Governor’s State of the State Address

Governor Ducey highlighted some bright spots for Arizona’s children in his State of the State address Monday, such as providing more support for foster children aging out of the system and doubling the stipend for kinship caregivers. He also said there are plans to restore district additional assistance to public schools, which pays for buses, textbooks, and other critical resources for classrooms – a move we commend and support.

We look forward to learning more about the Governor’s plans to support K-12 public schools in other ways, such as bringing up teacher salaries to stem the tide of the teacher exodus. We are more than halfway through the academic year and there are still 1,800 classrooms without a qualified teacher.

When the governor releases his budget, we hope to see funding for the child care subsidy program so low-income working families don’t have to choose between moving up the economic ladder and a safe, high-quality child care environment.

The Governor cautioned against the “spending lobby.” We firmly believe that children are not an expense, they are an investment. We encourage lawmakers to put the priorities of children and families first this session.