Nancy Young Wright’s Blog

I was honored this week by the Arizona Center for After School Excellence as their “2009 Legislative Champion for Children and Youth.” Young Wright receives Afterschool award
Thank you, Arizona Center for After School Excellence, for this unexpected award!

The 2010 budget and what the federal stimulus package means to Arizona is dominating the news here. Yesterday the House Education Committee braved the snow to travel to Flagstaff to hear from representatives from NAU, Flagstaff Unified School District, the Ganado Unified School District, the Mohave Community College, and others. The House Committee will meet in Tucson this Friday, February 13th at 10:00 at Flowing Wells High School auditorium. The agenda is below. Please join us and plan to speak. I really believe that we must continue to speak out on what the 2009 budget cuts mean to our schools and our communities and what the 2010 cuts may mean.

A sample of comments from Flagstaff:

• Dr. Hager, the President of NAU, told us that the cuts may mean the closure of most if not all of their facilities around the state, including Tucson. They are planning lay offs, furloughs, and possible program cuts in addition, though none have yet been pin-pointed. NAU has 21,000 students and undergraduate residential education is their main focus.
• Dr. Kearns of Mohave County Community College shared that they are struggling to establish facilities and programs for their students. Reductions will lead to maintenance and safety problems for their older modular buildings, which is about all they have, as well as a hold on the development of programs for the students. Forbes magazine recently named Mohave county the (not one of, but THE) worst educated areas in the US.
• Dr. Brown of Flagstaff USD said budget challenges include high costs for utilities, the very high number of miles traveled–some over rough dirt roads–to transport the students, higher health care costs in rural areas, declining enrollment, a high cost of living, and the uncertainty in the budget reduction amount. Arizona Department of Education is still calculating the exact amount per school district, so they don’t know the exact reduction amount yet. They can’t lay people off who are under contract, so the focus is on cutting supplies and materials; to saving utility costs, freezing vacancies, and a four day work week in the summer for administrators. They believe they will lose more students due to the cost of living in the area and the fact that the City of Flagstaff is laying off 120 people. He asked us to do whatever we can to invigorate the economy in the state and their community.
• Dr. Dennison of Ganado spoke of an unemployment rate of 45% on the Navajo Nation already and how lay offs of school employees would further harm communities there.
• A representative of the Flagstaff Forty asked us to use a “combination of spending reductions, spending deferrals, debt financing, revenue enhancements, and other short-term strategies to solve the budget shortfall.

Looking ahead:

On Wednesday, Feb. 11th, a bus from LD 26 carrying 50+ parents, teachers and citizens will arrive to show their concern for and support of education. Thank you, CARE, for your advocacy!

On Thursday, February 12, at 2:00, there’s a Joint Senate Committee on Education Accountability and Reform and House Committee on Education meeting to hear from Superintendent Horne on the State of Education and a presentation on the School Facilities Board from JLBC and the School Facilities Board.

Details on a joint Town Hall meeting for LD 26 and LD 25:
I’ll be joined by Rep. Pat Fletcher and Senator Manny Alvarez to hear your concerns and thoughts. Other representatives may also join us. Please help us spread the word.

Saturday Feb 21 10-noon
Wheeler/Taft/Abbott library branch (usually called Abbott) 7800 N. Schisler Dr., Marana
http://maps.google.com/maps?fq&hl=en&geocode=&q=7800+N.+Schisler+Dr.,+tucson,+az&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.349227,79.101563&ie=UTF8&z=16

Take Cortaro Farms Road west of I-10;
Go past the Walmart, continue over the bridge Turn left on Mami Kai road between the Auto Zone and Fletcher Tires Schisler Drive may still be under construction 594-5200 x 3 for info

Meanwhile, there is other mischief afoot:
There are several initiative bills that were just introduced including HCR 2030 which requires a 2/3 majority for initiatives that raise fees – seems it would apply to virtually all measures. Really, really bad – the Voter coalition is aware of it.

http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/49leg/1r/bills/hcr2030p.htm

Thomas Jefferson said that “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
Please, be vigilant, organize, and energize for 2010. We need everyone’s help to bring change to Arizona.

ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Forty-ninth Legislature – First Regular Session
SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

DATE Friday, February 13, 2009 ROOM Tucson, Arizona TIME 10:00 A.M.

Members:
Mrs. Barto Mr. Schapira Ms. Young Wright
Mr. Court Ms. Waters Mrs. Goodale, Vice-Chairman
Mr. Hendrix Mr. Williams Mr. Crandall, Chairman
Mr. Meyer
___________________________________________________________________________

With permission of the Speaker the Committee on Education will be meeting at Flowing Wells High School Auditorium
3725 North Flowing Wells Road
Tucson, Arizona 85705
1. Call to Order
2. Presentations

• Dr. Elizabeth Celania-Fagen, Superintendent, Tucson Unified School District
• Dr. Robert N. Shelton, President, University of Arizona
• Dr. Roy Flores, Chancellor, Pima Community College
• Dr. Alan Storm, Superintendent, Pima County Joint Technological Education District
• Mr. Brett Agenbroad, Superintendent, Sierra Vista Unified
• Mr. Alfredo Velasquez, Santa Cruz County School Superintendent
• Ms. Anita Mendoza, Assistant Superintendent of Instructions, AmeriSchools

3. Call for Public Testimony
________________________________________________

Rich Crandall, Chairman
JRB 2/10/09
People with disabilities may request reasonable accommodations such as interpreters, alternative formats, or assistance with physical accessibility. If you require accommodations, please contact the Chief Clerk’s Office at (602) 926-3032, TDD (602) 926-3241.

Welcome to the first weekly update from the capitol for the 2009! My goal is to produce a brief report at the end of each week. The opinions expressed are strictly my own. If you have suggestions for things you’d like to hear about or bills you’d like more information about, just let me know and I’ll do my best to secure that.

Our first week was devoted to swearing in of the members of the House and Senate, to settling in with assistants and offices. The second week was devoted to the Inauguration of President Obama, the departure of Governor Napolitano, the swearing in of Governor Jan Brewer, and the swearing in of Secretary of State Ken Bennett.

This week, unfortunately, ended in budget disaster for our state. As many of you already know, we were on the floor of the House and Senate until 2:30 am Saturday January 31st, and a budget fix for the 2009 shortfall was passed that chopped at least $133 million from K-12, $142 million from our universities, $9 million from community colleges and millions from the state health care system. The entire Democratic caucus in the Senate and House voted against the budget, but it passed on party lines and went to the Governor. Dems in the House offered floor amendments that would have restored funding in major areas of concerns, but none were passed.

The rush to pass these cuts seems to be connected to the federal stimulus money. There are theories that if the education budget is cut deeply enough, we won’t qualify for federal stimulus funds. Many have asked me why the majority at the legislature would wish this for our K-12 and university system when we already rank so low in spending for these vital needs compared to the rest of the nation. My answer is that we are here by design; that these policies are driven by a desire to privatize our education system.

Despite promises to the contrary to hold the budget talks in the open, the negotiations went behind closed doors and Dem leadership was not invited to participate. Dems had a sensible plan to help balance the budget without such deep cuts, but it was rejected.

We are caught in the depths of an ideological war in Arizona and the casualties are our children, our disabled, our seniors; in short, those least able to speak for themselves. It is contrary to logic, wrong-headed and dangerous for our economy and our future.

Next we move on to the 2010 budget, so please stay tuned. My hope is that these severe cuts and the fallout they create will inspire people to get involved and take action. Two women, Melissa Megna and Carolyn Badger, have taken action to help advocate for education. They have started a non-partisan group called “CARE” to advocate for education. They are planning a trip the capitol by bus to rally for education on Wednesday, February 11th. For details, contact them at melmegna@gmail.com or carolynbadger@hotmail.com. I applaud Carolyn and Melissa for their efforts.

Because of limited opportunities for public input at the capitol on the budget, Dems are on the road to hear your concerns about how these cuts affect you. Last week we held hearings in Casa Grande and Phoenix; this week we will hold one in Tucson.

Republicans have held the majority in the Arizona House of Representatives since 1966. Democrats currently sit on two committees, while Republicans sit on three or sometimes four. Of course, we are also outnumbered on the committees themselves, and until recently, it was rare that a bill sponsored by a Democrat received a hearing.
While I understand that this is the “way it is”, I believe it’s wrong because it further reduces the voice of the minority representatives by two-thirds. That means that our constituents receive less of a voice at the state capitol.