Legislative Issues
Senate Bill Would Eliminate Negotiations for Teachers, Firefighters and Police Officers
The Goldwater Institute is misleading the public in an attempt to pass four Senate bills designed to cripple our local associations and other public sector employee associations by prohibiting your right to bargain with your school district through the meet and confer process as well as your personal right to have dues collected directly from your paycheck.
School Lunch Legislation
SB1061 makes it permissive for school districts to participate in the national school lunch program. The AEA believes that schools must provide a healthy meal to students who otherwise may have little or no access to such a basic need. All children deserve a healthy and secure environment in which to learn and thrive. The AEA is opposed to this bill because of concern that a school district or a school within a school district could opt out of the program and discontinue services to students who currently qualify for a free or reduced price lunch AEA has approached Senator Crandall in an effort to amend the bill to ensure school districts continue to meet the needs of this student population.
Join the Legislative Electronic Network
Get involved and stay informed by joining 13,000 other public education supporters who receive the weekly AEA Legislative Update and take action on behalf of our schools. These alerts are e-mailed once per week during the legislative session (January - June).
2012 Governor's K-12 Budget Proposal
Summary of Goveror Brewer's budget as it relates to K-12 education funding.
A-F School and School District Labels
As per legislation passed during the 2010 legislative session (sponsored by then-Senator John Huppenthal), the Arizona Department of Education released the new A-F school grades for districts and charter schools on October 12, 2011. These letter grades coincide with the Arizona LEARNS profiles (excelling, highly performing, performing, underperforming, or failing to meet academic standards). The letter-grade system is being phased in this school year, with each school receiving a profile that includes both the existing classification and the letter-grade classification. In addition, for the first time school districts received a letter grade. The link above is a PDF document provided by the Arizona Department of Education that explains the change and the criteria used.
Click on this link to view a school or district's label. This is an Excel spreadsheet that gives the A-F labels for schools and districts as well as the AZ LEARNS profile label (excelling, highly performing, performing, underperforming, or failing to meet academic standards). Please note, when you open the Excel file, you must use the tabs on the bottom left corner to scroll between the school A-F labels, AZ LEARNS profile, and the district A-F labels. Extremely small schools have not been given an A-F label yet. These schools will receive an A-F letter grade in the future pursuit to state law which requires a parallel achievement profile be established for extremely small schools as well as alternative and accommodation schools. The Arizona Department of Education will work with the State Board of Education to develop these parallel achievement profiles.
Arizona's Education Budget Cuts: FY 2009 - FY 2012
This chart lists the education budget cuts that have occurred in each of the last four fiscal years: fiscal year 2008-2009, fiscal year 2009-2010, fiscal year 2010-2011, and fiscal year 2011-2012 (the current fiscal year). To understand what each of these budget items represent, click here for an easy-to-read explanation.
AEA's Legal Actions
The AEA is involved in five lawsuits on behalf of our members-one is to make sure the legislature does not silence our voice, the second relates to the retirement contribution rate shift to employees, the third involves appropriating inflation dollars for education funding, the fourth relates to state trust lands and the Classroom Site Fund and the latest legal challenge is to make sure an already declared unconstitutional private school voucher program is not allowed to continue.
2011 Legislative Session Victories
The current majority at the Arizona Legislature believe that voters elected them to cut government-including K-12 education. With this belief as their mantra, the AEA's "wins" are most categorized by those issues we were able to defeat in the legislative process by communicating with legislators and Governor Brewer's office and testifying in committee hearings. If the AEA had not been present at the legislature, things would have looked much different for this current school year.
2011 Legislative Session-Bill Summaries
The 2011 legislative session began in January, and the Arizona Legislature adjourned "sine die" on April 20, 2011. There were numerous education policy bills passed. This document explains each of those bills and includes a summary of the fiscal year 2011-2012 budget at the end.
Changes to the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS)
SB1609 was passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law on April 29, 2011 by Governor Brewer. It makes numerous changes to the Arizona State Retirement System. This document explains the changes to normal retirement age, the establishment of the alternative contribution rate, new service purchase requirements, the creation of a defined contribution and retirement study committee, forfeiture of retirement benefits for a felony conviction, and new employee/employer contribution rate share.
Fiscal Year 2011-2012 Education Budget
Despite the passage of Proposition 100 in May 2010, Governor Brewer and the Arizona Legislature still made devastating cuts to K-12 education. The budget itself passed on April Fool's Day (April 1, 2011), but the only joke played was a rather cruel one on Arizona's students and school employees.
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