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Youths to tell legislators importance of supporting behavioral health
When Riley Gibson was just 4 years old, he and his brother were removed from their home and placed into foster care. For the next 14 years, Riley remained in foster care.
Arizona pension system still best for public workers, taxpayers
Glaring headlines about Arizona’s public worker retirement system suggest that your typical retired teacher, firefighter or police officer is sipping margaritas on a beach somewhere enjoying a six-figure pension. Meanwhile the state’s pension funds are running out of money, leaving you, the taxpayer, stuck with the bill.
Education — the best investment for our future
For more than 50 years, Arizona Town Hall has asked Arizonans to identify the most pressing and important policy topics for discussion. In recent years, Town Hall members and participants have repeatedly identified education as a topic that requires immediate attention. Perhaps this has been due to widespread opinions that Arizona’s education systems are not prepared to support the most prosper[...]
New assessment, Common Core form path to Arizona students’ success
Too few Arizona students graduate from high school prepared for college, career and life. Did you know that just seven out of 10 students graduate from high school, and of those who do, more than half aren’t eligible for admission into a state university? What’s more, 42 percent of employers say their employees lack the basic skills needed to be successful in the workplace.
AAA urges state leaders to focus on road safety and funding
With the recent commencement of the legislative session and release of Governor Brewer’s 2015 executive budget, public policy debates on a variety of critical issues have once again assumed the spotlight. Indeed, our elected officials are tasked with making difficult choices, balancing our state’s growing needs with dwindling resources.
Backyard chickens an appropriate topic for legislature
I’m so glad to see that the state of Arizona might take a stab at this issue! Why didn’t I know about this story (“Backyard fowl bill filed by Mesa lawmaker,” Jan. 24) a few years ago? I’ve been following “chicken fights” across the country since 2009. I chronicled many of the more humorous and poignant ones in a guide to backyard chicken keeping called, “The Backyard Chicken Fight[...]
Higher pay key to solving teacher shortage
Research says that the quality of teaching is the No. 1 influence on the learning of children and will either advance them or hold them back. The Education Trust, a national research and advocacy organization says, “The caliber of teachers drives student success.”
Securing Arizona’s future prosperity — A strategic vision for water supply sustainability
Arizona has a long history of addressing our water supply challenges. Before statehood, farmers and ranchers in Phoenix’s Salt River Valley put their own lands up as collateral to finance the construction of Roosevelt Dam, providing a more reliable water supply and reducing the impacts of flooding and drought as well as setting the stage for prosperity unimaginable in those early days.
Legislature needs to make assisting the unemployed a top priority
While we rightly have concern over the welfare of children in the more than 6,000 cases that Child Protective Services failed to investigate, imagine what the reaction would be if 150,000 people in Arizona went missing and there was no investigation.
Families robbed of essential support system without unemployment benefits
Imagine getting laid off from your job and struggling to support your family. Your first thoughts? How will you make rent or keep up with your mortgage payment? How will you buy groceries and pay the utility bills? Thankfully, unemployment benefits are a safety net while you look for work in a tough economy, to ease the financial burden and stress when you fall on hard times.
A constitutional convention would be ‘national suicide’
“They” keep telling us the Constitution has not grown with the country; that it has not kept up with the times. Others say we need to amend the Constitution to force Congress to obey the Constitution.
Cities’ pension obligations get more public exposure under new rules
The balance sheets of Arizona cities, towns and counties will look very different next year simply because of changes in some key accounting rules. While accounting rules generally do not raise the interest of taxpayers, the new accounting standards on public pensions will require local governments to publish their long-term pension obligations. Addressing the long-term costs of public pensions h[...]
