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Outlook not promising for education
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| Meeting: St. David School Superintendent Kate Mueller, left, listens to state Sen. Manny Alvarez. Pictured at center is Pat Fleming, District 25 Rep. (Thelma Grimes/photo.) |
Thelma Grimes/San Pedro Valley News-Sun
School officials from across Cochise County painted a grim picture for elected officials Friday afternoon, as they spoke about what state budget cuts are going to do to education.
In a special meeting in Benson, about 20 superintendents and school administrators from various schools said that while the bigger school districts in Tucson and Phoenix are looking at a 1.5 percent budget cut, the state's proposals will decrease their bottom lines by up to 20 percent.
Attending the meeting that lasted about two-and-a-half hours, were District 25 representatives Democrats Patricia Fleming and Senator Manuel Alvarez. Republicans David Stevens of District 25 and David Gowan of District 30 arrived more than an hour late to the meeting. The two had attended a public meeting at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson earlier that morning where educators discussed the same issues.
While Brett Agenbroad, the superintendent of the Sierra Vista School District, did not attend the Benson meeting, he sent a letter to the elected officials, stating the impact the proposed cuts will have on the county's largest school district.
"I believe that most of us in this room would agree that teaching is one of the most socially significant jobs there is," he said in the letter, "and that teachers are the front line of educating students. Teachers are the link in the chain on which everything educationally depends. Learning still happens one child at a time, one classroom at a time and it is teachers that are in charge of the process."
Agenbroad said a Sierra Vista teacher with a bachelor's degree and state mandated post-degree certification makes $27,500 per year. Comparatively, a Sierra Vista police officer with a high school diploma and six months in an academy is starting at $45,600.
Agenbroad was not at the Benson meeting because he attended the one held at Flowing Wells High School, where he asked elected officials to stop looking at how they can cut the budget, but instead look at the possibility of increasing the tax rate by one cent, something many at the Benson meeting said was a good idea.
"Instead of boasting that there will be no new taxes, when the state is carrying a $3.5 billion deficit, now is the time to establish a temporary sales tax for education," Agenbroad said. "This would generate a billion dollars a year, and would only cost the average family $12."
However, Rep. Stevens disagreed.
"The last thing you want to do in a declining economy is tax the declining economy," he said. "We have not yet hit bottom, and we don't know when we will. Your main concern is education; our main concern is the entire state."
Stevens told school officials that while the elected officials are trying to look at the whole picture, they did bring up some good points that he would consider as the budget process moves forward.
One of those points is that the bigger school districts are facing more than a one percent decrease, while rural schools in Cochise County and across the state are looking at 20 percent.
Gowan and Stevens agreed the numbers should be fair across the board, and agreed to look into the matter.
Democrats Fleming and Alvarez weren't happy with the budget cuts the state's Republican-led Legislature is moving forward with. Alvarez said to date the process has not been a bi-partisan effort.
Kate Mueller, superintendent of the St. David School District, said if the cuts were just 1.5 percent, they wouldn't be complaining, but the state's plans are going to cripple rural school districts. Those cuts don't even include the added mandates lawmakers will pass in the current session.
One of those mandates may be requiring all school districts to put seatbelts on school buses. Mueller asked the lawmakers how they expected small schools to pay for a seatbelt mandate and still deal with the budget cuts.
Alvarez, who was recently elected to the Senate after serving several years in the House, said there have been numerous closed-door meetings held by Republicans, and many of them refuse to increase taxes even though it would help not only education, but also balance the current budget crisis.
Arizona lawmakers have been working long hours over the last several weeks to fix a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current year's budget, and are looking at the education cuts in the coming fiscal year to make up for a $3.5 billion deficit.
Throughout the meeting, Gowan stressed that he is new to the process, and while he thought he would have time to adjust after being sworn in this January, he was thrown into the ring to balance one of the state's worst budget crisis.
Fleming sided with Alvarez, stating that the budget proposals to cut education are not in the best interest of the children or the state.
Most of the schools in Cochise County are rural and rely heavily on student enrollment to balance a budget, however, with the proposed cuts, many administrators said they are looking at between $250,000 to $1 million losses next year, and that translates to layoffs that schools and the communities can't afford.
"With these cuts, we will probably lose eight teachers, and taking that many teachers away means class sizes will go up significantly," said Richard Rundhaug, superintendent of the Willcox Unified School District. "As for other positions, we are going to have to tell the person outright that they no longer have a job, and one of those deals with procurement. You get rid of that position and you will run into auditing issues. Each one of these things you are proposing directly impacts students; it directly impacts compliance."
Ron Aguallo, the Superintendent in Valley Union and Elfrida, said the district will likely lose $250,000.
"I'm not TUSD (Tucson Unified School District), you take a quarter of a million dollars and it impacts us greatly," he said. "When you lose employees here, it doesn't just hurt the school, it hurts the entire community. Cuts like these only hurt Maricopa, they kill us."
Linda Frost, of Ash Creek, said they are likely one of the smallest schools in Cochise County, and they don't have businesses in the community, noting that the school district is that community.
"You start laying people off, and they have no other alternative except to go on welfare," she said. "And all I keep hearing is money, money, money. What about the kids?"
Dan Bailey, superintendent of the Pomerene School District near Benson, agreed with Frost, stating they are a small school, but laying off any teachers will have a tremendous impact.
"We will probably lose two teachers. That doesn't sound like a lot, but that is 20 percent of our staff," he said. "We will not have any music, art or physical education programs. I have yet to hear anybody talk about the kids. We hear about the money, but no one is addressing the human factor."
Many of the administrators said they hope the elected officials start making plans to build more prisons because as they continue to reduce funding to education, the criminal rates in the state are going to increase.
Bryan Bullington, principal of Benson High School, asked if educators are just going to have to accept that next year budget's will be less, programs will be cut and teachers will be laid off, or if there is something not only the school, but residents can do.
Alvarez said now is a critical time, and residents are going to have to start bombarding elected officials with calls and emails that state their case, and dissatisfaction for how the GOP is working to balance the budget.
After the meeting, Trudy Berry, the Cochise County Superintendent of Schools, said it's very important that people speak up now, rather than waiting until it's a done deal and education is on the chopping block.
"Our elected officials want the input, they need our input," she said. "As many of them have said they are new to this process. They need to be educated and we need to be explaining all the details we can. I am a firm believer in calling your Legislature. That is how you can make a difference."
Alvarez said the cuts to education being proposed will take the state back, instead of moving forward. The cuts will resemble funding provided to public education in 2006.
Arizona is currently ranked 49th in the nation when it comes to student vs. teacher ratios.
Schools have already gone through the first round of cuts. Last month, Governor Janet Brewer signed legislation to cut $580 million from the current budget, most of that from education. Arizona universities were hit the hardest, losing $142 million, community colleges lost $9 million and the state's public education system lost $133 million.
Current legislation cut current year funding to public schools by 2 percent. School administrators said while a mid-year budget reduction will be difficult, most schools can manage these cuts, it's next year's cuts that the public education system cannot handle.
School officials from across Cochise County painted a grim picture for elected officials Friday afternoon, as they spoke about what state budget cuts are going to do to education.
In a special meeting in Benson, about 20 superintendents and school administrators from various schools said that while the bigger school districts in Tucson and Phoenix are looking at a 1.5 percent budget cut, the state's proposals will decrease their bottom lines by up to 20 percent.
Attending the meeting that lasted about two-and-a-half hours, were District 25 representatives Democrats Patricia Fleming and Senator Manuel Alvarez. Republicans David Stevens of District 25 and David Gowan of District 30 arrived more than an hour late to the meeting. The two had attended a public meeting at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson earlier that morning where educators discussed the same issues.
While Brett Agenbroad, the superintendent of the Sierra Vista School District, did not attend the Benson meeting, he sent a letter to the elected officials, stating the impact the proposed cuts will have on the county's largest school district.
"I believe that most of us in this room would agree that teaching is one of the most socially significant jobs there is," he said in the letter, "and that teachers are the front line of educating students. Teachers are the link in the chain on which everything educationally depends. Learning still happens one child at a time, one classroom at a time and it is teachers that are in charge of the process."
Agenbroad said a Sierra Vista teacher with a bachelor's degree and state mandated post-degree certification makes $27,500 per year. Comparatively, a Sierra Vista police officer with a high school diploma and six months in an academy is starting at $45,600.
Agenbroad was not at the Benson meeting because he attended the one held at Flowing Wells High School, where he asked elected officials to stop looking at how they can cut the budget, but instead look at the possibility of increasing the tax rate by one cent, something many at the Benson meeting said was a good idea.
"Instead of boasting that there will be no new taxes, when the state is carrying a $3.5 billion deficit, now is the time to establish a temporary sales tax for education," Agenbroad said. "This would generate a billion dollars a year, and would only cost the average family $12."
However, Rep. Stevens disagreed.
"The last thing you want to do in a declining economy is tax the declining economy," he said. "We have not yet hit bottom, and we don't know when we will. Your main concern is education; our main concern is the entire state."
Stevens told school officials that while the elected officials are trying to look at the whole picture, they did bring up some good points that he would consider as the budget process moves forward.
One of those points is that the bigger school districts are facing more than a one percent decrease, while rural schools in Cochise County and across the state are looking at 20 percent.
Gowan and Stevens agreed the numbers should be fair across the board, and agreed to look into the matter.
Democrats Fleming and Alvarez weren't happy with the budget cuts the state's Republican-led Legislature is moving forward with. Alvarez said to date the process has not been a bi-partisan effort.
Kate Mueller, superintendent of the St. David School District, said if the cuts were just 1.5 percent, they wouldn't be complaining, but the state's plans are going to cripple rural school districts. Those cuts don't even include the added mandates lawmakers will pass in the current session.
One of those mandates may be requiring all school districts to put seatbelts on school buses. Mueller asked the lawmakers how they expected small schools to pay for a seatbelt mandate and still deal with the budget cuts.
Alvarez, who was recently elected to the Senate after serving several years in the House, said there have been numerous closed-door meetings held by Republicans, and many of them refuse to increase taxes even though it would help not only education, but also balance the current budget crisis.
Arizona lawmakers have been working long hours over the last several weeks to fix a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current year's budget, and are looking at the education cuts in the coming fiscal year to make up for a $3.5 billion deficit.
Throughout the meeting, Gowan stressed that he is new to the process, and while he thought he would have time to adjust after being sworn in this January, he was thrown into the ring to balance one of the state's worst budget crisis.
Fleming sided with Alvarez, stating that the budget proposals to cut education are not in the best interest of the children or the state.
Most of the schools in Cochise County are rural and rely heavily on student enrollment to balance a budget, however, with the proposed cuts, many administrators said they are looking at between $250,000 to $1 million losses next year, and that translates to layoffs that schools and the communities can't afford.
"With these cuts, we will probably lose eight teachers, and taking that many teachers away means class sizes will go up significantly," said Richard Rundhaug, superintendent of the Willcox Unified School District. "As for other positions, we are going to have to tell the person outright that they no longer have a job, and one of those deals with procurement. You get rid of that position and you will run into auditing issues. Each one of these things you are proposing directly impacts students; it directly impacts compliance."
Ron Aguallo, the Superintendent in Valley Union and Elfrida, said the district will likely lose $250,000.
"I'm not TUSD (Tucson Unified School District), you take a quarter of a million dollars and it impacts us greatly," he said. "When you lose employees here, it doesn't just hurt the school, it hurts the entire community. Cuts like these only hurt Maricopa, they kill us."
Linda Frost, of Ash Creek, said they are likely one of the smallest schools in Cochise County, and they don't have businesses in the community, noting that the school district is that community.
"You start laying people off, and they have no other alternative except to go on welfare," she said. "And all I keep hearing is money, money, money. What about the kids?"
Dan Bailey, superintendent of the Pomerene School District near Benson, agreed with Frost, stating they are a small school, but laying off any teachers will have a tremendous impact.
"We will probably lose two teachers. That doesn't sound like a lot, but that is 20 percent of our staff," he said. "We will not have any music, art or physical education programs. I have yet to hear anybody talk about the kids. We hear about the money, but no one is addressing the human factor."
Many of the administrators said they hope the elected officials start making plans to build more prisons because as they continue to reduce funding to education, the criminal rates in the state are going to increase.
Bryan Bullington, principal of Benson High School, asked if educators are just going to have to accept that next year budget's will be less, programs will be cut and teachers will be laid off, or if there is something not only the school, but residents can do.
Alvarez said now is a critical time, and residents are going to have to start bombarding elected officials with calls and emails that state their case, and dissatisfaction for how the GOP is working to balance the budget.
After the meeting, Trudy Berry, the Cochise County Superintendent of Schools, said it's very important that people speak up now, rather than waiting until it's a done deal and education is on the chopping block.
"Our elected officials want the input, they need our input," she said. "As many of them have said they are new to this process. They need to be educated and we need to be explaining all the details we can. I am a firm believer in calling your Legislature. That is how you can make a difference."
Alvarez said the cuts to education being proposed will take the state back, instead of moving forward. The cuts will resemble funding provided to public education in 2006.
Arizona is currently ranked 49th in the nation when it comes to student vs. teacher ratios.
Schools have already gone through the first round of cuts. Last month, Governor Janet Brewer signed legislation to cut $580 million from the current budget, most of that from education. Arizona universities were hit the hardest, losing $142 million, community colleges lost $9 million and the state's public education system lost $133 million.
Current legislation cut current year funding to public schools by 2 percent. School administrators said while a mid-year budget reduction will be difficult, most schools can manage these cuts, it's next year's cuts that the public education system cannot handle.
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JoAnne Ellsworth wrote on Feb 18, 2009 11:44 AM: