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Volume 41, Issue 9
February 3, 2004
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February 3, 2004
Governor touts early education
Kimberly Hosey
Mesa Legend
The condition of Arizona, particularly in education and business, has
gone from grim to strong in the past year, according to Gov. Janet Napolitano,
who spoke about education as well as CPS reform and the coming fire season
in the Navajo Room of the Kirk Center Jan. 22.
Napolitano joined MCC faculty, staff and administrators, as well as educators,
members of the local business community and city officials for the 2004
East Valley Breakfast with the Governor, which was jointly hosted by MCC,
the East Valley Chamber of Commerce Alliance and the East Valley Partnership.
After a buffet breakfast, MCC President Larry Christiansen welcomed the
governor and attendees.
The governor took time to commend MCC for the success of the Business
and Industry Institute and the national attention the program and school
gained as a result of President Bush’s Jan. 21 visit.
Napolitano focused on education as “the key for the entire state’s
future,” and said better schools and quality education would attract
better businesses.
The governor emphasized the connection between quality education and development
in businesses and the community, and compared the condition of Arizona
last year to this year.
“Last year, in my first State of the State address, I characterized
the condition of Arizona as grim. We had unfathomable budget deficits
of $1.3 billion, a beleaguered education system, a moribund economy, and
a state that wondered if Arizona – particularly Arizona’s
state government – could get anything right,” Napolitano said.
“What a difference one year makes.”
Napolitano said the state is now “strong and growing stronger,”
and attributed the upturn in the economy to increased attention to education.
“We have begun reinvesting in our schools, and they are responding
positively. Our economy is moving again,” she said.
She credited people and businesses statewide for getting the economy moving
again, and said now that budget emergencies have been addressed, “it
is time to work in earnest to build the new Arizona – the Arizona
that we know that it can be.”
“To that end, I am committing my administration to fundamental educational
reform, because a good education system elevates quality of life for today’s
families, and it serves as a catalyst for a stronger business climate
in future years,” she added.
Napolitano also said enhancements in early education will help increase
literacy rates, thus reducing dropout rates and creating a “well-educated
workforce that entreats businesses to start and to grow.”
Napolitano said she will not accept any cuts in the education budget this
year, just as she did not accept any last year, and pointed to the $102
million statewide that districts have spent in classrooms without raising
taxes.
“With our schools, community colleges and universities now operating
under somewhat more stable fiscal environments, it is time to lay down
our markers for the kind of state we want to build,” she said, and
added that the business community as well as those in education are “crying
out for education reform.”
“For the past year I have heard the message loud and clear from
the business community – education reform is the most potent strategy
for economic development that state government can undertake,” Napolitano
said. “I could not agree more.”
“It is no longer possible in Arizona to be pro-business without
also being
pro-education,” she added.
Napolitano also discussed recommendations made through bipartisan work
on CPS reform, and how Arizona can better protect abused and neglected
children.
The governor spoke about the approaching fire season as well, and said
that Arizona needs to develop a drought strategy for the future.
After keynote remarks, Napolitano took questions from the audience.
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