WHAT'S IN STORE FOR 2011-12 SCHOOL YEAR?

posted by Michael Chihak

It's still summer, but school is under way throughout Arizona, and for this week's program, we will explore the issues around efforts to improve public education.

We plan to interview state officials and those at the local level to get a gauge on expectations for the new school year, in which the state's public schools will be operating with the lowest state funding level in 11 years.

We will look at AIMS testing, which showed in the 2010-11 school year that students are generally improving in reading and math but getting worse in writing. The state Department of Education attributes the writing scores changes to introduction of tougher standards last year.

We will ask what efforts are being made to reduce the dropout rates, especially among minorities and low-income students and what results are being recorded.

We will look at teachers to see how their efforts are being supported and if they are meeting stricter standards.

All coming for Friday. Watch this space for more details.

NAVAJOS' DILEMMA: GO HOME OR GO TO WORK

posted by Michael Chihak

It's the Native American dilemma.

Arizona's reservation lands are among the most economically deprived places in the state. And that takes into consideration the economic value, including jobs, that casinos bring to Native American lands.

But little else is available in their homelands for educated Native Americans, so may of them depart the reservation to seek work. And those who depart for educational reasons are less and less likely to return home.

Many want to, with strong cultural and familial ties constantly tugging at them.

Yet, the job opportunities simply don't exist. Take the Navajo Nation, for example. Navajo tribal rolls show just more than 300,000 members. Until just a few years ago, half or more lived on the vast reservation. Today, Navajo Times Editor Duane Beyal says, it likely isn't even half.

Karen Francis-Begay, special adviser to the University of Arizona president for Native American affairs, says in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week that Native American students not going back home after getting their degrees is understandable.

"A lot of them end up in survival mode," Francis-Begay says. "They have to pay loans and have a means of survival. So often times, almost readily, the job market that is available to them is away from home and is off the reservation."

She says she herself is an example of that phenomenon, having grown up on the reservation but leaving to go to college. That left her with ongoing guilt and doubts about her decision, Francis-Begay says.

"Myself, for some time, often questioned why it was that I didn't go back and work in my community," she says. "But a tribal elder had told me, you're making such an important contribution in helping our young people."

Hear more from Francis-Begay, Beyal and from Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly tonight on Arizona Week, at 8:30 MST on PBS-HD-6 or online at azweek.com.

AMERICAN SELF-DETERMINATION EVIDENT ON NAVAJO NATION

posted by Michael Chihak

As Americans, we pride ourselves on our spirit of self-determination. We often attribute that spirit to the inheritance of our forebears, whether they were of European stock or of the many generations that inculcated a uniquely American culture in us.

A recent reporting trip to Northern Arizona showed me another source for this spirit – the first Americans. I saw it at Window Rock, capital of the Navajo Nation.

Thousands of years of self-determination by America’s native peoples was stifled by European immigrants settling the country, often using force as an expression of their own self-determination. In the face of it, the Navajos still manifest the spirit in working to modernize their society.

Evidence came from Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, who said that economic development and jobs for the reservation will make the Navajos independent of the federal government, a worthwhile cause by any measure.

Shelly pointed to what he called “western” education for young Navajos as the key. At the same time, he cautioned his people to retain their culture and traditions, a great measure of self-determination in and of itself.

Just before my interview with Shelly, a Navajo couple displayed a clear example of that spirit. The two were selling jewelry on the edge of the plaza honoring Navajo Code Talkers and other war heroes.

They sat in their van making the jewelry, and the man told me he and his wife were there because they couldn’t find work nearby in the fields for which they are trained – he a heavy-equipment operator, she a dialysis technician.

There was no self-pity in his tone, only a straight-forward and factual assertion that this was how they were making a living.

He showed a true spirit of self-determination, one engendered by his ancestors many millennia ago but still carried today on the wind.

NAVAJO PRESIDENT WORKS JOBS PLAN

posted by Michael Chihak

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly has a clear and concise understanding of the economic development and workforce issues facing his administration and his people.

In office just seven months, Shelly is rolling out an economic development plan pegged to the Navajos' vast energy resources, including alternative energies such as solar and wind, to the introduction of high technology on the sprawling rural reservation and on trade within and outside the United States.

Shelly detailed the issues and the opportunities for Arizona Week in an interview recently just outside the Navajo Nation's administrative offices in Window Rock.

As he spoke, a Navajo couple stood nearby making and selling native jewelry. The man said he and his wife were pressed into jewelry making because they can't find work on the reservation. He said he is trained as a heavy-equipment operator, his wife as a dialysis technician.

The interview with Shelly and analysis of the economic plight of the Navajos and other Native Americans will be the focus of Friday's Arizona Week.

DEBT CEILING: 'WE DODGED BULLET,' BUT ...

posted by Michael Chihak

A top Arizona economist says the federal debt-ceiling issues that were temporarily settled this week may have contributed to a continuance of the weak economic recovery.

"Bottom line: We dodged a bullet," Jim Rounds said in an e-mail. Rounds is economist and senior vice president at Elliott D. Pollack & Co. in Scottsdale. He tracks Arizona's and the nation's economic indicators to help businesses set their plans and strategies.

"Shocks like the debt-ceiling issue have more of an impact when the economy is weak," Rounds said in his e-mail. "While a resolution was agreed upon, there were still some psychological impacts in the economy. Businesses became a bit more scared to invest and consumers became a bit more scared to spend."

"This may have set us back a good three months to half of a year in the recovery," he continued. "But, the broad array of economic data suggests no 'double dip', just a continued really weak recovery."

On Friday's Arizona Week, we will look at the broader economic implications of the debt-ceiling issue for Arizona, by speaking with a business and entrepreneurial specialist from the Thunderbird School for Global Management in Phoenix and with other economic and financial experts.

QUESTIONS ABOUND IN FED DEBT-CEILING 'SOLUTION'

posted by Michael Chihak

Questions about the effects of the federal action on the deficit and debt ceiling will be posed on Friday's Arizona Week to economists and financial experts in Arizona.

Here's some of what we plan to ask:

• How will spending reductions affect Arizona's economy?

• Will there be an impact on state social services?

• The deal eventually could include defense spending cuts. Could they affect Arizona military installations and defense contractors?

• Will federal spending reductions mean governmental agency layoffs? If so, how will they affect the jo market in Arizona?

• How dependent is Arizona's economy and job market on what happens ast the federal level?

Watch Friday for answers to these questions and more.