Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Once again, Governor Ducey refuses to talk with Democratic legislators about the budget. In Monday's Republicans-only budget compromise, Ducey gave up more of his priorities than might have been necessary if he were willing to create a bipartisan deal where he could pull together enough votes from both sides to get a budget to his desk. Bipartisanship isn't in fashion these days.
Still, things look dicey for Ducey's compromise. A few Republicans are holding out, and with their slim legislative majority, a few is all it will take to kill the bill. The proposed budget throws a bone or two in the Democrats's direction in hopes it can get some of them to vote Yes even though they weren't allowed into the negotiating room. But as Tucson Rep. David Bradley said, "Placating is not negotiating." At this moment, the Dems look like they're holding firm.
Then there's the May 27 Memorial Day deadline, after which some Republicans will skip town and lower the chances of getting the budget through on a straight party line vote.
Wanna bet, when the dust settles, it will still be an all-Republican budget passed in the dead of night just before the Monday deadline, with enough giveaways to lure the few strays back to the fold? That's where my money would be if I were a betting man. It's a bet I'd be delighted to lose.
Tags: Arizona state budget , Doug Ducey , K-12 education , Republican , legislature , politics , State government , Image
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Monday, May 20, 2019
We received a press release regarding the forum, which will feature Fadhel Kaboub, a Denison University associate professor of economics and president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity who will address the costs of the proposal to reduce the United State's greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030.
The press release included this all-caps line: WAITING FOR QUOTE FROM ALISON HERE ABOUT WHY PCPD THINKS THIS IS IMPORTANT.
We get that climate change is an urgent issue but maybe next time, you can wait to get the canned quote from Pima County Democratic Party chairwoman Alison Jones before you send the press release?
If you're interested in attending, the free forum is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, at the UA's Institute of the Environment, 1064 E. Lowell St., room N120. RSVP here.
Tags: news , politics , Green New Deal , Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity , Denison University , Alison Jones , Pima County Democratic Party , Image
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Friday, May 17, 2019
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When the New York Times carried a story about the progress students have been making in the "I Promise School" started by LeBron James in Cleveland, I put the article in my "Post about it when you have a chance" pile. Two weeks later, before I wrote about it myself, mayoral candidate Steve Farley used LeBron's school as a starting point for one on his Ideas For Tucson emails, titled "Turning our public schools into community schools." The email began,
LeBron James has rightfully received a lot of publicity for the work he is supporting at previously failing Cleveland public schools — work that is producing astonishing results.In the email and on his website's Ideas page, Farley embraces the idea of turning schools into places where families can benefit along with their children, places which provide "GED classes, basic healthcare, low income bus passes, use of the computer lab, career counseling, microlending, and job training for parents as well as kids." The city, he wrote, can be a partner in creating and implementing a community school approach to education.
Farley got it exactly right.
Before I go further, I need to say, this isn't an endorsement of Farley's candidacy. Both he and Regina Romero are strong candidates. I definitely want one of them as mayor, but honestly, I'm not sure which of them would do a better job. What I'm endorsing is the idea of forging a partnership between school districts and city government to bring the community school idea to Tucson. Farley deserves credit for featuring that idea in his campaign.
People in city government like to say they are strong advocates for local public schools, but too often, city governments and school districts remain separate entities with too little overlap.
The community school concept is a way to bridge the gap between the two institutions. City government is ideally situated to coordinate a coalition between a school district and governmental social services, businesses, nonprofit organizations and volunteers. A program can be ramped up gradually, school by school, service by service without incurring large costs for the city or the school district. In other words, it's doable, even with a cash-strapped district and a city on a tight budget. And the payoff can be significant.
Bringing services for underserved families inside the school walls makes those services more accessible to families and helps parents buy into their children's educations. When individual parents become involved in their children's schools, when they become members of the school family, the parents benefit and their children's chances of succeeding inside and outside the classroom improve.
I can't think of anything Tucson's city government can do which would be more beneficial to our schools than working with a district to move toward the community school approach.
I know Regina Romero is an advocate for strong public education and she has endorsements from members of the local and statewide educational community, but looking through her platform (It's a good platform, by the way) and reading her emails, I haven't seen concrete ideas for ways city government can have a direct impact on our schools. It would be great if she publicly embraced the community schools idea or something similar.
Tags: Steve Farley , Regina Romero , Tucson mayor , Elections , Community schools , LeBron James , I Promise School , Image
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Wednesday, May 15, 2019
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Tuesday, May 14, 2019
I don't know which state senator, or senators, stuck a half million dollar request for a new "Freedom School" at Northern Arizona University into the Republican senators' budget proposal. But someone did.
UA and ASU both have versions of the Koch brothers' libertarian outpost on their campuses, but Flagstaff's NAU is currently Freedom-School free. That could change, however, if the proposed funding makes it into the budget.
Don't mistake the request for extra money for a new Freedom School as a Republican change of heart when it comes to funding education. The same budget proposal cuts millions from Ducey's proposed university and K-12 budgets.
I've written often about UA's Freedom Center and less often about its ideological sibling, ASU's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Both received lots of money from members of the Koch donor network when they started out. FC became a state budget item in 2014, and SCETL's state funding began in 2017. The current budget includes $3.5 million for FC and $4 million for SCETL. Both centers will likely get the same funding in the upcoming budget.
As for that modest half million dollar funding request for the proposed NAU Freedom School. The small figure is a ruse, a way to get the thing up and running with as little controversy as possible. After all, what's a half million budget request between friends? The UA Freedom Center began the same way, with a half million state budget for its first three years. Now FC's annual budget is seven times that original figure.
Here are a few interesting and unusual facts about the funding for FC and SCETL.
• They are the only university "schools" or departments with their own line items in the state budget.I expect the same deal will hold for the NAU outpost if it's approved.
• Neither school has been able to spend all the money it gets from the state.
• The schools don't have to return what they don't spend. At the end of the year, they just stick the surplus in the bank, to be used at some later time.
Tags: Northern Arizona University , Arizona senate , Freedom School , Koch donor network , Freedom Center , School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership , Doug Ducey , Arizona budget , Image
