Friday, May 31, 2019
If you look at the numbers in next year's state budget, you might think education made out pretty well. There's all this new money: $136 million in additional assistance for schools; $130 million for teacher raises; $20 million to hire counselors or security officers; $30 million for results based funding.
You might also think I made out pretty well if I told you my boss said I'm doing a great job and handed me a crisp new hundred dollar bill. Until I told you the boss cut my salary by five hundred dollars.
Same thing with the state budget. All that brand spanking new education money sounds good until you realize, the decade-long cuts to education have been so deep, even with the new money, schools are a billion dollars behind where they were in 2008. And back then, Arizona had the lowest per student spending in the country.
To see how we dug ourselves in a hole so deep that adding $300 million to the education budget still leaves the schools a billion dollars behind, we need to start back in 2008 with the Great Recession.
Like most other states, Arizona was hit hard when the economy sank like a stone. The state was desperately short of funds. The budget had to be cut, and education took a big hit. The Republicans in charge told us, shaking their heads sadly, we have no choice. There just isn't enough money to go around.
A few years later in 2010, after more cuts to education, Governor Jan Brewer decided we did have a choice. She defied the standard Republican "No new taxes" mantra and supported a ballot measure for a one cent sales tax increase for education. The voters agreed with Brewer. The measure passed with 64 percent of the vote.
The problem was, it only lasted three years.
Tags: Arizona state budget , Doug Ducey , education , funding , dollars , recession , students , K-12 , schools , budgets , Image
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Thursday, May 30, 2019
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Wednesday, May 29, 2019
My posts about Douglas were sighs of relief that she wasn't acting like the fire-breathing ultraconservative she played on the campaign trail. In the early going, Douglas was making reasonable, inclusive statements about Arizona's schools and students. She was doing no harm, which was the best I could hope for. To my surprise, she even did some good. So I offered her praise and encouragement during the early going. When Trump came into the picture, Douglas reverted to wingnut type, but that was years later.
Hoffman, meanwhile, began doing the kind of job I hoped she would from her first days in office. I've been waiting to see if the trend would continue, and it has. Almost halfway through her first year, Hoffman has created enough of a track record for me to say, I'm impressed.
It's important to understand the nature of the superintendent' job to put Hoffman's accomplishments in perspective. She administers a multi-billion dollar budget but has no direct impact on legislators or legislation. Any political clout Hoffman has comes from the way she uses her bully pulpit. Thus far, she's used it effectively. She continues to emphasize her perspective as an educator, which is a welcome relief after three decades of non-educators running the Department of Education. Hoffman makes it clear, she knows teachers, she knows students, she knows public schools.
Hoffman took her oath of office with her hand on a children's book. That could be called gimmicky, I suppose, but I appreciated the symbolism. She was swearing an oath to serve the students, to put their needs foremost. Most teachers make a similar oath to themselves every year before the first day of school. It was a promising start.
There was no symbolism involved in Hoffman's strong stance against the Arizona law stating that sex education courses can't say anything positive about what the law calls "a homosexual life-style." Referring to it as the "no promo homo law" in her State of Education speech, Hoffman said the policy is "outdated . . . harmful and wrong."
The law may have been on the way out regardless. The board of education was facing a suit over the statute, and Attorney General Mark Brnovich said he wouldn't come to its defense. The board of education voted unanimously against it, then in April the legislature repealed the law. Whether or not Hoffman's aggressive stance on the topic moved votes, her full-throated condemnation of the old law helped clarify the issue and boost it into statewide prominence.
Tags: Kathy Hoffman , Superintendent of Public Instruction , English Language Learners , "No Promo Homo" law , Empowerment Scholarship Accounts , Image
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Tuesday, May 28, 2019
The opinion closes a tumultuous chapter in Arizona cannabis legality that Downtown Dispensary owner Moe Asnani described as “an emotional rollercoaster.”
“The weight of the world is off my shoulders,” Asnani said. “We fought it and prevailed.”
Justices made a straight-forward call, said Alex Lane, criminal defense attorney and owner of Cave Creek Dispensary.
“We start with the statutory language,” the opinion reads. “Because AMMA specifically defines ‘marijuana,’ we apply the statutory definition and look to neither the criminal code nor common understanding.”
Much of the prosecution’s case rested on the idea that “cannabis” is defined as a narcotic in the Arizona Revised Statutes, and that voters did not realize they were voting for concentrates in the AMMA. The Supreme Court shot down that argument.
Harvest of Arizona owner and Arizona Dispensaries Association president Steve White said he feels a combination of relief and vindication.
“Patients in Arizona are going to continue to have options beyond just smoking the flower,” he said. “So we can continue to serve people who don’t want to smoke cannabis flower.”
The saga of questioning cannabis concentrates began with the 2014 conviction of Rodney Jones who was already on probation. Jones had been found guilty of legally possessing cannabis concentrates, but Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk saw it as an opportunity.
Polk, a long-time cannabis opponent prosecuted the case and Jones spent two-and-a-half years in prison without committing a crime.
Tags: marijuana , MMJ , concentrates , legal , dispensaries , oil , concentrates , medical marijuana , weed , AMMA , Image
Since Miller fancies herself a champion of transparency, we called her office to find out whether Mott, who had been serving as chief of staff, still had a job there. However, Beard would only tell us: "Any issues regarding HR have to go through HR."
That sounds like a non-confirmation confirmation to us, but we've gone ahead with the public-records request and we'll fill you in on what we find out.
In the meantime, if you see Tyler up on the 11th floor, let us know! Maybe he's just taking a long Memorial Day vacation and Miller hasn't fired yet another employee.
Tags: Ally Miller , Tyler Mott , Chief of staff , Pima County Supervisor , employees , HR , mystery , Image
Representative Tom O'Halleran of Arizona's 1st Congressional District will be hosting a budget workshop and town hall at the Oro Valley Community Center, 10555 N. La Cañada Drive, today from 5:15 to 7 p.m.
O'Halleran, who lives in Sedona, served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and the Arizona Senate from 2007 to 2009 as a Republican. In 2014, he changed his party affiliation to Independent, and ran for U.S. Congress in 2016 as a Democrat and won. He currently serves as a co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, which represents centrist Democrats within the U.S. House of Representatives.
Participants will be able to meet the Congressman, ask him about important issues and go through budget exercises with other civically-engaged citizens. According to a press release, O'Halleran will explain the full process and decisions that elected officials make. Then, those who attend will break off into small groups to go through a simulation to create mock budgets.
Afterwards, you'll be able to share your newfound budget knowledge with friends and family, creating a more educated and informed society! The workshop is a free event in partnership with the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that hosts "hands-on budget workshops."
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Friday, May 24, 2019
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Wednesday, May 22, 2019
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