Protecting Education
No one can predict all the twists and turns that lie ahead on the state budget. While many more hard decisions on the state budget will have to be made, we must protect our State's priorities, such as education and public safety. Education supporters can know one thing for sure--they have a battle-tested leader and friend for education in Governor Jan Brewer.
While many candidates may talk about their theoretical commitment to education, I have a proven record. About a year ago, when my budget team and I started putting this year’s budget together, I built it around one big decision -- that Arizona would not go below 2006 funding levels for K-12 education even though our state general fund revenues were at around 2004 levels. I put it all on the line for Proposition 100 when others were AWOL. I knew it was the right thing to do for Arizona--for our education system and future economic prosperity. It took well over a year to get Proposition 100 to the ballot and win, but we did it.
I led the effort for Proposition 100—2/3 of which goes to fund education. These monies will be used to avoid additional cuts to the classroom to the extent possible given our still difficult budget situation. The Proposition 100 monies should not be used to supplant general fund monies for education so that other areas of the budget can be funded, such as indigent health care.
I have said many times that passage of Proposition 100, while necessary, is not a cure-all.
Given the tough economic times, it may be some time before the state budget has fully recovered from the effects of the economic downturn and the fiscal management of the five years before I took office. Our challenge is make smarter use of existing and future resources to achieve the academic reforms and student achievement gains that are key to Arizona's future.
Long-Term Education Funding
There is definitely room for improvement in Arizona’s funding for education.
Given the tough economic times, it may be some time before the state budget has fully recovered from the effects of the economic downturn and the fiscal management of the five years before I took office. State funding for Arizona's schools is back at 2006 levels. I have stood firm against the proposal advocated by many that because state revenues fell to 2004 levels, we should fund our schools at 2004 levels despite the fact that we have added close to 150,000 new students since that time. I said many times that we cannot pretend these students are not there.
Without Proposition 100, school funding in Arizona would have been set back by almost a decade on a per pupil basis. While we can all agree that schools need to watch their dollars and cents, Arizona could not afford to sacrifice its economic and academic future in this way. It is for these reasons that I fought for the referral of Proposition 100 to the ballot at the Legislature and led the effort for its passage. It took some time, but I was confident that the voters of Arizona would support education and they did by an almost 2/3 margin on May 18. I was disappointed that more state leaders did not take a position or waited until less than two weeks before the election before endorsing it --when internal campaign polling made it clear Proposition 100 would pass.
