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Prescott News
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 13:45
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has led an aggressive campaign to oust Governor Brewer out of office and take her place. Press releases attacking her on a variety of issues have been sent out weekly and sometimes daily over the past month, so today's last minute, mid-day e-mail to the media should come as no surprise to many.'On Brewer's Watch, Arizona Loses Again' claims Arizona's children will suffer from her lack of attention to federal stimulus assistance for education improvements.
"Arizona's children have lost out again," the press release from Goddard's office states. "Arizona lost the Race to the Top, a federal stimulus grant program that made billions in grants available for states to improve their schools. Governor Brewer's education team made an exceptionally poor showing in the first round applications for Race to the Top, ranking 40th out of the 41 applications submitted.
"In this second round, when it came the time for Arizona to be considered for this critical funding, she couldn't be bothered to go to D.C. to make a case for our students," he states in the release. "Arizonans continue to send their hard earned money to Washington, D.C., and Jan Brewer should be working to get it back for our children."
He explains why he thinks this funding is necessary.
"Obtaining this funding was critical for Arizona schools because Brewer has made massive cuts totaling more than one billion dollars to the education budget since she came into office. As a result of the budgets she signed, Arizona has sunk to 49th out of 50 states in per pupil funding.
"Today's announcement highlights the failures of a governor who has no plan for educating our children. She complains - loudly and often - about so-called 'government bailouts,' but as it turns out, her only hope for our kids was a federal grant that her team couldn't win."
Gov. Brewer has been talking about improvements needed in Arizona's education system since her State of the State address and continues to consider this a key priority, she told Prescott eNews while in Prescott for the Fourth of July Parade.
She has a strategic plan to improve the state's education system but reminds voters that it takes time to implement change.
In the meantime, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate (Goddard) says he sees federal stimulus funding as key to implementing change.
Goddard's detailed plan for improving education in Arizona, Making Arizona Schools Work, calls for Arizona to move from the bottom 10 in national surveys to the top 10 by 2020. The plan emphasizes teacher training and quality, accountability, safety and an agreed-upon set of standards that emphasizes techniques that have been shown to be the most effective in engaging children to learn.
Brewer's plan calls for pretty much the same.
However, Goddard is promising he can deliver more action.
"We've heard a great deal of talk out of this governor and her surrogates, but seen zero action," Goddard said. "We must put schools and education back on the front burner, stop the complaining and make our schools work for students and their families."
Voters will determine by the Nov. 2 General Election which candidate they believe can actually get the job done, but if the primary season is any indicator, the next couple of months promise to be anything but amiable in the gubernatorial race.
