Save Our Schools

I sent the following email to my representative as the Arizona legislature is contemplating education cuts.

Here are the cuts that will impact the Scottsdale Unified School District.

* First and Second year teachers will be RIF
* Blue Cross/Blue Shield will be the health insurance company. It will cost employees more money.
* SIP will be decreased by 18%
* Career Ladder will be phased out over 8 years
* Copy machines may not be in schools
* Assistant principals in elementary schools will become .5 FTE
* Elementary Schools will start first with different start times to help with school bus schedules
* Pay for sports
* Library aides will be reduced.
* Teachers will be locked out of schools during weekends and holidays.
* Class sizes will be increased by 4 students.
* The district will lose: 286 FTE administrators, 221 FTE certified teachers, 40 FTE classified
* Flex accounts will go from $2000 to $1000
* Principals will decide which specials will be offered at schools. The school can only have 3 specials (PE. music, library, for example)

Co-Interim Superintendents Katy Cavanagh and Dr. David Peterson are seeking ideas and input from the greater SUSD community as the District faces budget cuts imposed by the State Legislature in the amount of $21 million dollars. The Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board will discuss its final budget decisions at the March 3, 2009 Governing Board meeting.

Carolyn S. Allen, District 8 Representative

Dear Ms. Allen:

We are writing to you as constituents and as a parents of two children that are in the Scottsdale Unified School District. More than eleven years ago, we moved from Chicago to Scottsdale, largely because we were so impressed with the record of excellence from the schools in this area.

It is true that Arizona is experiencing hard times. Because of this, there is ample temptation to slash funding for public education. However, we suggest that this may be the wrong thing to do. Well-funded schools are fundamental to restoring the value of our homes. Good schools foster increasing home property values. A good education with quality programs and competitive salaries for superior, caring teachers can help Arizona recover from this bad economy and position Arizona to be competitive. Finally, for our children, such an education reduces opportunities for more expensive social programs to combat juvenile delinquency and premarital pregnancies.

It is for these reasons that we ask you to consider supporting vibrant public education funding in Arizona.

Representative Allen's terse but wise response to us.

I voted NO on the education cuts in this "slop-dash" budget thrown together without enough careful drilling down into the potential damages.

At the same time that information came out, we got another e-mail from teachers at one of the schools that has done so much to educate our children.

This is just a quick note to let you know how well Ben is doing on our team this year. We conferred as a group, and we all agree that Ben excels both academically and personally in each of our classes. He is a joy in class and is a wonderful young man. We are proud of him and know you are too.

Thank you for all you do to support our efforts at school.

We couldn't have done that by ourselves.