TALKING POINTS:

EDUCATION

It has long been acknowledged that a strong educational system is essential not only to the successful functioning of a democracy, but also to its future.  When educated and intelligent citizens make informed decisions about what they want from their government and society, the outcome is far more likely to be positive for them than if they had no education or knowledge base to empower and legitimize their arguments.  Similarly, if a good education system is in place for the next generation of professionals, the likelihood of societal stability is greatly increased.  However, at the moment Arizona’s education system is in crisis.  According to recent statistics, Arizona:

So what’s the good news?

Governor Janet Napolitano has made working to improve Arizona’s educational system one of her top priorities.  She has recently been praised for successfully instating free public all-day kindergarten, and wants to start work on creating similar opportunities at the pre-K level. In a recent speech she emphasized that a healthy economy in Arizona requires a robust educational system - starting in pre-K and continuing through undergraduate and graduate schools – that will ensure an intelligent and informed workforce.

Science and math education have been touted by Napolitano as particularly important, because so much of the working world depends on specialists in these fields to create, produce, and operate the technology that makes our society function.  Unfortunately, Arizona lacks enough competent math teachers to provide the education children need to be successful. In response to this shortage, Governor Napolitano has vowed to not only increase the number of math teachers, but to select competent and experienced teachers to fill the void.

Currently, Arizona teacher salaries are over $5,000 lower than the national median, a fact that Gov. Napolitano ties to poor classroom performance.  She argues that in order to have good teachers, good salaries must be provided to give them the financial means to live well and additional motivation to teach well.  As a result, she has vowed to do everything in her power to increase teacher salaries, as well as providing greater funding for materials and resources in classrooms.

 
 - we want our schools to be safe, kids to be healthy when they enter school,
and educational opportunites good no matter where the school is -- rural,
reservation, urban


Unofficial IDEA Regulations Released
 The U.S. Department of Education has announced proposed regulations to implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) and invites public comment. The official copy of this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) will be published in the Federal Register within a few days. So that members of the public will have as much time as possible to review the proposed regulations, the Department is posting an UNOFFICIAL copy under Proposed Regulations at http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html (If you have trouble with the link, just paste the url to your web browser)

Education Funding
 The House Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education reported its recommendations for FY 2006 spending levels yesterday with marginal increases for key education programs. The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the bill next Wednesday, June 15. Overall, the Department of Education received the smallest funding increase in more than a decade -- only $115 million or 0.2 percent over the FY05 level. Of the major education programs, Title I received a $100 million increase and IDEA state grants received a $150 million increase.

Twenty-three programs were terminated totaling $500 million, while $3.6 billion in programs were restored that the President’s budget had proposed for elimination. Restorations included vocational and technical education ($1.3 billion), Title V Innovative Programs ($198 million), Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities ($400 million), and education technology grants ($300 million, down from $496 million in FY05).

The largest program cut was the elimination of the $250 million comprehensive school reform program. If not eliminated, most education programs were funded at last year’s levels with no allowance for inflation or enrollment growth. The President’s $1.5 billion high school reform initiative would not receive funding in the proposed spending bill. However, the President’s teacher incentive fund would receive $100 million.

Requested Action
 Please contact your representatives and urge them to support higher increases for Title I and special education in the FY06 spending bill. The increases proposed by the subcommittee will not accommodate increased costs for education as well as rising student enrollment in many districts.



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