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admin on Arizona prop 100...yes or no?

Thu, 06 May 2010 23:53:36 +0000

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 should be a date marked on your calendar if you live in Arizona. We will be weighing in on a very important proposition, Prop 100 (the temporary 1-cent sales tax), which will determine the fate of our public services and education over the next 3 years. Currently, our education, already staggering under serious budget cuts last year, is facing another blow which will truly cripple it beyond reasonable repair. Arizona currently ranks last in per-child funding nationwide. If Prop 100 passes, two-thirds of this funding will go directly to K-12 eduction with the remaining one-third funding health and human services and public safety. The sales tax would automatically repeal on May 31, 2013. As much as I wish our problems could be solved by cutting back on government alone, we currently have a $3.2 billion structural deficit, meaning Arizona is not bringing in enough revenue to fund basic services. There are some scary actions that are on the drawing board if Prop 100 fails. One such idea proposed by the Sheriff's department is to begin retrofitting existing buildings like motels, hotels and even schools to house the overflow of prisoners. I wonder what this will do to property values in these areas...doesn't leave much to the imagination. Tucson Unified School District is already looking to close nine of their neighborhood schools this fall as a direct result of the budget cuts already in place from last year. This one school district could face a $28.6 million deficit of Prop 100 fails. They have already announced layoffs of more than 60 administrators. What will happen if education gets another swipe of the budgetary ax? Some of the cuts already in place from November of 2009 were $144 million mid-year cuts in the state's K-12 soft capital budget which pays for books, technology and school busses. This is in addition to the $133 million cut from K-12 in January of 2009. Increased class sizes, fewer qualified and experienced teachers, non-existent teaching materials, and reduced or eliminated electives and special needs programs are just a few of the outcomes we will face if Prop 100 fails. According to the Arizona Education Network, we will face a funding crisis of a $428 million loss to K-12 alone. Traditional public schools can expect a total funding cut of $748,775,148 while public charter schools can expect a cut of $63,663,047 in total funding. Even if voters approve the 1-cent tax increase of Prop 100, the state will still face significant cuts to even come close to closing the budget gap. If you would like to see how this will directly affect your own school district, check out a report released by Governor Brewer's Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting which provides district-by-district estimates of the impact of legislative budget cuts for 2011, showing effects both with and without the passage of Prop 100. If this doesn't keep you up at night, I'm not sure what will. Whether you choose to vote yes or no on this proposition, I would hope that you at least intend to vote. One of the saddest commentaries on our time is the low turnout when it comes to exercising our right to vote. Please take a stand and show up at the polls. As for myself, I intend to vote yes on Prop 100. As unfortunate as it is to advocate additional taxes in a recession, my passion lies with my kids education. I hate to face a future in which my children's education will not just suffer but will seriously cripple them when it comes time to compete with other states graduates for a place in a good college or a decent job. This isn't the best solution but as we are finding out with many things right now, it's the only solution we have. Please take a moment and weigh in at our forum discussion. This is one of those most difficult topics and one we will all have an opportunity to voice our opinions on come May 18th. Share your views with us so that we can view the topic from all perspectives and be educated going into the polls.

admin on New legislation affecting teachers and March4Schools Day of Action

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:27:42 +0000

Earlier I wrote an article entitled "Do we value our teachers, or are they expendable?" concerning legislation, effective this year, which effectively eliminated contract dates, RIF recall rights and Seniority protections for teaching professionals. Some considered this legislation "punitive" backlash for teachers who led a protest at the capital last year to oppose massive budget cuts to public schools. Since that time, teachers, parents and concerned individuals have led protests for these unfair practices. There have been some new developments... Arizona Education Association (AEA) is currently lobbying for SB1299 which is sponsored by Senator Linda Lopez. If accepted, it would repeal these policies. HB 2226, which is being introduced by Representative Lauren Hendrix and will be heard in the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday of this week (February 24), would repeal these punitive policy provisions and then reinstate them. AEA will be present at this meeting to testify. Representative David Schapira will also be introducing an amendment to HB2226 which would eliminate the reinstatement of these punitive laws, effectively repealing them instead. If you would like to support the amendment, contact committee members. You can also show support for education in Arizona by attending the March4Schools Day of Action on March 4, 2010 at 4 p.m. This enormous community outreach action will bring thousands of education supporters statewide together to share their stories and concerns about the impact of legislative funding cuts to their schools with the voting public. It is hoped that this effort will bring attention to the anti-education legislation taking place. If you would like to attend as a March4Schools Day of Action participant, it is asked that you wear a t-shirt (that can be purchased online) to present a unified front in support of quality public education for every child in Arizona. To join in and be a part of this event, check out what activities will be available in your individual local. Weigh in with your thoughts on how our teachers are being treated from a legislative standpoint. Are they expendable? Or do we value them and want them to stay? For more information: Download the AEA March4Schools Day of Action flyer.

admin on Do we value our teachers or are they expendable?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:45:43 +0000

Do we value our teachers or are they expendable?

These changes, falling under House Bill 2011, prevent districts from considering tenure when making decisions about which teachers will be laid off. This also applies to rehires. Here are a few more changes taking effect with this bill...

• Districts are no longer required to give teachers notification of contract status for the following school year. Prior to Bill 2011, Districts were required to notify teachers by April 15th whether they were going to return the next year.

• Districts can also now lower salaries mid year for select teachers without being required to take into account tenure.

• If a teacher is placed on an improvement plan for inadequate instruction, they are only required to have 60 days of instruction now rather then the previously required 85 days.

• If teachers wish to participate in union business during contracted time, they are no longer required to be compensated.

Looking at the pros and cons, it is easy to understand why these changes have become so controversial. First, it is important to understand that Arizona is now vying for a very lucrative $4.3 billion "Race to the Top" federal education grant sponsored by the US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan which has very specific requirements and guidelines that states must follow in order to be eligible. Once such requirement is linking teacher salaries with student achievement. Good? Bad? Well, it may spur teachers to put more effort into their classroom teaching. However, it may also cause teachers to encourage cheating, more lenient grade awarding, etc. in an effort to keep their jobs. It may also unfairly alienate teachers that are working in severely underprivileged areas where parent and community support are in short supply and children naturally suffer to no specific fault of the teacher.

Here are some interesting statistics on Arizona's educational priorities (information obtained through the Arizona Education Association)...

• Arizona is currently ranked 49th out of the 50 states in the amount spent per student

• It has the second highest student-teacher ratio

• It has the second fastest growing student population

• It ranks 35th in the nation for average teacher salaries. That's $6,536 BELOW the national average!

• To equal the national average spending per student, Arizona would need to increase their per student spending by 44%!

• In order to be equal to the national average, Arizona would need to spend in excess of $2.7 billion!

I recently spoke with a local 1st grade teacher in her second year that is already expressing her regrets and frustrations with the system. "I spend so much time administering required aptitude tests to my students, that I don't have time to even teach them the concepts I'm testing on!" she lamented. She refuses to allow her parent helpers to assist her with these tests because she feels it puts the students at a disadvantage. "I had to go through special training to administer these tests" she confided, "and I don't feel that the students benefit when different, unqualified people are randomly administering these tests." With some teachers relying on untrained parent helpers to administer tests to their students, there is no consistency and great room for error. Not to mention the huge amount of time wasted.

But then again, if Arizona were to win this "Race to the Top" grant money, perhaps great changes could be wrought to the benefit of both teacher and student. It certainly stands to encourage a great deal of innovative and forward thinking ideas about educational development as states fall all over themselves vying for the grant money. What do you think about the changes? Join the forum discussion on this topic and give us your thoughts.

Arizona Education Association http://www.arizonaea.org/profiles.php?page=32

Tuition Information http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/10/21/20091021collegetuition1021.html

March on capital http://www.arizonaea.org/politics.php?page=403

House Bill 2011 http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/ERT/pdf/hb2011.pdf

Race to the Top Grant http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/11/11122009.html

In what some claim to be a backlash from a large teacher march on the capital in March, Arizona Legislature has made some controversial changes to the way Arizona teachers are going to be treated. Some of these changes included removing seniority, salary and contract guarantees. One of the more surprising facts of this bill being passed is that state lawmakers did so without committee hearings or public comment, using an emergency 51-day special session to create a budget to push these changes through. These changes, falling under House Bill 2011, prevent districts from considering tenure when making decisions about which teachers will be laid off. This also applies to rehires. Here are a few more changes taking effect with this bill...Districts are no longer required to give teachers notification of contract status for the following school year. Prior to Bill 2011, Districts were required to notify teachers by April 15th whether they were going to return the next year.

Districts can also now lower salaries mid year for select teachers without being required to take into account tenure.
If a teacher is placed on an improvement plan for inadequate instruction, they are only required to have 60 days of instruction now rather then the previously required 85 days.
If teachers wish to participate in union business during contracted time, they are no longer required to be compensated.

Arizona is currently ranked 49th out of the 50 states in the amount spent per student
It has the second highest student-teacher ratio
It has the second fastest growing student population
It ranks 35th in the nation for average teacher salaries. That's $6,536 BELOW the national average!
To equal the national average spending per student, Arizona would need to increase their per student spending by 44%!
In order to be equal to the national average, Arizona would need to spend in excess of $2.7 billion!

If we are not paying our teachers, not putting money into our educational facilities and materials, failing to offer our teachers any kind of job security and consistently watching our student population explode, then someone please tell me what person in their right mind would ever want to study and invest over $18,000 in education to become a teacher!!! With less qualified and fewer teacher applicants entering the field, how can this be good for our children? I recently spoke with a local 1st grade teacher in her second year that is already expressing her regrets and frustrations with the system. "I spend so much time administering required aptitude tests to my students, that I don't have time to even teach them the concepts I'm testing on!" she lamented. She refuses to allow her parent helpers to assist her with these tests because she feels it puts the students at a disadvantage. "I had to go through special training to administer these tests" she confided, "and I don't feel that the students benefit when different, unqualified people are randomly administering these tests." With some teachers relying on untrained parent helpers to administer tests to their students, there is no consistency and great room for error. Not to mention the huge amount of time wasted. But then again, if Arizona were to win this "Race to the Top" grant money, perhaps great changes could be wrought to the benefit of both teacher and student. It certainly stands to encourage a great deal of innovative and forward thinking ideas about educational development as states fall all over themselves vying for the grant money. What do you think about the changes? Join the forum discussion on this topic and give us your thoughts. Please let us know if you are a teacher, parent or both in your comments.