Area legislators blasted on education funding

Every time Arizona state legislators voted on education funding in 2009 — nearly half of them always voted to take money away from schools, according to one state organization.

Of the 90 state legislators, 40 always voted “against” public education funding, according to the Arizona Education Network, a newly formed “non-partisan, independent, watchdog organization.”

On Wednesday, the Network released their tally of state legislators’ voting records on 21 bills that directly impacted education funding passed during 2009 regular and special sessions. Of all the bills that passed, the Network determined which ones were related to education dollars.

For Lake Havasu City’s District 3 Republican Representatives Doris Goodale and Nancy McLain — they both voted “against” education funding on all 21 bills, according to the Network’s tally.

District 3 Republican Sen. Ron Gould only voted “against” education funding 61 percent of the time, according to the tally.

The Network defines an “against” vote as one that decreases education funding.

“I think we were surprised,” said Network President Ann-Eve Pedersen. “Based on what we saw happening in our schools, the cuts were obvious. I don’t think we realized half of the legislators had voted against public funding 100 percent of the time. These are really difficult decisions. I think we were surprised that it was that stark of a contrast there.”

Gould said the tallies are “probably accurate.”

“It would probably be better if they actually looked at education policy votes and not education funding votes,” he said. “Essentially we are in a budget crises and we have to cut spending. Education is the biggest item in the budget. It is not really a fair representation of whether (we) support education or not.”

Gould also questioned who the group was and their bias.

A Network press release states the group is “made up of parents and education supports that provides factual information about education issues in Arizona and helps voters make informed decisions.”

“I’m not doubting that it’s accurate,” Gould said. “What I’m saying is it’s political spin. … But I was happy to be the third highest-rated Republican.”

Pedersen said the bills that were tallied were “pretty straight forward education funding bills.”

“The thing is, this is a public record, (it’s) all there in black and white,” Pedersen said. “They may not like what it shows, but we also feel like they need to account for their votes and people need to know how they are voting. They will tell you they support education or they will play down the cuts ors ay they had no other options. There were people who did vote to protect education.”

McLain said state legislators “have been as easy on education on our budget passage that we could possibly could be.”

“We understand that education is important. We understand … that the state is flat broke and we can’t continue spending money we don’t have. While we have tried to be as generous to education as we possibly can under the circumstances, cuts were necessary.”

McLain said she and some of her fellow legislators do not “believe that all of our education dollars are spent as wisely as they might be.”

She hears reports of teacher lay-offs while the number of school administrators increase, she said citing an incident she heard about in the Tucson area several years ago.

“Those sort of things are what makes me … convinced that all the money we put into K-12 education is not appropriately spent.”

Of the Network’s tally, there wasn’t one state legislator who voted “for” education funding on all 21 bills.

Goodale returned a message seeking comment, but Today’s News-Herald was unable to reach her early Wednesday evening.

Rep. Jack Brown (D-St. Johns), and Democratic Phoenix Reps. David Lujan and Kyrsten Sinema were among the state’s legislators who voted most “for” education funding, according to the tally.

To view the Network’s tally, visit www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com

You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com