever seen numbers so strongly in your favor when it comes to education and taxation here in Arizona? I haven't. Now is the time to throw off your natural reticence—I'll refrain from calling it cowardice, though I'm tempted to—and Man Up! Woman Up! Stand Up! Say it loud. We need more funds to educate our children, and we can only get those funds if we increase taxes.

Everyone who's looked at the numbers knows it's impossible for Arizona to have a balanced budget while supporting education and other necessary services adequately if we don't put more cash in the state coffers. And really, as sensible as it would be to cut back on all those tax breaks legislators have lavished on businesses, and as sensible as it would be to bag the current round of business tax cuts, that won't bring in all the required revenue. We need to raise taxes.

As generous as the people who took the poll said they were willing to be, they really don't have to kick in an extra $200. Those who have benefited most over the past 40 years from our growing income inequality should be paying their fair share, meaning their state income tax rates need to go up. They can afford a significant tax hike, which will hurt their pride more than their pocketbooks, far more easily than the average taxpayer can afford $200. Our current dependence on sales tax puts too great a burden on bottom 50 percent of wage earners. The only fair thing to do is raise the tax rates at the top income levels.

Things seem to be going well between Gov. Doug Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, especially now that legislation clarifying who can fire people in the state's Board of Education is underway.



State Sen. Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City collaborated with Ducey and Douglas on the language, which would be added as an amendment to HB 2184.



The amendment says the board is responsible for its executives, but Douglas would be the one who implements board policies.



About two weeks ago, the pair got into it after Douglas fired the board's Executive Director Christine Thompson and Assistant Director Sabrina Vazquez. Gov. Doug Ducey then said Douglas had no legal right to do this, and overturned the layoffs, and they went back to work shortly after (awkward).



Douglas then release a statement that said Ducey apparently viewed himself as both the governor and the superintendent of schools. 



We can all put that behind us now.



The Arizona Department of Education issues this: