Slightly Unhinged

From the Arizona Education Association:

Last Friday, Governor Jan Brewer released her budget proposal, which includes cuts to education programs, funding for health and services for children and mentally ill.  View a summary of the major items and the education budget impact online.

The governor’s budget proposes permanently eliminating several non-formula education programs as well as funding for full-day kindergarten.  The proposal also targets health care for Arizona’s children and families by cutting funding for several health and human service programs such as KidsCare, which provides health insurance for nearly 47,000 children, and AHCCCS, which provides health care coverage to over 300,000 Arizonans.  In addition, the budget eliminates behavioral health services for people who aren’t eligible for Medicaid, impacting over 17,000 seriously mentally-ill adults.

The budget proposal also includes a three-year, one-cent sales tax increase, which requires a super majority vote (40 in the House and 20 in the Senate) in order to approve.

This budget outlines the dire situation Arizona’s children and families are facing.  With a $1.4 billion deficit this year and a $3.2 billion deficit next year, the governor’s proposal balances the budget with deep cuts to programs that service Arizona’s most vulnerable and high-needs population – even with the sales tax increase.

Arizona’s governor and legislature need to look at other budget options.  The Joint Appropriations Committee will review the governor’s budget with legislators on Wednesday afternoon.   The governor’s budget is only a proposal at this time.  There will hopefully be bi-partisan negotiations that take place to resolve the deficit for both FY10 and FY11. E-mail the governor and legislators today to consider a comprehensive, bipartisan approach to balancing the budget without raiding funding that services our children and families.

Additionally, make sure to take this message out to your community.  It isn’t enough to send one message to lawmakers.  You need to get your community involved and get people you know to send messages and take action.  On March 4, 2010, at 4 p.m. thousands of education supporters across the state will be mobilized in concurrent community outreach activities.  Get involved with the AEA March4Schools Statewide Day of Action by visiting www.march4schools.com.