Arizona school system

From Sunshine Review

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

The Arizona public school system (prekindergarten-grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards members and superintendents. Arizona has 209 school districts.

The Arizona state constitution requires that the state offer a general and uniform public school system. The system, according to the constitution, should include: "kindergarten schools, common schools, high schools, normal schools, industrial schools and universities. Additionally, the state is required to offer education and care of pupils who are hearing and vision impaired.[1]

[edit] School revenues, expenditures and budget

See also: Arizona state budget
Arizona's education costs are about 42% of the state budget

The FY 2009 budget for the state of Arizona totaled approximately $9.9 billion. Education accounted for 42% of the total budget.[2] In light of the statewide budget crisis, cuts for the FY 2010 budget included several cuts to education. On July 6, 2009, however, in a special session the Arizona Legislature restore vetoed funding for K-12 public schools. The total funding restored amounts to $3.2 billion. The restoration keeps the state eligible for federal stimulus funding. Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the $220 million in funding that was previously eliminated from the education budget.[3]

The state's delay in passing the budget and extension into a special session in July 2009 could hurt charter schools financially, said officials. Unlike district schools, charter schools cannot rely on lines of credit to get them through, financially, until the budget is decided. Charter schools received their latest payment on June 15, 2009 and may or may not receive a payment on July 15.[4]

[edit] Personnel salaries

In 2007, the American Federation of Teachers ranked the state of Arizona 31st for its average teacher salary of $44,700, a 4% increase from the previous year. The state ranked 20th for the average beginning teacher salary in the 2006-07 school year. The average beginning teacher salary was $35,127, a 6.2% increase from 2005-06.[5] Two years prior, the group ranked the state of Arizona 26th for its average teacher salary for the 2003-04 school year, 0.5% less than 2002-03. Additionally, Arizona ranked 34th for the average beginning teacher salary. In 2003-04 it was $28,236, a 2.5% decrease from 2002-03.[6]

School year Average annual teacher salary Average beginning teacher salary
2006-07 $44,700[5] $35,127[5]
2005-06 $42,912[5] $32,949[5]
2004-05 $39,095[7] $30,404[7]
2003-04 $38,509[6] $28,236[6]
2002-03 $38,700[6] $28,942[6]

[edit] Role of unions

  • In early July 2009, following the governor's veto of parts of the state budget Arizona Education Association president John Wright said that he is glad for Gov. Brewer's decision. Brewer vetoed several million dollars that were eliminated from the education by the legislature. Wright added that the legislature failed the people of Arizona by cutting too much from education.[8]
  • On June 30, 2009, the Arizona Education Association and lawmakers protested in front of the Capitol after hearing about the legislature's cuts to education. Union vice president Andrew Morrill said the proposed cuts to public education would decrease the quality of instruction and harm children's futures.[9]

[edit] Role of school boards

The State Board of Education is composed of a "superintendent of public instruction, the president of a state university or a state college, four lay members, a president or chancellor of a community college district, a person who is an owner or administrator of a charter school, a superintendent of a high school district, a classroom teacher and a county school superintendent." With the exception of the superintendent, all other members are appointed by the governor.[10]

[edit] Taxpayer-funded lobbying

See also: Arizona taxpayer-funded lobbying

The main education taxpayer-funded lobbying organization is the Arizona School Boards Association.

Taxpayer-funded lobbyists for state public schools include:

[edit] Transparency

See also: Evaluation of Arizona school district websites
  • On June 25, 2009, an Arizona Senate committee approved SB 1172 that would allow the state education department to collect data on students who cannot provide they are U.S. citizens. According to the bill schools or districts that do not provide the information would be denied funding. The American Civil Liberties Union, however, said that if the bill does become law they plan to issue a lawsuit because the bill, they said, violates federal law which bans collecting data with the intent of denying enrollment. Sen. Russell Pearce said that the bill is merely an effort to increase transparency. "All this is asking for is data. We passed a lot of bills out of here about transparency and disclosure this year. This is along the same line as that -- it says simply that the taxpayer has a right to know," he said.[11]

[edit] Reports

A 2009 study, Leaders and Laggards, conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for a Competitive Workplace, Frederick M. Hess of the conservative American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, and the Center for American Progress, gave Arizona: "D" in academic achievement; "D" in truth in advertising about student proficiency; "B" in rigor of standards; "F" in post-secondary and workforce readiness; "D" in for its teacher workforce policies; "C" in data quality.[12]

[edit] Audits

  • A Tempe Union High School district-wide audit in 2008 revealed that $145,000 was missing from the McClintock High School bookstore. Shortly there-after the Tempe Police Department started an independent audit for the years 2008 and 2007. The police audit revealed that more funds were missing than originally identified - a total of $192,000. On July 8, 2009 Rebecca Sue Soto, the former high school bookstore manager, was charged with one count each of fraudulent schemes and theft. Soto was fired in 2008 at the beginning of the investigation.[13]
  • An audit of Snowflake Unified School District for 2004-06 determined that the district was overpaid $342,247.89 for the three fiscal years by the state for the Youth Transition Program administration. A revised audit was conducted on April 17, 2009. In June 2009, District Business Manager Mark Ollerton said that the district would repay the state $171,123 over a 2-year period beginning in July 2009 and ending in June 2011.[14]

[edit] Academic performance

[edit] Public schools

The following tables outline the student performance statistics on the Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) from 2004 through 2008 for grades 8 and 10. The statistics include the percentage of students that scored at a proficient level, the minimum level of academic performance accepted by the No Child Left Behind Act, in reading and math.

Reading:[15]

Grade 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
8th grade 67% 65% 62.9% 62.1% 44.4%
10th grade 73% 74% 71.8% 69.8% 57.2%

Math:[15]

Grade 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
8th grade 62% 62% 60.1% 58.4% 23.6%
10th grade 67% 69% 65.5% 64.2% 37.3%

[edit] Charter schools

A report by the Stanford University Center for Research on Education Outcomes revealed in June 2009 that students attending state charter schools may be falling behind students attending traditional public school. In Arizona, the study revealed that public school students performed better in reading and math. However, students struggling with English showed greater achievements in reading, while special-education students performed better in math.[16]

  • Basis Tucson school was ranked 5th best public school in the nation by Newsweek in 2009. It was ranked No. 1 school nationally in 2008.[16]

[edit] School choice

School Choice options include:

  • Scholarship programs: the state offers three scholarship programs that allows parents and students to choose among public and private schools. The three scholarship programs were implemented in 2006.
    • The Corporate Scholarship Tax Credit Scholarship Program allows for corporations to receive a dollar for dollar tax credit up to 75 percent of their state income tax liability. In 2008 the state had a maximum of $12 million in tax credits to offer corporations that donated to the scholarship.[17]
    • Special Needs Scholarship Program is a scholarship program for students with special needs. The scholarship is on a first-come, first serve basis for eligible students.[17]
    • Displaced Pupils Choice is a scholarship program for students who have been placed in foster care. The scholarship is on a first-come, first serve basis for eligible students.[17]
  • Charter schools: Arizona has approximately 11% of the nation's 4,000 charter schools. In the state of Arizona charters schools equal approximately a quarter of the state's public schools.[16] The state has approximately 485 charter schools and 115,000 students enrolled.[17]
  • Public school choice: the state of Arizona offers interdistrict and intradistrict open enrollment, meaning that students are permitted to enroll in any school within their neighborhood school district or in any alternative district in the state.[17]
  • Online Learning: the state of Arizona does not have a state online program but there are approximately 8 state-wide online programs that comprise of various Arizona school districts and charter schools.[17]

[edit] External links

[edit] Additional reading

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Arizona Constitution,"Article 11, Section 1," retrieved July 9, 2009
  2. ↑ State of Arizona,"The Legislative Budget Process," December 10, 2008
  3. ↑ Associated Pres,"Ariz. Legislature restores vetoed school funding," July 6, 2009
  4. ↑ East Valley Tribune,"Budget delay could hurt charter schools," July 6, 2009
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 American Federation of Teachers,"Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2007," retrieved July 7, 2009
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 American Federation of Teachers,"Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2004," October 6, 2005
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 American Federation of Teachers,"Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2005," retrieved July 7, 2009
  8. ↑ KTAR,"Teachers union glad Brewer vetoed parts of bill," July 9, 2009
  9. ↑ Associated Press,"Ariz. teachers protest proposed education cuts," June 30, 2009
  10. ↑ Arizona Constitution,"Article 11, Section 3," retrieved July 9, 2009
  11. ↑ KTAR,"Bill would have schools collect info on illegals," June 25, 2009
  12. ↑ U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute,"Arizona Education Report Card," retrieved November 16, 2009
  13. ↑ ABC 15,"Tempe woman indicted for $192K school embezzlement," July 8, 2009
  14. ↑ Arizona Journal,"Full Board Input Sought Before OKing S/T School Bus Contract," June 17, 2009
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 School Data Direct,"Arizona Public Schools & Districts," retrieved July 8, 2009
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Arizona Daily Star,"Study: Ariz. K-8 public schools beat charters," June 17, 2009
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 The Heritage Foundation,"School Choice in Arizona," retrieved July 8, 2009
v • d • e
Arizona school system
Retrieved from "http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Arizona_school_system"