Corporations to Take Over Local Elections

From the Republic:

Several experts said they fear the landmark ruling will skew elections and city council decisions in favor of companies and special interest groups with deep pockets. Others believe savvy voters and funding disclosure will prevent the scales from tipping in big contributors' favor.

Savvy voters? In Arizona?

Coverage of Idaho School Opting Out of RTTT

"The school district is not going to pursue nickels and dimes on the sidewalk, while letting dollars slip out our pockets -- while looking at the priorities we've already established," said Boise School District Superintendent Dr. Stan Olson.

Will RTTT Become Political Chip?

Education Week takes a look at how RTTT funds might be used as a political chip to garner favor for passage of ESEA reauthorization or impact Congressional elections in purple states.

Surely not.

If you can't beat 'em...

Mesa goes charter.

Lawmakers Stealing from Kids

Teachers sue state lawmakers for sweeping funds earmarked for education.

ASU to Revamp Teacher Ed

It's a press release, which should not be confused with objective journalism. Here is a taste:

Through this partnership, ASU will adapt TFA's most successful tools in order to attract, prepare, support and retain more highly-effective teachers.

I assume TFA will focus on the 31% of their program which stays in education .

Teacher Facebooked By Student

A seventh-grader at a suburban Syracuse middle school has been suspended for setting up a Facebook page that officials say hosted a barrage of libelous, obscene and inappropriate postings about a teacher.

One parent disagrees with the district punishing his daughter for joining the "group".

For him to think he has the authority to step in and discipline my child over something that has nothing to do with school is overstepping his bounds.

Video

Education in State of the Union

RTTT Director Joanne Weiss Explains the Grant

Legislature: Teachers Too Vocal

Wow.

AEA stops bad legislation aimed at preventing something as simple as payroll deduction for membership dues, and the press has to wonder what those big bad union people are doing to make everyone so mad.

I mean, they must be doing SOMEthing to deserve this retribution.

Right?

The legislators couldn't just be targeting teachers for political reasons.

Could they?

I don't know if the answer makes me want to laugh or cry.

BeverlyKidd: Yeah, Frank, what kind of tactics is (sic) the education union using that is angered (sic) some of the other unions and the legislators as well?

Frank Camacho: It's because they are very vocal about what they do. Their protests out here at the capitol are indeed very vocal.

In other words, the legislature thinks teachers should just shut up and teach.

Huppenthal's Trouble with Signs

Seeing Red AZ has the early scoop, but it seems the man who would be Superintendent of Public Instruction got a little overzealous wanting to hang up his TWENTY-FOUR-foot banner at the recent AZ GOP meeting this past weekend.

He gets an F- for thinking that it was acceptable to personally drill numerous holes in the wall of the auditorium at Saguaro High School where the GOP statutory meeting was held this past Saturday. School administrators were not amused and are billing the state party for the necessary repairs.

Isn't vandalism a crime in Arizona? Ah yes... seems ARS 13-1602 says:

13-1602. Criminal damage; classification

A. A person commits criminal damage by recklessly:

1. Defacing or damaging property of another person; or

2. Tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value; or

3. Tampering with or damaging the property of a utility.

4. Parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water.

5. Drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground, and that is made without permission of the owner.

Teachers Plan to Boycott Tests

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Tension between the national teacher union and Labor governments will escalate into industrial warfare as teachers prepare to boycott national literacy and numeracy testing this year.

The Australian Education Union, which represents more than 180,000 teachers in public schools around the country, will put the recommendation to delegates at its annual federal conference in Melbourne today.

The president of the union, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the looming threat of school league tables [school rankings based on student test scores] had ''united the profession in a way not seen before in Australia''.

He said despite their stated opposition to league tables and the simplistic ranking and comparison of schools, state and federal governments had failed to prevent them.

Tax Credit Primer

The South Carolina PTA and The Alliance for Quality Education put together a pretty good fact sheet on tuition tax credits.

The whole document is a good read, here being but one example of how they debunk the typical talking points put out by pro-voucher advocates.

Tracking ARRA in Education

A new website says it "will document spending of ARRA funds in states, school districts and schools." EdMoney.org is backed with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Politics of Testing Gaps

Testing was once used to measure what a student learned. NCLB turned it into a political tool.

Testing Wisdom

An eighty-year-old former teacher provides her insight to the testing madness and mandates:

I am 86 years old and taught frequently until I was 80. I get annoyed by the controversy of “No Child Left Behind.” Of course, some children will be left behind others. They were born that way. Height, weight, IQ, interests, ambitions – the Good Lord made us that way.

A teacher’s job is to evaluate students, accept those differences, and working effectively with them – not to reject or warp them by forcing them to work at an impossible level.

Testing students should be for three purposes:

– To determine what the group as a whole knows and to identify those who need special attention;

– to use the information and instruct effectively to do the maximum good;

– And to determine the effectiveness of your program.

No teacher can ever expect to make all students equal. The challenge is to find ways to meet the needs of students at their level, accepting that there will be a need to group, individualize or accept that some students will not be capable of achieving at a higher level. So help them achieve at their level.

As for “teaching the test,” why not? It makes no sense to test for what has not been taught. Teach in Greek and test in English?

Give students a list of answers? No. But teach the test and then test to see if they are capable of understanding and retaining the material. That’s what politicians consider “teaching the test.”

It is remarkable that, 40 or 50 years ago, we were capable of graduating doctors, lawyers, rocket scientists, bank presidents, journalist, and we enjoyed seeing the students progress at their intended level.

Now we are expected to make geniuses of normal students, so we wind up with frustrated students, irate parents, and criminal teachers.

Who is Supporting RTTT?

Here is a list of the thirty-one state teacher associations which somewhat or fully support their state's RTTT application:

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Here is a list of nine state teacher associations which did NOT support their state's RTTT application:

California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Dakota.

Finally, a list of ten states which did not send in RTTT applications:

Alaska, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington.

From what I understand, the Arizona Education Association was unable to fully support Arizona's RTTT application because not enough data could be supplied by the DOE before the due date.

Kindergarten Make Your Belly Ache?

Well, probably not if you attended Kindergarten over two decades ago. Since then things have dramatically changed.

What we expected of first-graders 20 years ago is being required of kindergartners today. Reading. Sight vocabulary. Spelling. Writing. Yes, many 5-year-olds can learn those things, but many can't pass the stress test. They react with belly-aches, misbehavior and hating school.

That, my friends, is the unintended consequence of No Child Left Behind and any other legislation that rewards performance on multiple choice tests over authentic learning. Kids burn out. Kids drop out.

Who would say such? A Kindergarten teacher.

Holy cow! REAL news!

What a refreshing change from the normal local newstertainment...

Good for the Gander?

The Arizona Guardian (subscription required) yesterday reported on the state's RTTT application. Governor Brewer's P-20 Council submitted the 300-page document to the US Secretary of Education just before the deadline. My former superintendent, Dr Debra Duvall, took the lead in the grant request.

A particular comment by Dr Duvall regarding how the new Arizona plan could impact teachers caught my eye.

Arizona's Race to The Top application proposes that local school districs craft new teacher evaluations so that half of a teacher's grade will be determined by his or her students' improvement.

That means that teachers of students that consistenly fail will be held accountable, said Deb Duvall, special advisor to Brewer on Race to the Top.

"One would have to question the teacher's effectiveness," she said.

Hmm. Dr Duvall was superintendent of Mesa during the years of NCLB. Under her watch, dozens of schools "failed" to reach Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the district is currently in their fourth year of being labeled "In Need of Improvement."

What does that say about you, Dr Duvall?

Is Education Too Big to Fail?

An interesting take on Race to The Top by school leaders from districts in California which do not wish to participate in the federal grant.

The RTTT initiative provides $4.5 billion nationally for qualifying states. California may be eligible for up to $700 million. Based on projected estimates, for many districts this would mean eligibility to receive one-time funds equaling about 1-2% of the average operating budget over the next two to four years. So while the RTTT has been "sold" as a major game-changing investment or "bailout" of public schools, local school districts know better.

So while Wall Street was given hundreds of billions of dollars with little to no conditions, schools are offered a fraction of the Wall Street monies with restrictive and costly mandates. Is not public education too big and too important to fail? All this said, districts were left questioning whether this money was a big enough carrot for large scale reform required of RTTT.

I wish there were more news about RTTT so that people could have made a rationale decision about it. Instead, there was a quick deadline. No time to be deliberate.

Will that come back to haunt us?

Teachers or Trainers

In replying to an article written by Diana Senechal (There is No Such Thing As Teaching), Diane Ravitch offers a sharp rebuke for those who believe tests are the best or the only way to measure what a student has learned.

“Diana Senechal is absolutely right. The economists, statisticans, and number-crunchers with MBA degrees are trying to turn education into a data-driven activity, where we can keep score and find out who "won." But that’s not education! As Senechal points out, good teachers have mastery and love of whatever they teach, and the data will not reflect that. In fact, the data will capture only the narrowest aspects of schooling (not education), which is whether students get higher scores on standardized tests of basic skills. Children can be trained to get the right answer, like parrots or seals, but the higher scores are not a measure of a good education or a good teacher.”

The Governor Hates Kindergartners

OK... a little over the top. My apologies.

The Governor released a budget proposal Friday which would effectively end Arizona's very popular all-day Kindergarten program established less than a decade ago. That may not be "hating" kids, but it certainly makes it harder for them to learn. You can find a budget summary here from the Arizona Education Association.

They recently sent out an alert about the budget.

The governor's budget proposes permanently eliminating several non-formula education programs as well as funding for full-day kindergarten. The proposal also targets health care for Arizona's children and families by cutting funding for several health and human service programs such as KidsCare, which provides health insurance for nearly 47,000 children, and AHCCCS, which provides health care coverage to over 300,000 Arizonans. In addition, the budget eliminates behavioral health services for people who aren't eligible for Medicaid, impacting over 17,000 seriously mentally-ill adults.

Dumbing Down Teaching

ASU's Statepress debunk's Governor Brewer's State of the State remarks regarding Bill Gates not being "qualified" to teach in an Arizona classroom.

Lisa Flesher, an undergraduate adviser for the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, said someone like Gates would not have taken the classes on teacher instruction required by the Arizona Department of Education.

The teacher education school works alongside the Arizona Department of Education to ensure its students complete the certification process and develop the skills necessary to teach elementary, secondary and special education, Flesher said.

“You can take some of the most intelligent people and throw them in a classroom, and they would struggle,” she said.

It's really not as easy as a good teacher makes it look.

Chino Valley Teacher Nails It

Jeanette Bray is encouraging her community to pass a budget override for the Chino Valley School District. She wrote an informative piece worth reading. If only more of our teachers would reach out to the community to make them aware of what is going on in education.

From her story:

The AZ state legislature, for years, has proven that its dedication to school improvement isn't backed up with money. This continues to leave AZ at the bottom of the nationwide research on teacher pay, student teacher ratios, amount of money spent per student, extra programs. As a teacher in Arizona, I can tell you, the disconnect we feel from our state legislators can not be made up for by the great administrative support we have at the district and school level. Not only that, but the state is getting ready to announce, what will surely be, additional and significant cuts in the states education fund for the 10/11 school year. For the collection of teachers and programs that survived the Reduction In Force (RIF) last year, this new impending series of cuts is daunting. We are asking ourselves "How can I do my job if you cut any more?" All is not lost however, in this state budget crisis there has also been individual school districts within the state that achieve great accomplishments, namely because it has the unwavering support of their community and parents.

[...]

I am asking you to think about what our community and children need. In this economic recession we know how hard that is for some families to do. Some of those families that are struggling the most are our friends and family that were laid off last year or had their pay cut in half due to previous cuts at the school. My heart hurts for them and I understand their struggle. But I also feel that the survival of our schools and the dedication to our children is too important not to sacrifice for. The override election will be held on March 9th 2010; save our community, save our kids and vote yes.

Weighty Decision

Arizona has submitted their Race to the Top (RTTT) application to Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan. In hopes of receiving a one time grant of a few hundred million dollars, Arizona is willing to create new standardized tests for kindergartners, shut down more "failing" schools (which implies we have schools which fail... and are doing nothing about them), and replace our state mandated AIMS test with a new, shiny, nationally-mandated, standardized test.

Oh... and require that 50% of a teacher's job evaluation be tied to student scores on all of those tests.

Chuck Essigs lobbies for the Arizona Association for School Business Officials. He is a smart man, and someone who always does seem to be wanting what is best for schools. That is why I am confused by his quote:

"(Schools are) going to have to do most of it anyway, so why not get the extra money to do it."

Gee, Chuck. Don't you watch TV? Iraq. Afghanistan. CEO Pay. Health Care. Nothing has gone the way the administration said it would.

Nothing.

Why are schools the only ones not willing to push back against federal mandates?

Education Support Professionals

I watched this video at the recent NEA Western States Region Leadership Conference held in Mesa. It aired during one of the workshops I attended about Education Support Professionals (ESP) and their particular workplace issues.

What is an ESP? The video makes it pretty clear. ESP are indispensable people who work in our schools.

The video was filmed by ESP, teachers and parents (in Illinois, if I remember correctly) who believe that everyone who works in schools plays an important role in the daily activities of schoolchildren.

KJZZ's Legislative Preview

Here and Now looked at the challenges ahead for state lawmakers as the legislature begins a new session.

KJZZ capitol reporter Mark Brodie and reporter Dennis Welch of ArizonaGuardian.com discussed Governor Jan Brewer's State of the State, address, legislative reaction, and what issues other than budget lawmakers make deal with.

Rep. Chad Campbell talked about Democrats' hope for the session. Senator Jim Waring talked about Republicans hope to achieve. And the Arizona Republic's Bob Robb discussed the difficulties that lie ahead for lawmakers.

Words Matter

People need to be careful what they say, especially Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.

Here is what he recently said regarding his state's RTTT application:

"I think it’s a pretty clear indication that Indiana is a reform-ready state and that the stakeholders in this state are ready for education reform," Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said.

What he meant to say was:

We had no plans to implement any of these new policies, but the state is cash strapped, and we will evidently do anything-- including jumping through numerous new hoops and fundamentally changing our professional evaluation programs-- just to get more money.

It's not the same thing.

If people begin to confuse the reasons states are "rushing to the Race" then it will become easier to make more drastic reforms.

Check your assumptions, please

As far as I can tell, here is the central theme to Race to the Top: improve education through teacher evaluations.

Here is how The Apple puts it:

The Obama administration is concentrating on teacher effectiveness, he said last week. No Child focused on whether a teacher was qualified to be in the classroom; Race to the Top looks at whether a teacher is effectively educating students.

The teacher is central to education, no argument there. The parent and student play a very important role as well. If we could add evaluations of students and of parents to the plan, we might have a more accurate picture.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Who Needs Privacy?

Certainly a teacher's personnel file shouldn't be private, at least that is what the Illinois State-Journal editorial board says:

If this law is going to leave that decision [to hire or fire a teacher] with the school district, then we believe parents deserve to know that the teacher in their child’s classroom has failed to live up to the professional standards established by the school district

.

I'm not sure of a single job anywhere where the public has access to personnel files. It's a basic right of privacy for the individual.

Isn't it?

13 State Parks Slated for Closure

Most state parks actually INCREASE state revenue through the tourism and taxes they generate, but they do require a base level of funding to remain open. That funding is no longer there. Many business leaders in towns close to the parks will feel the pinch of lost revenue.

This is a good example to show there is no overall plan for economic recovery in the state.

That's Amore!

Dean Martin has officially announced his candidacy for Arizona governor.

Pay attention to the Republican primary. It will be worth watching.

So far we have an "incumbent" in Jan Brewer, a Treasurer with a history of shady campaigning in Dean Martin, an out-of-nowhere-candidate with $2 million dollars to spend in gun range owner Owen "Buzz" Mills, a former state GOP chairman (and early Brewer critic) in John Munger, and an underdog mayor of Paradise Valley (Vernon Parker) who has already been slapped on the wrist for coming thisclose to violating Clean Elections law... before he's received any clean elections money.

Five candidates. Plenty of barbs already being thrown around.

That's Amore!

Birther Legislation Submitted in Arizona

Some of our legislators never cease to amaze me.

Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, is crafting a measure to require anyone running for president or vice president to provide proof to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office that they are legally eligible to seek the office. The U.S. Constitution requires the president - and, by extension, the vice president - to be "a natural born citizen."

More to the point, Burges would require the secretary of state to verify, independently, that the information is accurate.

"And if it's not certifiable, then that person's name would not go on the ballot," she said.

Burges told Capitol Media Services the measure is not necessarily about Obama, though she admitted she has her doubts that he was born in Hawaii as he claims and, even if so, that he can show he is a U.S. citizen.

"With what's happening throughout the world, we need to make sure that our candidates are certifiable," she said.

Someone's certainly certifiable.

Two States, Two Different Stories

The Tennessee Education Association has reluctantly endorsed measures which will put Tennessee in a more competitive position on their RTTT application.

A major sticking point in debate has been a decision on how much weight to give student testing data in evaluating teachers. Bredesen had previously insisted that results from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System should count for 50 percent of an evaluation score. The teachers union had insisted on no more than 35 percent.

Under the compromise announced Wednesday after lengthy negotiations, the "student growth data" from value-added testing will be the basis for 35 percent of an evaluation.

While in Michigan, the state teachers association is concerned new legislation passed there in December went too far.

Teachers are unhappy with reforms passed by lawmakers in December that link teacher pay, promotions and tenure to their students' performance on standardized tests. The union members also are upset that they haven't seen the final application yet, though a summary is posted on the state Web site.

[emphasis mine]

Whoa... I can see what they are saying. There is no call for movement or tenure to be tied to student test scores. Why would the Michigan legislature take those extra steps?

Arizona Teacher Named Best

The National Rural Education Association named Amy McBroom their small school educator of the year. She teachers art in Grand Canyon Unified.

A very interesting article. GCU is the only high school located in a national park. The students are the children of the rangers and other employees who work in and around the park.

Gilbert Teachers Seek Important Answers

This is happening in too many articles I am reading. This time it was in Gilbert, where a crowd of teachers pressed their governing board for information regarding RTTT.

The [Gilbert] teachers questioned how Race to the Top will help them improve their teaching, instead of being a hindrance.

They had questions about how the money will be used, how struggling students will affect their evaluations and how professional development works into the plan. They wondered what happens after the four-year plan and after money runs out, and if it would force teachers to teach to the tests.

Teachers questioned how students and teachers will be held accountable.

Jo Bell, a Mesquite English teacher and president of the Gilbert Education Association, said she has held out signing the Race to the Top memorandum of understanding because "teachers are nervous and scared."

Board President Thad Stump said he has many of the same questions the teachers asked, and said the answers to those questions don't exist.

No one knows the answers, but few will risk being left out of the money chase.

Kleenex, Ken Bennett, and the AZ Budget

Secretary of State Ken Bennett uses Kleenex boxes to explain how the Arizona budget works. It's somewhat free of bias and fairly rhetoric free.

via Tucson Weekly:

Breaking Down RTTT

The Tennessee Report provides one of the more succinct (and understandable) explanations of Race to the Top I have yet read. It has a Tennessee slant to it, but nonetheless provides basic information on what is being asked of states to apply for the federal stimulus dollars.

RTTT is the *New Black

Learning Matters has a nice summary of the history of federal intervention and support into public schools starting with Eisenhower and Sputnik.

If you listen closely, you will even hear where the title "Race to the Top" originated.

* to make sure there is no confusion

Diane Ravitch on RTTT

Diane Ravitch was an Assistant Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush.

Listen to a podcast of her take on the federal grant.

Racing to a Definition

Race to the Top is important in what it does, but also in how it will be defined.

Gloucester Daily Times:

Like many voters, we thought a key part of reform was to wrest some of the control unions now exercise over public schools. That's one of the guiding principles of the "Race to the Top" program as well.

If the public comes to believe the focal point of Obama/Duncan's initiative is to save public schools from teacher's unions, then we will have taken a tremendous step backward.

Democratic Response to State of the State

I have not yet found a link to the governor's speech, but there are plenty of videos of the reaction to it. Here is the Democratic response.

Harper's Gun Fetish

Senator Jack Harper (R-Surprise) is now training his sights on colleges. His latest guns-on-campuses iteration would allow college instructors-- but not deans nor clerical staff nor students-- to pack heat.

His rationale is unwavering.

"It's a long-time goal of mine to make sure there are no defense-free zones where criminals know they can go into an establishment and there'll be no law-abiding citizens there that can legally protect themselves,'' Harper said.

I wonder why he never drops a "guns at the capitol" bill.

Legislative 101

The Ahwatukee Foothills News gives a pretty good primer on how a bill becomes a law in Arizona. Maybe a later installment will describe riders and strike-everything amendments.

Since we are talking about it, here's the original lesson watched by millions.

"Innovative" new contract in Detroit

The article does not give all the details, but Detroit teachers have agreed to a new contract which withholds $250 from each paycheck over the next 40 pay periods. That adds up to $10,000 per teacher.

The good news (I guess...) is that the teachers will get this money back --sans interest-- when they leave the district. It is being dubbed a "Termination Incentive Plan".

Again, some of the details are missing, but avoiding "much more painful concessions" is hinted at.

"The deferment plan is an innovative and, we are assured, legal way for us to avoid much more painful concessions while saving some $25 million during the first year of the new contract, which was ratified by a nearly two-to-one margin by the district's teachers," DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said in an e-mail.

I hope it doesn't trend.

No So Fast, Captain

Representative Steve Farley (D-Tucson) stops senator Al Melvin (R-Tucson) from using fuzzy math to downplay the severity of the recent cuts to education passed by the Republicans. This is a clip from a longer piece which aired last week on Arizona Illustrated.

I cannot stand it when they say it was only a 1 or 2% cut!

Called out on his fuzzy math, senator Melvin falls back on the "we get a lot of bang for our buck" argument. True, but at the cost of losing talented people every year who tire of crowded classrooms and a lack of resources.

Notice how ready the senator is to move on to a new question toward the end of the piece. We must call them out when they lie!

Expert Says Increased Revenue A Must

From AllVoices:

Arizona’s most prominent economist has announced that by his tally, it’s impossible to balance the $10.1 billion budget without new revenue – read: taxes – which the Republican-dominated legislature has fought for months.

Lawmakers refused even the Republican governor’s proposal to let voters approve or reject a temporary one-cent sales tax increase. Gov. Jan Brewer had to sue legislators to get them to send her budget bills last year. And under the state’s super-majority rule, it takes only 11 legislators to kill a tax bill.

Even so, a tax increase is possible because Arizona’s situation is so desperate, second only to California’s in severity, said Marshall Vest, an economist at the University of Arizona with 30 years experience observing the state legislature.

“I’ve learned that you just cannot predict what is going to happen,” he said. “Just about everything on the table is a kind of last resort.”

The Arizona constitution requires a balanced budget, but the funding from which legislators can cut is limited by federal and voter-approved mandates.

“The bottom line is, you could lay off every state employee and not begin to balance the budget,” Vest wrote in a December report. “You could entirely eliminate higher education and not come close. Ditto for welfare programs . . . and programs for children . . .”

Newspapers Call for Budget Fix

The Republic says learn to play together.

The Daily Star says no more accounting tricks.

Both newspapers take the governor and legislature to task for failing to produce a better budget.

WW2GD?

What would a 2nd-grader do?

Flowing Wells superintendent Nicholas Clement took the time to ask a few.

Budget Deficit Explained

This is a nice piece recently shown on Tucson's Arizona Illustrated (PBS). The governor, democrats, republicans and even an economist weigh in on what needs to be done to address the budget deficit.

Teacher Rights?

Do school employees have Constitutional rights like free speech?

Not if you work at a charter school.

Finding the right symbolism

He's not sure if it's like a car wreck or more like a patient on life support, but senate president Bob Burns is pretty sure the budget is in bad shape.

Channel 15 finds a fear angle...

Online Courses

Tom Horne has decided that all schools (traditional and charter) can now offer any and all online courses they choose.

The Arizona Daily Star calls for caution:

Online courses do have a place in the panoply of educational options. They can be highly useful and effective — or they can be a waste of time. Newfangled should not be seen as synonymous with quality.

[you may need to fill out the free registration to access the Star]

What if...

What if Arizona runs out of money?

Or goes bankrupt?

The Republic tries their hand at answering five what if's.

Budget Talk

The Arizona Guardian's Dennis Welch discusses the budget deficit on Channel 3.

Destroy the State to Save the State

Today starts the first day of the 2nd session of the 49th Arizona Legislature. Ninety elected representatives from around our state will meet in Phoenix and take up the hard task of balancing the budget.

Again.

Arizona faces one of the worst budget deficits in the nation. Our elected officials have grappled with what to do for well over a year now. They speak in simple and vague phrases (e.g. we need to cut spending and lower taxes) but rarely offer real solutions.

Arizona Speaker of the House Kirk Adams unveiled his plan recently. He believes our path should include [surprise!] reduced spending, lower taxes for businesses and individuals, and debt financing. He calls his legislative plan the Arizona Economic and Job Recovery bill.

Pretty words.

What he is really saying, though, is we need to destroy the state in order to save the state. His “reduced spending” means that teachers, firefighters, policemen and all manner of other people who provide basic, necessary services to the citizens of Arizona will lose their jobs. The money we "save" will then go toward tax reductions for businesses to (maybe) create new jobs.

Destroy jobs to create jobs.

Fewer teachers, more fast food.

Is that the Arizona we want?

Sometimes you clap because you have to...

Four would-be candidates for governor react to Brewer's speech.

[Left to Right are Tom Horne, Dean Martin, Terry Goddard, and Ken Bennet]

State of the State = Red Meat Feast

Governor Brewer gave her first official State of the State address to the Arizona Legislature and selected guests Monday afternoon.

It was long on red meat and short on blueprints (sorry...) for pulling the state out of the economic downturn.

She managed to blast both former Governor Janet Napolitano and current Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. She also took a shot at Attorney General (and governor-hopeful) Terry Goddard.

She even took a shot at one in her own party, Arizona Treasurer (also a governor-hopeful) Dean Martin.

The first real round of applause Brewer received was right after accusing the federal government of offering "unfunded mandates and sweetheart deals [which] steal Arizona's freedom and threaten to bankrupt our state." The statement is amazing really.

First, if not for the infusion of $1 billion in federal money into the state this year thousands of Arizonans would be out of a job and without basic services. Second, it was that icon of Republicanism, President Ronald Reagan, who ended the no-strings-attached "revenue sharing" which allowed states to spend federal dollars as they pleased. Third, I hope the Governor and everyone else is keeping their fingers crossed that the various financial institutions will continue to rapidly pay back their TARP and other bailout monies so it can be redirected to the states for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

If not, we are screwed.

Or, as the Tucson Citizen's Mark Evans put it, "The state’s Republicans have long advocated for limited government. Arizona is going to find out what that looks like in 2010."

Here is a link to the text of the governor's speech.