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Get serious about reaching the state education attainment goal

By Rich Nickel and John Fees, Guest Commentary //January 22, 2025//[read_meter]

Deposit Photos

Get serious about reaching the state education attainment goal

By Rich Nickel and John Fees, Guest Commentary //January 22, 2025//[read_meter]

In 2016, seeing the correlation to Arizona’s economic competitiveness, the state set a bipartisan goal for education attainment. Known as Achieve60AZ, the goal calls for 60% of Arizona adults ages 25 to 64 to have a workforce certificate or an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by 2030. 

In the nine years since the goal was passed, Arizona has increased attainment by only 6%, to 48%. With approximately 4.3 million working adults ages 25 to 64 and only five years to go, Arizona will need 500,000 more degrees or certificates than we have today to hit the target. 

Creating those half million additional degrees and credentials should be squarely on the agenda for the executive and legislative branches of Arizona government as well as for Arizona’s business leadership. 

Rich Nickel

The case for doing so is undeniable. Billions to Gain research released by Helios Education Foundation and Education Forward Arizona, shows that:

  • If Arizona increases postsecondary enrollment by 20%, the expected economic gains will exceed $5 billion — each year.
  • Arizona could see nearly $8.7 billion in economic gains if underrepresented groups enrolled and completed education after high school at the same rate as their peers.
  • Higher attainment leads to increased revenue and reduces public expenditures.
  • Individuals benefit through higher earnings, improved health, and greater community contributions.

This is more than just an education issue: Creating more degrees and certifications is fundamental to Arizona’s economic growth and our quality of life.

John Fees

Voters want this too. Indeed, they’re demanding it. Polling from Education Forward Arizona’s Everything to Gain campaign shows strong support for expanding opportunities to education and training: 

  • 95% of Arizona voters support increasing career training programs such as apprenticeships and professional certificates.
  • 93% back the expansion of advanced placement and dual enrollment courses for high school students.
  • 89% favor increasing online education and training programs for working adults, parents, and rural residents.

Still, despite evidence of the benefits of postsecondary education and extremely strong voter support for it, Arizona leaders simply aren’t doing enough to reach the Achieve60AZ goal.

Last week, Gov. Katie Hobbs spoke of reaching “Arizona’s Promise” in her State of the State Address, an ideal she described as the ability to “build a good life for yourself and your family and leave your kids with a better tomorrow.”

But the FY2026 Executive Budget proposal is not ambitious enough to make serious traction in creating the college degrees and workforce certifications needed to generate the economic growth that will put Arizona’s Promise in reach. 

Restoring funding for some of the essential programs decimated in last year’s budget is necessary, but for a budget proposal that mentions the state attainment goal, it is not sufficient to help reach it. To make meaningful progress toward the half million degrees and certificates Arizona needs, investments in programs like dual enrollment and student financial aid must be substantially higher. And, if Arizona is to hit our Achieve60AZ goal by 2030, these investments need to be made now.

Proposed funding for dual enrollment is at only 30% of where it was two years ago and only 20% of what education leaders asked for then. A bedrock strategy in many other states, dual enrollment enables high school students to earn college credit. Data show that dual enrollment can reduce eventual college tuition costs and accelerate degree attainment. Students taking dual enrollment classes in Arizona are twice as likely to attend college. Yet only 24.4% of Arizona high school graduates in 2022 took at least one dual enrollment course. Many more need to. 

Arizona’s first statewide financial aid program (actually titled Arizona Promise) gets a $40 million total request in this year’s budget. That may look like a lot. But in order to fulfill the promise, by making higher education more accessible and affordable for students and families, Arizona must invest hundreds of millions more. Many states do invest hundreds of millions in financial aid, and the top five states each invest more than one billion.

Underfunding effective programs and restoring funding to the inadequate levels some other programs were at two years ago isn’t progress. Substantial investments in postsecondary education and training are required to move Arizona’s economy forward. And new and innovative programs and incentives must be created if the state is serious about meeting workforce demands and achieving Arizona’s economic promise. 

We need more than merely replacing budget cuts of the past. What’s needed in Arizona today is leadership — from the executive and legislative branches and from business — that imagines what can happen when Arizona’s promise is truly fulfilled. We need leadership that commits to high performance at all levels of our education system. We need leadership that provides access to a high-quality education for all students, regardless of zip code. We need leadership that assures accountability. And we need leadership that creates policies and incentives so that all students have access to a path toward a credential that helps fulfill Arizona’s economic growth and their place in it. 

Rich Nickel is president and CEO of Education Forward Arizona. John Fees is co-founder and CEO of NextGen Insurance Group and board chair of Education Forward Arizona. 

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