Balancing the State Budget & Strengthening Arizona’s Economy

There is a dire need to balance our state budget and restore cuts to education, health care coverage, state parks and rest stops by repealing the 10 billion dollars in corporate loopholes and sales tax code. We must take advantage of federal funds, which leverage our state dollars to provide health coverage, like KidsCare and Adult Education. We also must review and repeal the more than $60 millions in taxpayer dollars are directed to School Tuition Organizations for private school tuition through the tax credit

 program. These dollars did to be reinvested in our public schools. Fairness is also a must when it comes to sales taxes and tax credits.   Currently tax credit have a review process but no sunset date therefore, no legislative action is required to continue the credits. Taxes on luxury services like Country Club Memberships and spa treatments remain tax free while poor working families pay taxes on necessities like school clothes and supplies.

Strengthening Arizona’s economy requires not only the above but also following;

First, we need to follow the voter’s lead by fully funding public education. A quality education system provides the skilled workforce that high-wage businesses need. We must create local jobs to enhance our economy based on Arizona’s strengthens, our highly renown State Universities as well as our natural asset the sun. Arizona should already be the solar capitol of the world.

I will promote economy development by creating and promoting community and private partnerships to develop small businesses and attracting responsible community and environment-friendly industries.

Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)

AHCCCS is Arizona's Medicaid agency that offers health care programs to Arizona residents, who must meet certain income and other requirements to obtain services.

Due to the recent economic crisis, loss of jobs, illness, and seniors living on fixed incomes, thousands of our Arizona citizens qualify for AHCCCS services. As a developed nation that values democratic values and human rights, it is our moral obligation to provide health coverage to all that need it, especially the most vulnerable among us. Raising the eligibility requirement to receive vital medical attention, as well as eliminating many specialized services such as dentistry and podiatry, is not what Arizona citizens need, especially in these difficult times of economic recession. We need to adhere to the current AHCCCS mission statement: “Reaching across Arizona to provide comprehensive, quality health care to those in need.”

KidsCare - Arizona's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Affordable health care insurance for working families was established in 1997, providing working families the ability to purchase affordable health care for their children up to the age of eighteen.

The situation with uninsured children is major problem because hundreds of thousand of Arizona children do not receive adequate preventative care due to the extremely high cost. Even working families are not able to obtain or afford necessary health treatment for their children. The cost for treating medical needs in the ER has greatly increased.

KidsCare enrollment caps that were implemented in January of this year need to be lifted so that the approximately 100 children that are currently are being turned away each day can receive the health care for which they are so in need. This program enables us to bring in three dollars in federal funds for every dollar the state spends. This is a proven and financially sound investment of state dollars in order for our children to have their preventative health care and their immediate medical needs met

In recent years, Arizona consistently ranks at, or near, the bottom of all fifty states in terms of K-12 education spending per child!

Restoring adequate funding support for K-12 public education is a must! A quality education is the key opportunity for every child to become a successful and contributing member of our society. It is the responsibility of all of us Arizonans to show our respect for the dignity of each and every child by providing them the means to make the most of themselves.

We need to restore the millions of dollars the Republican-led legislature has withheld from our public school system. These cuts have created turmoil in every school in our state by denying students the quality education to which they have a right and we are obligated to provide them. The legislature’s reckless assault on our educational institutions has resulted in school closures, elimination of hundreds of teacher positions, and overcrowded classrooms without even the minimal instructional supplies needed to adequately teach our children.

In light of all this, do we wonder why such a high percentage of our students fail to make adequate yearly progress academically?

Educators widely agree that full-time Kindergarten is essential in order for all of our children to be reading by the third grade. First Things First, the measure approved by voters in 2006, must be reinstated if we want every Arizona kindergartener to come to school with the readiness skills that will enable him or her to meet age-appropriate learning expectations.

Adult Education, an important part of lifelong learning, is a right of every citizen and a collective asset to our state. 800,000 adult Arizonans don’t have a high school diploma, which is required for higher education, military service and many jobs. Adults without a high school diploma earn $8,000 less per year on average, resulting in both a loss of income for them and a loss of tax revenue for the state. Revenue that could be used to support our education system!

Paula Stuht, Vice President of Business Development for the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, adds: “The economic impact of not educating the nearly 800,000 Arizonans who do not have a high school diploma is enormous. The elimination of adult education will prevent the development and re-training of twenty-five percent of Arizona’s workforce.”

The GED program is an excellent opportunity for everyone who was unable to finish high school, for whatever reason, to gain the personal and economic benefits that come to those who have completed a secondary education. One-in-five of our high school graduates last year were GED recipients.

The legislature’s shortsighted elimination of these programs—intended to save the state four million dollars—actually cost the state a loss of three times that amount in Federal funding for these very programs!