An Open Message to Gov. Jan Brewer and the AZ Legislature

THE CHILDREN OF ARIZONA ARE THE FUTURE OF OUR STATE!

I am livid right now. I understand that many states across the nation are facing budget deficits but Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona Legislature are slashing children’s services left and right. I hear time and time again about how President Obama’s economic stimulus package is borrowing from our children and that it isn’t fair to our children. I’m going to localize this and say failing to provide the children of Arizona with a quality of education and reducing services to disabled children is not just borrowing from our children but purely taking from our children.

The public education system in the state of Arizona is a joke. We rank near the bottom for spending per child, test scores, drop out rates, teen pregnancies, etc. What is Governor Jan Brewer’s and the Arizona Legislature’s solution to this problem? Cut the funding more. We’re already near the bottom, nothing wrong with being at the bottom, right? WRONG. You are sealing this state’s future by cutting education funding so deeply. Arizona legislators, I ask you to take pride in the children of Arizona and adequately fund their education. If you can’t fund it adequately, don’t cut it further. This is unacceptable.

The disabled children of Arizona are facing an even worse fate. The state’s Department of Economic Security, which funds the Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) (among other things) has taken drastic cuts. Children birth to three that don’t qualify for services under the Arizona Long Term Care System are likely going to lose funding for FY2010. They’ve already lost funding for FY2009.

Parents of children over the age of three and disabled adults are now fighting to keep funding intact for FY2010. These services are integral to the success of disabled children. Studies have shown, over and over and over, that early intervention WORKS. Give that autistic child the speech and occupational therapy that he needs from birth to 5 or 6 and watch that child grow and learn. Cut those services off until he gets to school and watch that child struggle.

Oh wait, here’s the Catch 22.

School funding is being cut, significantly!

So that child that missed out on early intervention is going to have one heck of a time obtaining an even moderately acceptable level of education.

Now let’s go on to foster children. Funding for foster children is being cut – drastically. At one point, families with a foster child received $910 per month per child. If my memory serves me correctly, the new amount is right around $720 per month. Arizona already has a large foster child population and many of these foster children have special needs. If the disability funding is cut, the education funding is cut and the foster care funding is cut, how are these children going to find new homes?

I am disgusted by the actions that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona Legislature have taken. I do not profess to understand the state budget process but I do understand that the disproportionate cuts made that directly affect Arizona’s children is SICKENING. I have written my representatives and the Governor. I only hope that every other parent, whether or not their child has a disability or is fostered, speaks up as well.

Rally to Protect Services for People with Disabilities – February 26

Governor Brewer’s Phone Number: 602-542-4331
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Majority leadership wants to move away from public education

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Related posts:

1. Rally to Protest Arizona’s Div. of Developmental Disabilities Cuts
2. Attention Arizona Early Intervention Clients – Past and Current
3. Court Overturns Arizona DES Budget Cut Injunction

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