Lorenzo Romero is Governor Doug Ducey's director of the office of strategic budget planning. He presents the governor's 2016-2017 budget proposal in Tucson.Listen:
Gov. Doug Ducey's proposed budget for the fiscal year that ends in mid-2017 strives toward a balanced bottom line, but Tucsonans say it does not include enough education spending.
The governor's director of the office of strategic budget planning gave public presentations Wednesday in Tucson and Flagstaff about the budget proposal. About 50 Tucsonans showed up and many said they want to see more funding for education in the budget.
The requests ranged from career and technical education, known in Arizona by the acronym JTED, to University of Arizona and Pima Community College requests.
"I'm very concerned that the governor continues to express his support for education and workforce development in this state, and yet did not replace the elimination of $8 million that was taken from Pima Community College as well as Maricopa Community College," said Mark Hanna, chairman of the PCC governing board.
He said the long-term effects of leaving community college funding to taxpayers and tuition rates is counter to Ducey's goals.
"The services we provide in the long term help our state's economy," Hanna said. "We are a major supplier of workforce development and not only that, but remedial education. By providing those services we can reduce the amount that universities spend getting students ready for higher education."
Like the community colleges that no longer receive state funding, the Joint Technical Education Districts throughout the state receive very few state funds now. Linda Poppen attended the budget briefing in Tucson and said she doesn't understand how the education for students who do not want to go to college could be cut.
The governor's budget for this year included a substantial cut to JTED programs, and next year's proposal calls for $30 million to be made available to the districts for the next three years. It is dependent on districts receiving matching grants from businesses, said Lorenzo Romero, the governor's director of strategic budget planning.
Poppen said that's not enough and the decision not to fully fund the programs is short-sighted.
"They need to find $30 million to put back into this program," she said. "All students aren't geared for college, these are technical schools, they're valuable."
She said the effects of the cuts will be seen in the future, when a lack of qualified job applicants is obvious.
“Later on in life, who are you going to get to repair your car? Who are you going to get when you need a new roof? When you go out to eat, what kind of food are you going to have?" Poppen said.
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