Two experienced Arizona journalists made their Arizona Week debuts Friday, discussing the state's K-12 educational system and the big budget cuts signed into law by the governor this week.
Jim Nintzel, senior writer for the Tucson Weekly and a regular contributor to Arizona Public Media's Arizona Illustrated for many years, is one of three panelists to discuss education cuts on Arizona Week.
Kim Covington, Schools Solutions reporter for KPNX-TV 12 in Phoenix, also made her debut on the program.
Nintzel and Covington joined with Arizona Republic state capitol reporter Ginger Rough in discussing how the cuts are being received politically and what they could do not only to the educational system but to the reputations of Gov. Jan Brewer and state legislators who pushed through cuts to K-12, community colleges and the universities totaling more than $450 million for the coming fiscal year.
In its first 13 weeks, Arizona Week has brought viewers the perspectives of nearly 30 Arizona journalists. Stay tuned; there are more to come.
April 8th 2011 at 18:14 —
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Arizona businesses got the Legislature to slow down on its continuing anti-immigration push by saying that it was hurting the business climate.
They should do the same for education, Chuck Essigs said. Essigs is governmental relations director for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials.
"Until the business community makes a stand for education, it has no chance of making a change," Essigs said in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week.
Essigs said he has been in touch with school officials from around the state and described them as "disappointed" over a third straight year of significant budget cuts. This year's reductions, signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday, total $183 million and bring the 3-year-total for all education to more than $1 billion.
Arizonans have shown a willingness to tax themselves for educational improvement, having done so last year in passing Proposition 100, which increased the sales tax for three years to bolster education funding, Essigs said.
Calvin Baker, superintendent of Vail School District in suburban Tucson, said in a separate interview for Arizona Week that the cuts represented a "bait and switch" pulled on voters who expected more funding for education.
Watch their interviews and commentary from a panel of journalists on Arizona Week Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV 6 in Tucson and at 10:30 p.m. MST on KAET-TV 8 in Phoenix. Or watch the program online at www.azweek.com
April 7th 2011 at 14:30 —
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The Power of Public Media is Yours
Many of you have inquired where we stand on the issue of continued federal funding for public television and radio.
On March 17th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill which prohibits federal funding of National Public Radio (NPR) and the use of federal funds to acquire radio content. View voting results for HR 1076 here. You can read the story posted by the PBS NewsHour here.
A few powerful facts may help you make the call about the value of Arizona Public Media (AZPM) and public broadcasting:
• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 and is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. CPB has no authority over PBS, NPR or AZPM editorial policy or operations.
• CPB distributes 73% of the Congressional allocation directly to local public television and radio stations in the form of Community Service Grants. Of the remaining balance, grants are made available to PBS and NPR to support content production, for special initiatives, and to national and independent program producers.
• PBS and NPR are independent national non-profit membership organizations. AZPM is a member of PBS and NPR and pays an annual member assessment in addition to programs fees for the programs acquired for local broadcast in Southern Arizona. PBS and NPR have no authority over AZPM editorial policy or operations.
• More than 170 million Americans and more than 2 million Arizonans watch or listen to public TV or radio weekly. Arizona public television stations frequently rank in the Top 5 most-watched PBS stations in the country. Half of all TV households in Southern Arizona tune to one of AZPM’s TV channels at least once a month. Radio listening on KUAT-FM and KUAZ-AM/FM provides additional audience reach.
• AZPM is financed through a public/private partnership consisting of federal support from CPB, state support from the University of Arizona, private and family foundations, and individual and business donors. Individual members comprise the largest segment of AZPM’s revenue (38%).
• Federal dollars received at AZPM from CPB support ongoing original local productions including: local radio news reporting, Arizona Illustrated, Arizona Spotlight, Arizona Week, The Desert Speaks, WaveLengths, and classical community concerts. In addition, federal support also helps to finance documentary specials like Tucson Remembers, Phoenix Mars Mission: Ashes to Ice/Onto the Ice, Unforgettable: The Korean War, and Secrets of the Divine, to name but a few.
• Each year, tens of thousands of viewers and listeners contribute to AZPM. Member dollars received during pledge campaigns and through annual gifts made by mail support the acquisition and broadcast of programming from PBS, NPR, BBC, and other distributors.
• The University of Arizona contributes to AZPM operations with facilities support services and by helping underwrite a portion of the costs associated with broadcast operations, including operation of the UA Channel.
• All public broadcasters are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and have significant limits on the kind of announcements they can air between programs. AZPM and every public station are non-profit entities and are not permitted to sell commercial spots or commercial time in the way other broadcast and cable operators do to earn revenue.
• Public television stations for example, offer up to two minutes (one minute national; one minute local) of underwriting acknowledgment at the beginning and at the conclusion of a program. Commercial broadcasters sell 18+ minutes of time per hour for commercial spots, plus product placement and sponsorship revenue opportunities within programs.
• PBS has been ranked America’s most trusted institution by the independent polling organization, GfK Roper, for 8 years in a row.
• KUAZ 89.1FM has been voted Tucson's Best Radio Station for News for nine consecutive years by the Tucson Weekly/Best of Tucson.
• AZPM is everywhere you are: in your home, car, computer, and on your phone. More than 50,000 unique people visitors utilize azpm.org every month which hosts more than 3,000 community stories for viewing anytime, anywhere, at no cost.
• Public broadcasting provides a platform for the civil dialogue that Americans are demanding, especially in Arizona. The weekly television series Arizona Week, was launched earlier this year as a statewide effort to connect communities in a common dialogue with policy makers and each other.
• Public broadcasting’s format allows for in-depth, long-form interviews that are especially beneficial to local communities during political campaigns. In Arizona, no other broadcast service offers a comparable amount of local airtime to political candidates and elected officials to discuss the issues.
• AZPM has had a week-nightly public affairs series in production for more than 30 years. Arizona Illustrated interviewed 981 guests last year, providing audiences with in-depth features on community issues. Arizona Spotlight provided an additional 339 interviews for radio audiences.
• AZPM hosted 33 candidate forums during the last election season, including community debates for major races. AZPM also hosted several community forums to convene the community around an issue or ballot proposition — featuring a live audience on location as well as broadcasting to TV, radio and online audiences at home.
• In Southern Arizona, U.S. Homeland Security and local law enforcement officials depend on AZPM’s technical infrastructure to support emerging first-responder communication needs.
• Remote learning opportunities are supported through televised college lectures and classes for
students, business and industry by AZPM, including the new Digital Learning Library for educators and students (fall 2011). In addition, AZPM radio stations support SunSounds, a radio reading service for the blind.
• AZPM’s public broadcast stations provide job training for dozens of students every year. Many go on to work in Arizona’s media industry and at media companies throughout the nation.
• PBS Kids is a safe haven for our children, 24 hours a day. AZPM does not schedule any fundraising campaigns on the PBS Kids channel.
• While local commercial TV stations average 4 hours of children’s programming each week, PBS Kids provides educational children’s programs 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week.
I hope you will take the time to call or write to your members of Congress and let them know what you think. You can find their contact information here.
You can also visit 170 MillionAmericans.org and register to receive updates on this issue via email. Because the future of Arizona Public Media and public broadcasting is at stake, it is important that elected representatives hear directly from you — about whether or not funding for public broadcasting should be continued.
April Programming
For two decades, filmmaker Ken Burns has brought to American public television viewers a host of award-winning productions — Baseball, JAZZ, The War, The National Parks among them. This month, to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the civil war, we are proud to present an April 3-7 rebroadcast of The Civil War, the first blockbuster film series created by Burns.
Viewed by 40 million people, and the highest-rated film in the history of public television, this 1990 production remains the gold standard for modern documentary filmmaking.
The programs, airing over five consecutive nights, explore the fascinating and poignant story of the bloodiest war in American history — from which a divided collection of states emerged a nation.
Finally for this month, Masterpiece presents Upstairs Downstairs, the sequel to the beloved, iconic 1970s drama of the same name.
Thank you for your continued support of Arizona Public Media.
Power-Public-Media,
April 6th 2011 at 16:53 —
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Pima County's Joint Technological Education District will eliminate high school freshmen enrollment in the next school year because of state budget cuts, JTED officials announced Wednesday.
JTED is the 21st century version of vocational education, intended to provide academic and job skills to high school students. JTED enrollees can take curriculums in culinary arts, agrisciences, automotive technologies, nursing, construction trades, firefighting, early childhood education and a host of other programs.
Knocking freshmen out of the program next school year will mean at least 7,100 fewer students enrolled in Pima County, JTED officials said in a press release. It said the program's budget will be $3 million less than what it was in 2008, when it had half the enrollment it does today.
The JTED program was approved by Pima County voters in 2006 and has been expanding ever since.
JTED Superintendent Alan Storm said in the press release that the cuts will hurt not just the students but local businesses that depend on being able to hire skilled workers.
The cuts are expected to result in layoffs of JTED employees, but the number has not been determined.
April 6th 2011 at 14:46 —
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Vail School District Superintendent Calvin Baker will be on Arizona Week Friday to discuss school funding in the wake of the state Legislature's passage of next fiscal year's budget.
Baker's district runs with great efficiency and effectiveness. The state Auditor General's report says Vail spends a greater percentage of its money in the classroom than other school districts. Nine of its 15 schools are rated "excellent" under the federal No Child Left Behind system; the other six are rated at "performing" or "highly performing."
Certainly Vail's performance, both fiscally and educationally, can be attributed to superior administration, management and teaching. At the same time, the dollars make a difference. So what is Vail to do in light of the state Legislature's budget action last week?
Legislators cut state funding for public schools by $183 million. While legislative leaders called it a relatively small amount -- 3.6 percent of total K-12 funding, House Speaker Kirk Adams said -- it is 5 percent of state general fund money.
In addition, it comes on top of an 11.6 percent reduction in state general fund money in fiscal 2009-10. And that came on top of an 8.3 percent decrease in state general fund money in fiscal 2008-09.
In short, state general fund allocations for K-12 public schools have gone down 19 percent in three years. That's expected to be reflected in per-student state funding, which this school year is down 19 percent from its historic high two years ago and will be down more next fiscal year.
We will ask Baker what changes he must make in how Vail schools operate and whether the district's record of excellence will be jeopardized as a result of the state funding cuts.
April 5th 2011 at 12:51 —
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