Arizona’s Budget Cuts in Education; Good Idea?

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Recommended: Budget impacts on elementary and high school educations

Arizona is ranked forty-sixth in the nation when it comes to how much money is spent per-pupil in the public school system. How can we do worse? Cut even more money from the system and work our way down to fifty. “Arizona’s per-pupil spending continues to trail the national average by nearly $2,500 (using AZ & US 2008 fiscal years for exact comparison).” (Arizona Education Network http://www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com/2011/03/az-auditor-general-report-az-spend-nearly-2500-less-per-pupil-than-national-avg/ ) The budget cuts that Arizona is making to the educational system will be detrimental in areas such as teachers and classrooms, programs such as arts and extracurricular activities, and most of all, taking jobs out of the state of Arizona.

The cuts that Arizona is making to the educational system will be detrimental in many areas. One area that will be hit hard is teachers and classroom sizes. Because of these cuts teachers will be laid off and the classroom sizes increased. Cuts to education have been happening over the past four years. Teachers over the past 4 years have been nervous wondering if they will have a job to come back to the following fall and when they do come back they see an increased size in their classrooms. I recently spoke to an art teacher from the Dysart school

Platt, 2

district, who has been a teacher for 5 years. She says, “The cuts that schools have to make only harm the children in the long run. With class size increasing there is less one on one time, therefore students can easily fall through the cracks and are unfortunately left behind.” This budget cut for 2012 will take another $150 million for K-12, another $198 million to universities as well as $70 million to communi...

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...on, or lack thereof. Arizona needs to continue to make education a priority in this state. I am afraid if we continue cutting education in our state, our future leaders will have the knowledge of that of obtaining a GED and where will we be then?

Platt 5,

Works Cited Page:

Arizona Education Network http://www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com/2011/03/az-auditor-general-report-az-spend-nearly-2500-less-per-pupil-than-national-avg/

AZ Law Makers Pass Budget Plan with Deep Cuts” (Arizona Republic by Mary Jo Pitzl March 17, 2011)

College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001

Childrensmusicworkshop.com http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html

http://www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com/2011/03/companies-will-shun-arizona-due-to-education-cuts/

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