TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for February 20, 2009

Regents OK nearly $142M in budget cuts
($56M at UA)
Arizona Daily Star 2/20/09
The Arizona Board of Regents approved nearly
$142 million in previously announced state bud-
get cuts to the three public universities during a
special meeting on Thursday. Legislators had
mandated that all three universities reduce their
budgets as part of an effort to overcome a $1.6
billion deficit, giving regents the power to split
the cuts among the three institutions. After re-
viewing the cuts during a subcommittee session
earlier in the day, the full board apportioned the
cuts relative to how much state funding each
university receives. The result, as expected, was
that the University of Arizona reduced its costs by
$56 million, Arizona State University took a $63
million hit and Northern Arizona University cut
$21 million. The remaining cut — less than $2
million — was covered by the board's central
office.

Regents weigh second tuition hike for fall
Arizona Daily Star 2/20/09
The Arizona Board of Regents may ask university
students to shoulder a second tuition increase for
the fall and suspend a policy that keeps the cost
relatively low as officials look for ways to offset
state budget cuts. While the idea is only a
discussion at this point, a subcommittee of the
full board talked Thursday about the possibility
of allowing the state's three public universities to
ask students to pay more on top of hikes already
approved. Regents in December increased in-
state tuition and mandatory fees at the University
of Arizona by $545, bringing the total cost to
$6,076.

Editorial: Don't puncture brewer's tax-hike trial balloon
The Arizona Republic 2/20/09
Gov. Jan Brewer's office is floating a trial balloon about
asking voters to raise taxes and loosen some spending
mandates. Critics immediately got out their slingshots.
That's a mistake. We're not fans of tax hikes, particularly
in economic downturns. But Arizona faces an
unprecedented budget crisis. We must have every tool
available to deal with it. How bad is the problem? It's
hard to exaggerate. State revenues continue to fall
further and faster than anyone expected. Sales-tax
collections in December were 16.4 percent below the
year before. The Legislature just patched a $1.6 billion
hole in the fiscal 2009 budget. Now, there's a further
gap looming in the general fund estimated at $425
million. If we continue the deep cuts made in mid-2009,
we're still looking at a $2.4 billion shortfall in fiscal 2010,
nearly a quarter of the general-fund budget. How big is
that? If we eliminated all state funding for universities
and prisons, we couldn't fill the hole.

Cuts at ASU Polytech means saying 'no' more
The Arizona Republic 2/19/09 12:58 PM
Professor Keith Hjelmstad is a "glass is half-full" man
when he talks about the challenges that university-wide
budget cuts have brought to the Arizona State University
Polytechnic campus, where he is the lead administrator.
"The perspective that life goes on is important,"
Hjelmstad said, as he sat eating an apple for lunch in
one of the campus's lushly landscaped desert courtyards.
Nearby were the three new buildings which have trans-
formed the former military base into an attractive center
of learning. "What we have here is a beautiful
environment full of creative young people filled with
curiosity. Our job-always-is to engage that curiosity as
best we can, and when we do that the problems of the
day go away." "Our students are here to learn and we
will be here to help them do that."

State's cut of president's stimulus plan: $4.2 billion
The Arizona Republic 2/20/09
Arizona could get up to $4.2 billion from the federal
stimulus plan for this budget year and next, state
lawmakers were told Thursday as they got their first
good look at what the dollars could mean for the
state. It's more than expected, but it remains to be
seen how much relief the funds will bring to a state
government that has already laid off hundreds of
workers, forced thousands to take unpaid time off
and cut dozens of programs. Gov. Jan Brewer will
have the ultimate say on how to allocate the money,
but much of the $4.2 billion is directed to specific
programs.

Arizona faces severe teacher shortage
The Arizona Republic 2/20/09
Mark Byrne-Quinn is a new math teacher, while Daniel
Bremer teaches science. One is a career-changer, the
other fresh out of undergraduate school. Both have
been courted into the high-demand subjects through
financial incentives and have been given mentors to
consult with as they grow in the profession. And both
teachers are rare. As in other states, Arizona schools
are struggling with a critical shortage of high-quality
math and science teachers. And the deficit couldn't
come at a worse time. With the new requirement for
high-school students to take additional years of math
and science, the Arizona Department of Education
projects the state will need an additional 400 math
and 250 science teachers per year. That's roughly
500 more teachers than the state's three public
universities are currently producing.

Union sues to halt state layoff plan
The Arizona Republic 2/20/09
A union-backed lawsuit filed Thursday targets
Gov. Jan Brewer and the state of Arizona in seeking
immediately to block layoffs from hitting hundreds
of additional state employees. The class-action
suit for current and former state employees was
filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix
by the Service Employees International Union. The
16-page complaint alleges that the state has
violated the constitutional rights of state employees
as well as its own administrative code through the
enactment of widespread layoffs.

Brown Mackie College expands to Phoenix
The Arizona Republic 2/20/09
Brown Mackie College, part of for-profit education
giant and Apollo Group competitor Education
Management Corp., is opening a Phoenix campus.
The facility, at 13430 N. Black Canyon Hwy., initially
will offer bachelor's degree programs in business
administration, criminal justice, legal studies and
health-care management as well as associate
degree programs in accounting technology,
business management, criminal justice, health-
care administration, medical assisting, surgical
technology and paralegal. Phoenix classes begin
in May. The campus will be Brown Mackie's 21st
location, with an average 500 students per
campus. The school has a campus in Tucson,
which it acquired.

Arizona could get more stimulus funding
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune
2/19/09 8:46PM
Arizona could get an extra $125 million in federal
stimulus funds. All it requires is that about 6,000
more residents here lose their jobs. Richard
Stavneak, director of the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee, told lawmakers Thursday that the
package, signed into law earlier this week by
President Obama, contains $90 billion to in-
crease the share of Medicaid costs paid by the
federal government. Now the government picks
up about 66 percent of the cost of the program to
provide health care to the poor, with the balance
paid largely by the state and a little bit by the
counties. The new measure boosts that federal
share to 75 percent.

Editorial: Other states tackling fiscal crisis
creatively
Arizona Daily Star 2/20/09
.... In press materials, Martin, a Republican,
praised the GOP-led Legislature and Gov.
Jan Brewer for acting quickly to fix the 2009
budget deficit and allowing his office to plan
for the rest of this year. At this point, the
Legislature seems content to continue
hacking away at departments and programs.
One idea recently floated was to put a
temporary tax increase to the voters, along
with asking for permission to move dedicated
funds and use them for expenses other that
those approved by the public. The Republican
-led Legislature is talking about doing the
same ol' things. Raising the state sales tax
hurts the unemployed, underemployed and
the elderly more than those with more income.
We hope Arizona will consider other solutions
to increase revenue. There are some
interesting ideas for increasing revenues
being considered in other states facing
financial crises as severe as Arizona's.

Arizona budget aide: Brewer to decide how
stimulus spent
The Associated Press/Tucson Citizen
2/20/09
PHOENIX - Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, not the
Legislature, gets a direct say in deciding how the
state spends some $4.2 billion in federal stimulus
money that will be available over the next several
years, the Legislature's budget director told law-
makers Thursday. Though the Republican-led
Legislature can include stimulus dollars for
certain programs in the state's next budget, the
federal legislation signed Tuesday by President
Barack Obama directs the dollars to states'
governors, not their legislatures, said Richard
Stavneak, Joint Legislative Budget Committee
staff director. "It is the governor's to decide how
to use this funding," including how much to
spend in which fiscal year, Stavneak said.

Helios Foundation gives $2M boost to UA
scholarship program
Phoenix Business Journal 2/19/09 2:29pm MST
Helios Education Foundation is offering some
relief as the Arizona Legislature slashes
university budgets. The Phoenix-based
foundation committed $2 million to the Arizona
Assurance scholarship program at University
of Arizona in Tucson. The scholarship package
is aimed at Arizona students whose families
earn an adjusted gross income of $42,400 or
less per year. The boost comes as university
officials mull whether to discontinue the
Arizona Board of Regents High Honors Tuition
Scholarship, which provides four years of
financial assistance for students who excel
on all components of the AIMS test and
maintain A’s and B’s throughout high school.

State launches Arizona Aerospace Institute
advisory board
Phoenix Business Journal 2/20/09 1:00pm MST
Arizona is pulling together a board of big aerospace
names in an effort to bolster that industry’s presence
in the state. The Arizona Aerospace Institute advisory
board was launched this afternoon to help build the
industry. The institute will find a home at the former
Mesa Proving Grounds, under development by DMB
Associates. “During these historic economic times,
it’s critical we leverage our assets and be proactive
about building Arizona’s economy,” said Arizona
House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, who will serve
on the board. ....“The private sector has a critical role
to play in our state’s economy,” said Bob Johnson,
former CEO of Honeywell International Inc. and now
CEO of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, who also will
serve on the advisory board. “By working with
government and nonprofit organizations to fortify
Arizona’s education system, advance research
and development, and ultimately creating
competitive, high-paying jobs for our citizens,
we all win.”

Arizona to get $4B from feds; Brewer to play
major role in money's use
azcapitoltimes.com 2/19/09
Arizona is poised to get approximately $4 billion
from the federal economic recovery package
passed by Congress this month, and much of
the money will be controlled by the governor,
not the Legislature, according to an analysis by
legislative budget staff. That money, mostly avail-
able for two years, could go a long way to help
state lawmakers bridge what is expected to be
a $3 billion budget deficit next year. There is
some flexibility in how to use the money, but
there are many caveats. For one, the money
not designed as permanent assistance and
it comes with strings attached.

Cuts draw fire from school officials
The Explorer 2/18/09
State lawmakers were in Tucson last week
to discuss the possibility of more cuts to
education funding in fiscal 2010, which
begins July 1. Members of the House
Education Committee held the meeting
at Flowing Wells High School, 1556 W.
Prince Road, where about 300 people
turned up — some holding signs
opposing the impending cuts. ..University
of Arizona President Robert Shelton also
spoke. “We’re in a state where reducing
the investment in public infrastructure has
been the driving force in public policy for
30 years,” said Shelton, who received a
standing ovation after his opening comments.

Opinion: Don’t just walk the talk; vote the walk
ASU Web Devil 2/20/09
ASU’s recent decision to cap enrollment is
rather interesting considering that in a 2007
statewide poll of Arizonans commissioned
by the Arizona Board of Regents and
conducted by an NAU professor, an over-
whelming majority of respondents professed
a willingness to pay higher taxes to prevent
exactly such an action. While “only” 61 percent
— still a strong majority — said that the state
should guarantee university education to all
qualified students, as ASU has tried to do, a
whopping 71 percent felt that such an ideal
was worthy of their own hard-earned tax dollars.
In a conservative, anti-tax state such as
Arizona, that is a very high bar to meet, which
proves the importance of education to our
people.

Opinion: Obama and Crow’s shared ideologies
ASU Web Devil 2/20/09
President Barack Obama quoted Martin Luther
King Jr. about the “fierce urgency of now” when
he ran for president. In our country’s current
situation, that phrase is pretty universally
relevant. As I’ve kept up with the early days
of Obama’s presidency, I’m struck by the
similarities between him and ASU President
Michael Crow. Both share tremendous
optimism for what their constituents can do.
And both men are thinking in terms of huge
ideas, on a scale almost unheard of at the
university or national level. There is a shared
ideology here that I think deserves respect,
whether or not one agrees with Obama or
Crow’s policies. In a State Press article last
year about President Crow’s tenure at ASU, I
quoted a professor who described Crow’s
worldview as, “The world is changing so fast,
if we don’t act instantly, we’ll be left behind.”

Power outage hits Tempe campus
ASU Web Devil 2/20/09
The entire Tempe campus and surrounding
areas were affected by a widespread power
outage Thursday at about 5:20 p.m.,
University and power-company officials said.
The power was restored at approximately
6:10 p.m. The power outage affected areas
from Rio Salado Parkway to Broadway Road
and from Mill Avenue to Rural Road,
according to Arizona Public Service spokes-
man Damon Gross. Mylar party balloons that
tangled with a power line caused the outage,
Gross said. “We’ve got about 6,900 customers
without service right now,” Gross said at about
5:30 p.m. The APS substation for the area “lost
the feed,” Gross said. A substation is where
electricity comes in at a certain voltage and is
stepped down to a lower voltage so it can be
distributed to homes and businesses, Gross
said. APS officials were en route to the area
substation at 5:40 p.m., Gross said.

Dorm construction to continue
UA Daily Wildcat 2/20/09
University representatives said construction
of the new Sixth Street residence halls should
begin within the next couple of months, after
the dorm project is approved at the Feb. 24
meeting of the Joint Committee on Capital
Review. The dorms, which will be funded
solely with rent from residence halls, were
discussed at the Arizona Board of Regents
Capital Committee meeting, held Thursday
via teleconference between Tucson, Phoenix
and Flagstaff. "Tuesday we (will) get the OK,
which we have been told the committee will
allow the housing to go," said Joel Valdez,
UA senior vice president of business affairs.
"The housing doesn't cost the state anything,
but we couldn't get it through their head to let
it go." The committee is also expected to
authorize the UA to sell $68 million worth
of bonds, which would be used to pay for
building renewals and renovations, Valdez
said.

President finalizes FY09 budget reduction
plan - Northern Arizona University
New Realities in Higher Education 2/20/09
Northern Arizona University will implement furloughs
this fiscal year only for the president, vice presidents
and academic deans while deferring campus-wide
furloughs until fiscal year 2010, according to the final
FY09 budget plan announced today by NAU
President John Haeger. Haeger said that he and the
university's vice presidents and academic deans will
take three furlough days between now and June 30.
In FY10, which begins July 1, university employees
making $40,000 per year and higher will take up to
seven furlough days during the year. Employees
earning less than $40,000 per year will take up to
two furlough days. The FY10 furlough program is
expected to save the overall university budget about
$3 million.