2/15/2016 1 Comment Money and an Arizonian EducationI grew up in Arizona, in the White Mountains to be exact. Where is that you say? Well it is in the eastern part of the state, in a place that has four seasons, gets snow and is cold, 6 months of the year. So different from what you picture of Arizona right? Well the differences don't end there. In that remote part of the state, there are little pockets of towns, closely related in people and distance. Most of these sweet little towns survive on the generosity of the second home population and tourism. Tourism you say? Yes, actually there is a ski resort and some interesting history to be found there along with a beautiful summer, which the 'flat landers' can't seem to resist. Other than that, the people there etch out a living but with never much affluence. It really is an idyllic place to grow up. So you may be wondering how does this have anything to do with the state of education in Arizona? Well not much, except to say that the author of this blog was educated in a very rural part of the state. A place that was constantly bickering about how and where to get the money to fund the sports teams, whether to keep classroom aides in the kindergarten class, whether or not the latest bond would pass and when they usually didn't pass, whether or not the district would lay off 10 or 20 teachers, and whether or not a four-year college would ever come in to such a remote place. My father was the Business Manager for the School District and my mother was a 1st grade teacher. So needless to say, money and education was often the discussion at the dinner table. Since moving on and creating my own family, sending my own children to some of the best schools the state has to offer, experiencing urban life and getting my own education, I have gained a new perspective. It seems that no matter where you go in Arizona (not just the rural parts), education seems to get the short end of the stick. As a proud Arizonian, I was roundly humbled when I heard where the state ranked in education compared to the rest of the country. Did you hear? We are the proud recipients of 47th place. 47th!!! Sarah Ruf of the Copa Monitor reported it this way, "The Grand Canyon State earned a D+ using an average of its scores in three categories: Chance for Success (C- and 45th in the nation), School Finance (D and 46th) and K-12 Achievement (D+ and 38th) (2015). Embarrassing. Are you embarrassed too? Or is it just me? Surely our state budget is not that much smaller than the rest of the country? How ARE we spending our money that other states are not? How do they have money for education and we don't? Do we have better freeways? Better infrastructure? Better paid officials? Better Police Forces? Better social healthcare? Better parks and programs? Cheaper taxes? Who knows?! I am no analyst (although I wish I was in this case, as I am genuinely interested) and nor do I want to get into the finite numbers here in this blog (maybe another day?). One thing I do know. We do NOT allot enough money for education, teacher pay, supplies, extracurricular programs or schools. There is good news to report in this regard however. It seems I am not the only one wondering these same questions. Rebecca Gua reported this recently on her blog, "Education is the top issue among Arizona’s voters, and the amount of funding schools receive is at the heart of their concerns" (2015). How does she know this? Polls. Those blessed blasted polls. And a hallelujah too. I am so very happy to hear that so many of my fellow Arizonians are sick and tired of education scraping the bottom of the barrel of our state funds. Recently in my kid’s school district (which by the way has been ranked as the top school district in the state last year) a bond finally passed. A sign to me that things are looking up. However, there is more we can do. With our state budget back on the increase, there will be room for more funding being placed back into education. Can we stay the course? Can we rise from the ashes of 47th place? I hope so. I hope education will remain a priority in the majority of my fellow proud Arizonians. Are you one of them? Do you have more suggestions of how we can improve education in our state? Comment below! References Gua, R. (2016, January 15). Ducey Proposal Education Budget “On the Rise”. Stand for Children Arizona. Retrieved from http://stand.org/arizona/blog/2016/01/15/ducey-proposes-education-budget-rise Ruf, S. (2015, January 16). Arizona ranks 47th in nation for education – again. Copa Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.copamonitor.com/kids_family/article_9e873346-9da5-11e4-8173-5f6e53a54578.html
1 Comment
|
Archives |