If Prop. 100 fails, so will Arizona’s education system
By Hal Cohen March 23, 2010 at 4:24 pm 
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For most Arizona students, May 18 will come and pass just like any other date.
It will only be in hindsight that they will learn of Prop. 100, a bill that proposes to temporarily raise the sales tax by 1 percent until May 31, 2013, and how their “yes” vote could have saved Arizona’s education system from being crippled beyond repair.
Gov. Jan Brewer plans to allocate two-thirds of the revenue generated from the sales-tax raise to directly fund Arizona’s floundering K-12 system, the rest going to fund health and human services and public safety.
If Prop. 100 is voted down, however, 15 to 20 percent of teacher positions may be eliminated, according to the Arizona Education Network.
Additionally the state’s three universities, which are left unscathed in the basic budget proposal, would stand to endure a $100 million reduction in state funding, roughly half of which is assigned to ASU, according to President Michael Crow.
“We are strong supporters of Prop. 100,” Crow said. “Many friends of ASU are contributing to the campaign. We consider it essential.”
Arizona’s universities have already suffered tremendously in the wake of the recession, enduring a massive 21 percent reduction in funding, according to an ASU press release.
As a result, tuition for residents entering ASU in the fall will rise to $7,793, while continuing resident undergraduates will pay between $6,607 and $7,322.
The universities could lose another 10 percent of state funding if Prop. 100 is not picked up by voters.
Crow said it is too early to determine whether the failure of Prop. 100 would result in further tuition increases or furloughs. However, he warned that the $50 million reduction in funding would be not go unfelt.
“We would have to change programs and the number of seats available in certain programs: nursing, engineering, business, journalism, architecture, science. Those are exactly the programs that we need for the state to be successful.”
Opponents of Prop. 100, such as the GOP and National Federation of Independent Business, argue that the 1 percent sales tax increase would hurt small business and working families.
Indeed it is true that Prop. 100 would leave a bit less money in your wallets, but this fiscal hindrance is negligible when compared to the severe permanent damage that would be done to the state’s education system if the bill were not to pass.
“The economy is not in a 50-year crisis; the scale of the cuts to the universities is greater than the economic concerns,” Crow said. “We are spending more on prisons on a per person basis than universities.”
It is not out of urgency, but out of thoughtless greed and apathy toward educating youth, that our state’s education systems will crumble.
Prop. 100 is not an issue of tax ideology or partisanship but of simple pro-con logical analysis and should be the imperative concern of any individual who places value on the future of Arizona’s education system.
Fifty-five days from now the fate of Arizona State University will be placed on the ballot.
Where will you be?
Hal urges you to go out and vote on May 18. Send him your thoughts at hscohen@asu.edu
Tags: Tuition
Crow wastes millions in taxpayer dollars because he is mean spirited. Kids are kicked off health care, state parks are closing as are highway rest stops. We are under the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression yet the state does not stop Crow from spending millions to crush professors he does not like. Take fired Prof. Kathry Milun for example. She won with the EEOC and ASUs arbitration committee. Crow steadfastly refuses to settle farming out the case to Camelback Road pricey lawfirms. Who pays? We do. Crow was a bully at Columbia when he tried to crush a prominent professor named Graciela Chichilnisky. That dragged on for 16 yrs!!!! Crow is ruining education. I will encourage all my friends to vote no for a tax increase. No more money in Crow's hands. Not one dime.
Thank you for this article. I have been a k-12 teacher for 6 years and have witnessed our children bearing the burden of the recession in Arizona when it is out of their hands. If this does not pass, our students success rates will drop and our jails will become even more full. Statistics show that students who are failing academically by 3rd grade are likely to end up in our jail and court system. We should spend the money now and not later when it is too late.
While I too share your disdain for the way Arizona has fared in the recession (“Kids are kicked off health care, state parks are closing,” etc) I believe you are misinformed into believing that this is somehow Crow's and not the state's doing. Prop. 100 would raise money for K-12 education, health and human services and public safety. Not a dime would be going to President Crow or the university system. Instead, in addition to high education being further forced to make cuts due to reduced funding, if Prop. 100 fails to pass *fifteen to twenty percent* of K-12 teachers will be fired – we are talking thousands of jobs. This additional revenue is crucial to the welfare of the state and Gov. Brewer has warned that “If we don't get additional revenue in 2011, it will be a disaster. 2012 will be a major catastrophe” (KOLD News). If you think things are bad under the current proposal (which assumes that Prop. 100 is adopted) yet still are not swayed to vote in its favor, feel free to vote “no” and witness just how far our state's economy, reputation, and educational systems can fall.
Do more with less, just like everyone else!
Please read this report before you vote yes.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/a…
by Anne Ryman – Nov. 17, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
“The top earners among public-school presidents include Arizona State University President Michael Crow, who the Chronicle said has a compensation package of $728,750, including salary, car and housing allowances, and retirement contributions. However, the amount conflicts with an earlier report by the Arizona Board of Regents that lists his salary as $695,500 for 2007-08. The lower number would still put him in the top 20. ASU officials said the Chronicle amount miscalculated retirement pay.
University of Arizona President Robert Shelton had a $549,400 package and ranked No. 47 among public university presidents. Northern Arizona University President John Haeger made $421,918 and ranked No. 96. NAU officials said Haeger's salary was $424,408, slightly higher than reported by the Chronicle. “
please read this report before you vote.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/a…
The top earners among public-school presidents include Arizona State University President Michael Crow, who the Chronicle said has a compensation package of $728,750, including salary, car and housing allowances, and retirement contributions. However, the amount conflicts with an earlier report by the Arizona Board of Regents that lists his salary as $695,500 for 2007-08. The lower number would still put him in the top 20. ASU officials said the Chronicle amount miscalculated retirement pay.
University of Arizona President Robert Shelton had a $549,400 package and ranked No. 47 among public university presidents. Northern Arizona University President John Haeger made $421,918 and ranked No. 96. NAU officials said Haeger's salary was $424,408, slightly higher than reported by the Chronicle.
obama shoulda bailed out the schools instead of bailing out the banks and car dealerships i dont see why the people who dont have kids have to pay for other peoples kids to get an education that falls to the parents in my opinion
ASU students are placed is a very precarious position in choosing their classes. There are required classes that you cannot even be placed into a classroom setting. These classes are only available online, as there are not enough Professors to cover the classes. If you have ever taken an online class, it is completely inadequate for communities need type of education. I am taking classes to learn to work with people, and I look at a computer 80% of the time for my education. How am I to learn to communicate/work with the community?
Governor… If you want a social worker(s) under your employment via DES, Child Protective Services, Legal system, etc., that has NO exposure to that community; you will succeed if you let the cost of our education system rise.
The previous governor placed a trolley down the middle of our city, and now it has to be maintained. Compare this to — you are placing social workers in your government offices that do not have the abilities to do their job. You cannot maintain what you do not know. What do you see as priority?
If bills can be passed that put tax on our food, then there has to be ways to keep your schools funded. When you are spending more on the prisons to have better living facilities than 1/3 of your constituents; there is something seriously wrong with that reasoning.
As an educator and a doctoral student at ASU I am gravely concerned for our students if this does not pass. Arizona parents need to understand the impact this could have on the future of their children. I believe if they hear that the school week may go to four days they may pay attention.
I am trying to get campaign materials (bumper stickers, lawn signs) to put up. Where do I get this? We need to alert everyone the impact of this not passing!
oh yeah. of course. “for the children”.. thats bullsh1t. the budget has rose almost a 100% in the last 5 years from 6.2 billion to almost 12 this year. and the state still has no money. ASU tuition keeps going up every year and the worthless teachers keep getting bigger paychecks, but sure, lets RAISE the taxes again to help the children. anybody that believes this garbage is a complete imbecile.
Are you kidding me; passing prop 100 is like paying an extortion fee. If it works, the legislature will just fund 100% of their pet projects and defund education, police and fire and then claim that the only way they can balance the budget and keep the critical services are tax increases.
If prop 100 fails and they follow through with their cuts in these services the outcry will be heard loud and clear in the press and on election day and maybe next time they will do their job and actually work together to make tough cuts in the budget to make our government lean and mean.
What? I'm a high school student in Tucson, my school is losing 49 teachers. That means our class sizes will be over 60 students in some classrooms. This bill's passing may just give half of our teachers back, if we are lucky. You may not need an education right now but the future of this state needs it.
I'd love to find out exactly which teachers you are referring to that are getting “bigger paychecks”. It is sad when people cannot distinguish the difference between government spending and the teachers and students that are directly effected by the cuts but did not cause the government spending in the first place. If you haven't noticed, the cost of a decent education IS going up … would you rather educate the next generation WITHOUT the use of technology that will allow them to contribute to a successful economy in the future?! Anyone who says that children can be educated effectively in class sizes of 40+ AND without exposure to current technology is gravely mistaken.
Wow – where have you heard that teachers/professors are getting pay increases? No teacher I know have has ever received a “bigger” pay check. Salaries have been frozen and cut for an extremely long time. My salary hasn't moved in over four years, actually, it's decreased. Our class sizes are increasing due to cuts in teachers and from more families moving to Arizona, some classes already up to almost 40 students. Special programs including special education are also trying to weed out kids from their programs, because there is no funding. We are billions of dollars in the hole, so much so that districts are going to extreme measures cutting more teachers. More pay? I don't think so. Voting on Prop 100 will help to ensure that ASU's tuition does not continue to rise, as well as all other Arizona universities. If it doesn't go through, ASU will HAVE to hike up tuition cost because they will continue to lose programs, therefore continuing to lose students and more professors.
Which teachers are getting a pay raise? I certainly have not. In fact oover the last few years I have lost a few thousand in income yearly due to budget cuts. Some of my colleagues have lost their houses.
It will not be the colleges that suffer the most if the tax does not pay. A no vote would cut $420 million to K-12 education, $90 million to public safety, and $200 million to health care and human services. Higher education will lose $120 million which is only 14% of the proposed cuts. The state revenues have fallen to 2004 levels while since 2004 the state has added an additional 145,000 students from K-12.
That is actually not true. The language of the proposition explicitly allocates the money for education and public safety. I quote,
“1. TWO-THIRDS OF THE REVENUES SHALL BE APPROPRIATED FOR PUBLIC PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION.
2. ONE-THIRD OF THE REVENUES SHALL BE APPROPRIATED FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND PUBLIC SAFETY PURPOSES.”
Feel free to read the whole thing for yourself.
http://www.azsos.gov/election/2010/May_Special/…
I dont think you or a lot of people understand the other side. The person above didnt say the money would be used for anything but education and safety. What he is trying to get you to understand is that if education is so important that we must raise taxes they should be the priority in the budget, not an after thought. This tax is hiding the millions of dollars being wasted and mishandled everywhere else. Its easy to ask money for education and safety… not so easy to ask for whatever else our taxes are being wasted on in the first place.
SAY NO TO PROP 100.