Action: Vote Click: Find your POLLING Place
Click here to find your polling place. Or you can go to your County Recorder's office.
This will always be here on the front page. You can always go to YPE for help with voting: where, how, links, etc. . |
Action: Contact your Legislators
Send an email, or telephone your AZ State Senator and State House Representatives: click Legislature.
Click here to Contact GOVERNOR. Click here for archives of past YPE Action Items. |
ACTION: Vote, please.
In Note sure about whether you're signed up to get a mail-in ballot, or other questions?
-- See your county recorder's website or call them! They're very helpful and friendly!
Or, click here for more information about voting in Arizona and Maricopa County.
-- See your county recorder's website or call them! They're very helpful and friendly!
Or, click here for more information about voting in Arizona and Maricopa County.
ACTION: Vote on Prop 204 -- Quality Education and Jobs !
PROP 204 - AZ Statewide Vote Nov 2012
What: The current 1% sales tax for education and safety will expire May 31, 2013. Prop 204 will be a new 1% sales tax for education and safety, but it will be DEDICATED to specific funds, so that it cannot be swept to other purposes by the legislature.
Why: Funding for education has been cut so severely in the past few years, that even after this initiative passes, Arizona funding for education will still NOT be restored even to 2007 levels.
See VIDEO below for more about AZ Education funding, and Click QEJ for more about Prop 204.
Why Not: AZ State Treasurer, Doug Ducey is leading the charge against Prop 204. See his Facebook page for lots of reasons, most of which revolve around the concept that it's the legislature's responsibility to fund public education. Absolutely true. The Arizona Constitution states that it's the state legislature's job to fund public education. The constitution does not say what to do when the legislature does not fund education.
But the state constitution does give voters the right to a Citizen's Initiative. That's what Prop 204 is.
Our PAC is organized in Maricopa County, but Prop-204 is state level. As such, we are not allowed to affect the outcome of the election for a state-wide question.
Why: Funding for education has been cut so severely in the past few years, that even after this initiative passes, Arizona funding for education will still NOT be restored even to 2007 levels.
See VIDEO below for more about AZ Education funding, and Click QEJ for more about Prop 204.
Why Not: AZ State Treasurer, Doug Ducey is leading the charge against Prop 204. See his Facebook page for lots of reasons, most of which revolve around the concept that it's the legislature's responsibility to fund public education. Absolutely true. The Arizona Constitution states that it's the state legislature's job to fund public education. The constitution does not say what to do when the legislature does not fund education.
But the state constitution does give voters the right to a Citizen's Initiative. That's what Prop 204 is.
Our PAC is organized in Maricopa County, but Prop-204 is state level. As such, we are not allowed to affect the outcome of the election for a state-wide question.
Q: Does YPE (Yes Public Ed) say YES to all school funding increases?
A: NO !
YPE members are taxpayers. We do not want our money used frivolously.
We want transparency in government operations and
a good return on our tax investment.
YPE members said, "NO!" to a tax increase in Kyrene schools as a 1-year solution to the bonding limit. (May 2012)
YPE members said, 'No," to parts of the TUHSD bond when it was being developed. (March-May 2012) The Tempe Union High School District administration convened a committee of community members to ask, 'What would you support and what would you not support in our proposal for a bond to pay for building renewal items?" The TUHSD committee, which included some YPE members, chose to remove certain items on the list, including artificial turf for athletic fields. That was a difficult decision. The benefits of the turf would have been more access for more sports groups -- school and community -- and reduced cost of maintenance. The disadvantages included slightly hotter turf. The bottom line: the payback period was too big. The cost savings would take too many years to cover the cost of the investment. In the long run, it probably would have saved money, but not a lot of money, and the project had too many unpredictable elements.
Because the TUHSD Administrators listened to the community,
the bond proposal on the 2012 ballot reflects the values of a wide gamut of community members.
See video below for more about education funding in Arizona.
We want transparency in government operations and
a good return on our tax investment.
YPE members said, "NO!" to a tax increase in Kyrene schools as a 1-year solution to the bonding limit. (May 2012)
YPE members said, 'No," to parts of the TUHSD bond when it was being developed. (March-May 2012) The Tempe Union High School District administration convened a committee of community members to ask, 'What would you support and what would you not support in our proposal for a bond to pay for building renewal items?" The TUHSD committee, which included some YPE members, chose to remove certain items on the list, including artificial turf for athletic fields. That was a difficult decision. The benefits of the turf would have been more access for more sports groups -- school and community -- and reduced cost of maintenance. The disadvantages included slightly hotter turf. The bottom line: the payback period was too big. The cost savings would take too many years to cover the cost of the investment. In the long run, it probably would have saved money, but not a lot of money, and the project had too many unpredictable elements.
Because the TUHSD Administrators listened to the community,
the bond proposal on the 2012 ballot reflects the values of a wide gamut of community members.
See video below for more about education funding in Arizona.
ACTION: Share this video with others. Send this video to your friends and Legislators.
2012 Education Situation: Funding for schools has been cut to the bone.
Here are 2 videos that express the serious concerns of thoughtful Arizonans.
Video #1 - The Main Idea: It's moving and engaging. Cuts to the chase!
Video #2 - The Whole Story: With a thoughtful tone, (and less motion)
it shows you the reasons why we're worried.
We think education needs to be funded better because
1- Too many critical functions have been cut (tutors, music, PE, industrial tech, language ... )
2- Arizona is not spending too much on education by any measure.
You might hear people complain, "We keep spending more and more on education..."
Well, in Arizona, it's not true.
Other states have increased funding for education, while Arizona has cut education funding year after year.
2007 was a high point for education funding in Arizona.
Even then, it was LESS than funding per student in 1987!
source: ALEC's Report Card on Education, 15th edition. American Legislative Exchange Council.
Since a majority of our legislators are Republicans, we choose to use this data from their organization.
(If you read the ALEC Report, note that it gives states that implement Republican reforms better grades than states that do not. Thus, states that implement certain education policies get better grades in the ALEC system whether they actually test better or get better results or not. )
Well, in Arizona, it's not true.
Other states have increased funding for education, while Arizona has cut education funding year after year.
2007 was a high point for education funding in Arizona.
Even then, it was LESS than funding per student in 1987!
source: ALEC's Report Card on Education, 15th edition. American Legislative Exchange Council.
Since a majority of our legislators are Republicans, we choose to use this data from their organization.
(If you read the ALEC Report, note that it gives states that implement Republican reforms better grades than states that do not. Thus, states that implement certain education policies get better grades in the ALEC system whether they actually test better or get better results or not. )
OUR MISSION
Quality education for all children,
with optimal use of taxpayers' funds.
See "Our Mission and Goals" for more information.
with optimal use of taxpayers' funds.
See "Our Mission and Goals" for more information.
Paid for by YES PUBLIC ED, a political committee, organized and recorded in Maricopa County, Arizona.
PAC Chair: MitziEpstein@cox.net 480.961.9138 PAC Treasurer: Sara Eversden
See us on Facebook.com in the group called, Yes Public Ed for the latest updates.
Copyright note: Music and pictures used in the videos on this page are either wholly created by the producers of these 2 videos or used for the purpose of teaching, specifically, for "nonprofit educational purposes," or both.
