Does Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs and the Majority of the GOP not understand the crisis Arizona schools are facing? When Mr. Biggs says, “We have an excellent educational system at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual legislative kickoff lunch in Phoenix, he ignores that Arizona is one of the states that spends the least per student on public education. Arizona also ranks very poorly in overall dropout rates, Hispanic dropout rates, as well a low percentage of Arizona residents with college degrees.
If Arizona wants to attract new businesses and expect solid economic development, this is one big crisis that our elected officials have to face in this coming legislative session. Our educational system is far from excellent. Due to Proposition 204 failing, our public schools are going broke, schools are having to close, teachers salaries’ are lacking and overall school performances are failing.
I suggest that Mr. Biggs and the rest of the Republican-held houses face realities and make education funding a top priority. Our educational system can become excellent if our legislators work at it. The time is now.
John Chiazza
Gilbert
Bluepoet posted at 11:31 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Like most other government services, the Republicans seem to be more interested in outsourcing the present than they do in investing in the future. It comes from a perspective of always looking backwards at things, instead of forward.
I do have to say that I was somewhat pleasantly surprised when the governor actually mentioned education, in her speech, though...it remains to be seen if anyone in the legislature heard the call, however.
JMJ posted at 11:38 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Our GOP majority tyranny has understood for a long, long time about dismantling the public schools. It goes back two decades to "choice" shrouded as the wolf in sheep's clothing. "Choice" has enabled GOP friends to start up charters and offer "choice", which, to parents may look like "choice". Bad "choice" is no choice.
The small portion of good charters has "choice", as well. They do not have to keep low-performing students when there is a public school down the street which has to take all students, no matter their "smarts" or lack there-of.
You have poor leaders in the public schools, as well, who will vote Republican along with the rest of their far right cronies in spite of knowing that the legislature is misguided and stepping all over the backs of its public school workforce, keeping teacher salaries at next to, if not at, the bottom of the nation.
From the top down, we have an inverse pyramid of the fat that floats to the top being held up by the rock solid, though shrinking, tipping point at the bottom. That tipping point has reached critical mass. When that baby fails, finally, the educational world in Arizona is going to come crashing down.
Those of us, who, for years, saw this coming had little to no voice in a right-to-work state with a legislature that would dismantle whatever semblance of any "union" attempt to protect its workforce with liveable wages.
Arizona, you have "gotten" what you paid for: No one moves here for the educational "choice" unless they have the money for a Brophy-type "choice".
None of my kids became teachers--they saw, firsthand, what this state does to its teachers and how the education system has gone down the crapper.
Leon, you're still a Froot Loop. It's not Hispanics' faults that the system is failing.
downtownresident posted at 1:11 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
JMJ,
Got it right.
There's no money to be made off public education, so why would the children who run the legislature cate about it?
Not only are charter "schools" cash cows for their owners, they are another source of income for our greedy "leaders". Especially if their relatives are running the school.
Oh, I forgot, some of the "pillars of our community" have their hands pushed directly into the cookie jar of the charter school system. Forget about honesty and ethics, they don't have any.
truth posted at 4:24 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
College text books have risen in price by 812% since 1978, far out pacing even the 559% in tuition and fees over the same period. The average student at a 4 year college $655 per year for text books and supplies. HuffingtonPost.com
Public Universities competing in NCAA Division 1 sports spend as much as six times more per athlete than they spend to educate students, and per-athlete spending at schools in each of the six highest profile football conferences topped $100,000 in 2010, a analysis of federal school data finds. Compensation and benefits represent the largest athlete expense across all subdivisions, with about half of the budgets going toward coaching. Lower-tier schools spend more of their budget on student aid. USA Today
chatmandu002 posted at 10:19 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
We all know the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". Can the same be said for students, you can give them a chance for education but you can't make them learn especially if their parents don't care. More money does not equate to a better education.
Arizona Willie posted at 8:11 am on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
chatmandu002 said " More money does not equate to a better education. "
Well, neither does LESS money.
Arizona has been cutting funds for public education year after year and the test scores go lower year after year.
What does go up is the number of teachers caught molesting children. With the current pay for a beginning teacher in Arizona the only people that are going to be attracted to the job are pedophiles.
Seems there is a distinct correlation between the people who claim " throwing money at the problem won't fix it " and the people whose kids don't go to regular public schools. Especially in the Legislature.
What we needs is a law that requires the children of ALL public office holders to attend regular everyday non-charter public schools.
I have a sneaking suspicion that suddenly the attitude towards funding public education would undergo a sharp change.
Bluepoet posted at 8:13 am on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
And, just what is it about Arizona, that we have such a higher percentage of apathetic parents, then? Is it low wages, making them work harder, for less? Please, that's a pretty pathetic arguement--one that would have a lot more merit, if Arizona was say, somewhere in the middle of the pack. We are at 48th place, in the nation. The issues we have with education are far more likely to be a combination of things, and at the very top of that list, is lack of funding--followed closely by administrative cost/waste. Farther down the line, we have underpayed teachers...then, we have the transient population--the influx of new people. I would say apathetic parents might be in the top ten reasons, but just barely...we can't lead the horse to water, if the stream has dryed up!
Cerulean posted at 8:13 am on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
Parents do care, chatmandu. Above your comment are several who care that the legislature is siphoning millions of dollars from the public education system to put money in their own pockets. In my opinion it is criminal and I care. Money can equate to a better education if it is spent wisely. Our legislature is stealing money for and not providing better education.
Arizona Willie posted at 8:14 am on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
Ooops, make that " what we need is a law that requires the children and grandchildren of ALL public officeholders to attend regular everyday non-charter public schools. "
Lots of Legislators are older and their kids are already out of school or in college. But they wouldn't want to see their grandkids in the public schools that they are strangling.
bobunf posted at 9:43 am on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
You can buy more things with money than without. That includes education. Being at the bottom of the barrel in per pupil funding is not a formula for quality. Generally, you get what you pay for.
The reason for the starvation of Arizona public schools is that the vast majority of students are Latino, Asian, Black or American Indian. It's not surprising that the nativist party regards educating these kids as an unnecessary expense. Better to put more in the prison budget
RubidouxFalcon posted at 1:13 pm on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
Why does everyone rely on the government to teach their children? Homeschool your children and then you can control the quality of their education. They are less likely to get shot at homeschool, or molested, or bullied.
Sure, you won't be able to enjoy the benefit of sending your kids to free daycare and the benefits of having a two parent income. But if you really care about your child's education, do it yourself. Otherwise, zip it and take what the state provides you.
VofReason posted at 1:23 pm on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
This is great. Our school outcomes are bad so we need to spend more money. Perhaps, but I (as I always do) ask a simple question- how much money should it cost to educate the average K-12 student? We currently spend about 9K. Sure, Washington DC spends way more and yet get's worse results? So instead of more money, why don't the people who bark about this tell us exactly what it should cost and why. Another confusing thing is how Charter Schools can get less funding per student but somehow the Executives get a windfall? How is that explained? Oddly, more funding will never make parents care more which is what most teachers and experts point to as the definitive connection to educational success.
RubidouxFalcon posted at 1:34 pm on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
Amazing. I made a post encouraging homeschooling as an option and it was not accepted by the moderator. The moderator must be a proud public school leach.
I'll try again.
Instead of complaining about what free education your kids are receiving, homeschool them. Cut your expenses and go to a single parent income. Allow yourself to spend time with your kids instead of using the state's free daycare. Protect your kids from bullying, gun violence, sexual predators and so forth.
Instead of spending your time complaining about how much budget is spent on public education, complain about why there is a budget at all.
Oh, and my kids missed the flu bug. Imagine that.
bobunf posted at 10:06 pm on Thu, Jan 17, 2013.
I don't want an argument about home schooling. Most parents are not willing to do it for a myriad of reasons. Not to mention most are not temperamentally suited, nor do they have the knowledge and skills to do even a halfway job. And they do not want to acquire such knowledge or skills, nor to change their temperment.
Some people think you should install solar and wind power on your house and run your own power plant. But people do not know, and do not want to know, how to run their own power plant. Same with schooling. Division of labor and specialization make for better outcomes.
It's a silly argument. Home schooling will never to most kids, who will rely on the public schools. The choice is to give these kids (who will be running our world in 20 or 30 years) the best education we can, the tools the think critically, the keys to human knowledge and understanding - or not.
The consequences of not doing so are pretty grave for our country. The Chinese do not suffer from such a choice, and neither do numerous other countries.
By the way, your prior post is, in fact, posted. Problems with reading comprehension?
RubidouxFalcon posted at 10:37 am on Fri, Jan 18, 2013.
I'm trying to respond and I keep getting a "Your comment appears to be spam!" response.
Aack.
RubidouxFalcon posted at 10:38 am on Fri, Jan 18, 2013.
What words trigger a spam warning? Anyone know?
RubidouxFalcon posted at 10:48 am on Fri, Jan 18, 2013.
bobunf-
Actually, I was impatient. It didn't appear for a while and I wrote the second post.
And do you really think that public schools, K-12, provide kids with the tools to think critically, the keys to human knowledge and understanding? They are factories for basic behavior modification and primarily memorization of facts. Not to mention violence, bullying, sexual predators (both adult and youth), and a constant barrage of liberal minded garbage.
You think these teachers making 40K a year are specialists? Give me a break. My wife was a teacher and she can tell you the generally low quality of skills in most schools. How much classroom instruction time do you think these children are getting? Get real. It takes very little time and effort to surpass the education your child is getting. What you lose in "training" you gain in the fact that it's one on one. When the topics get ultra-complex (say for instance, chemistry), you hire a tutor or go to the internet. Not that hard if you give a hoot.
I do agree with you that most parents are not willing to do it. That's my point. If you are going to go for the freebie, take what you get. If you want your child to have a quality education, do it yourself.
RubidouxFalcon posted at 10:49 am on Fri, Jan 18, 2013.
Wow. The comment above used the term "world wide web" instead of "internet" and I kept being accused of being spam. I took a guess and replaced "world wide web" with "internet" and it passed.
Weird.