Other
transcripts
Transcripts
November 30, 2004
Host:
Michael Grant
Topics:
· Full-Day Kindergarten;
· United Against 200
In-Studio Guests:
· Dave Braswell, Joint Legislative Committee,
All-Day Kindergarten; appointed to the committee by Governor Napolitano
>> Michael Grant:
Tonight on "HORIZON," Hispanic leaders announce a new
effort to inform the state's illegal immigrant community about
Proposition 200. The goal is to dispel rumors on just what exactly
the voter-approved initiative does. Plus, how should the legislature
implement all-day kindergarten statewide? A legislative committee
recommends how the state should move forward.
>> Announcer:
Members who provide financial support to this Arizona PBS station,
thank you.
>> Michael Grant:
Good evening, I'm Michael Grant. Welcome to "HORIZON."
It cost Maricopa county taxpayers more than half a billion dollars
and took five years to build. County leaders held a ribbon cutting
ceremony at the lower Buckeye jail for what they call the largest
criminal justice construction project in the nation. The new jail
complex in southwest Phoenix is part of a three million square
foot jail expansion project. It's funded by a voter approved two-tenths
of a cent sales tax.
>> Mary Rose Wilcox:
We came up with a plan. We went out to our taxpayers in 1998,
and we got 74% assurance from the taxpayers. You are doing the
right thing, you are planning for the future. We commenced on
our program and what you see today in the completion of the lower
Buckeye jail is a completion of our jail program. We're very proud
of it. We know that there are other things you could build besides
jails, but when you have a mandate to operate a criminal justice
system, you must fulfill that mandate and you must do it in a
manner that is efficient for taxpayers.
>> Joe Arpaio:
The biggest challenge is to hire officers to man this facility
or else it's going to be empty. So I'm doing everything I can
with my staff to get around the nation, even overseas. We even
hire people from overseas. I've got a gal from Iraq with a green
card. So we're doing everything we can. Now, the board supervisors
and Dave Smith were nice enough to raise the salaries to $31,000,
and that helps the recruiting.
>>> Michael Grant:
We'll have more on the new jails tomorrow night on "HORIZON."
A federal judge in Tucson has granted a temporary restraining
order preventing Proposition 200 from taking effect. The voter
approved initiative requires those seeking welfare benefits and
registering to vote to provide documents proving citizenship.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund or MALDEF
filed the lawsuit-arguing Prop 200 will jeopardize the health
and well-being of families who depend on public benefits. It also
contends Prop 200 will disenfranchise Hispanic voters who are
less likely to have the IDs needed to register to vote. Judge
David Bury issued the temporary restraining order, citing serious
constitutional concerns about Proposition 200. The order will
remain in effect until December 22nd, when the court will hear
arguments in the case. Governor Napolitano had planned to sign
a proclamation declaring Proposition 200 law later this week.
>> Michael Grant:
Fear, rumors and misinformation about proposition 200 has many
immigrants worried. That's why Hispanic leaders announced the
formation of a group to educate the illegal immigrant community
about the voter approved initiative. "Unidos Contra 200"
or United Against 200, hopes to separate fact from fiction.
>> Tommy Espinoza:
So I think today's discussion really revolves around trying to
get the word out to our general community. Yes, we're all law-abiding
citizens, but at the end of the day, this 200 issue is really
an immigration issue and not an issue for us to try to force people
to be in fear of calling the police department or going in for
medical services and more importantly, for the kids to go to school.
>> Michael Grant:
United Against 200 will encourage people with questions about
Proposition 200 to call a toll free phone number for more information.
>> Michael Grant:
Lawmakers approved full-day kindergarten last session for schools
serving low-income students. Now, the legislature must find a
way to determine the costs involved and how to implement full
day kindergarten statewide. as Paul Atkinson reports, a joint
legislature committee has come up with a set of recommendations
to do just that.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
This kindergarten class in the Alhambra school district lasts
the entire school day, even though Arizona law requires schools
to teach at least a half day of kindergarten, Alhambra and dozens
of others offer full-day K by tapping federal funds, reallocating
local funding or charging parents. That will change as many schools
such as Grenada primary in west central Phoenix will qualify for
state funding for all-day kindergarten. Determining which schools
qualify, whether more classrooms need to be built and how full-day
kindergarten will go forward are issues that lawmakers must resolve.
To that point, a joint legislative committee of three senators,
three representatives and three educators appointed by the Governor
met this fall. And at its final meeting Monday one concern raised
by Bob Burns was weather the state can add another program with
a huge financial cost without balancing spending by cutting noncritical
programs or funding.
>> Senator Bob Burns:
These are things that I think we ought to at least consider, know
about. Other members of the legislature need to know about these
possibilities. If we are going to, again, start a brand new program
that costs us $200 plus million a year, we've got to figure out
a way to fund it.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
Other committee members and those in the audience were hesitant
to go forward with proposing budget cuts as a way to lessen the
impact of full-day kindergarten costs.
>> Andrew Morrill:
We've heard a lot of angst about where we sit in the economic
reality of Arizona against the demands of full-day kindergarten.
Yet, you have a plan before you that compounds the emphasis on
phasing in the implementation of full-day kindergarten. This kind
of recommendation should be receiving a great deal more attention
from this committee and from the state legislature as a whole
than it appears to so far.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
The plan addresses how to fund full-day kindergarten, expand classrooms
and assess how it's working. It calls for schools receiving free
or reduced lunches to have the highest priority for funding. Schools
would receive start-you have money to hire staff and buy teaching
materials. Funding would be phased in over five years to reduce
the financial hardship to the state. The recommendation calls
for using School Facilities Board formulas to make sure schools
have adequate classroom space. The projected cost of $72 million
to build new kindergarten classrooms would be repaid over a 15-year
period. The recommendation calls for a way to measure academic
performance from kindergarten through second grade, creates standards
for teaching and calls for teachers to receive additional training
from local colleges.
>> Andrew Morrill:
It addresses accountability, assessment, professional development,
the key areas where we need to be determining the best practices
that are going to make full-day kindergarten work. Even more important
than that, it is the one set of recommendations that answers to
the ultimate charge of this committee, which was to take a mandate
that has already occurred, was already voiced across the state,
that we will have full-day kindergarten, and figure out a way
to make that feasible, economically viable, and again, in satisfaction
of best practices for instruction.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
The plan made it through the committee with a majority vote and
will be introduced for both houses to approve. Considering that
lawmakers have borrowed hundreds of dollars to pay for new school
construction, it will be difficult for the recommendations to
make it through without addressing how to pay for it.
>> Linda Gray:
The challenge is the funding, to be able to have the revenues
available to provide for all day kindergarten. It would be great
to have that. However, again, our state does not have the revenues
to be able, in my opinion, to provide that program. When we have
a 2.5% increase in retirement cost for school districts and we're
mandated to give 2%, we're still a half percent short. Teachers
deserve in K-12 to have an increase in salary and by implementing
a new program, it doesn't allow for that unless we come up with
new revenues.
>> Michael Grant:
Joining me now is Dave Braswell, a member of the joint legislative
committee for all day Kindergarten. Mr. Braswell runs an education
software company and was appointed to the committee by Governor
Napolitano.
>> Dave Braswell:
Good to see you.
>> Michael Grant:
The committee didn't look at the issue of whether to implement
all-day K. It looked at the issue of how to implement all-day
K.
>> Dave Braswell:
That's correct. Our charge was to make a recommendation as a joint
legislative committee. There were three appointments by the president
of the senate, three appointments by the Speaker of the House,
and three appointments by the Governor. The three Governor's appointees
were educators. Dr. Mark Trigaskas (phonetic) from Safford, Debra
Bergman, a principal from Tucson and myself, I'm on the Glendale
union high school governing board. Our charge was to come up with
a recommendation to the committee to the legislature when they
meet in session.
>> Michael Grant:
On funding, the committee recommended a five-year phase-in which
was the concept passed by the legislature this past session. Was
any other period seriously considered? A shorter period, three
years? Seven years?
>> Dave Braswell:
The recommendations that were put forth were recommendations that
had been discussed extensively by the three educators appointed
by the Governor on the committee. We knew that there was a challenge
to absorb the cost of this, but we also knew that this was a very
important program to us and a large majority of taxpayers and
parents in this state. We wanted to serve the needs of the students
that were considered most at risk first. Last year's funding for
the 10%, 9 0% or higher on free and reduced was accepted by the
legislature. This year, we wanted to make sure that we got as
many students as possible, but we didn't want to wait until the
last of the five years for phase-in and have a very large financial
burden.
>> Michael Grant:
On that five-year face-in period work that be chunks mathematically
broken? If we've got 90% more to cover, will we do that evenly
over the five-year period or is it lumpy? What's going to happen
there?
>> Dave Braswell:
To use your term it, could be lumpy, depending on -- given the
fact that our concern was to meet the needs of the students that
were most at risk, the fastest, and we based it on our recommending
the accountability system in place for free and reduced lunch.
So that could change from year to year, based on those parents
in those families that qualify for that program.
>> Michael Grant:
Okay. So you are setting that as the benchmark, and then qualifications
and other things will determine, then, how quickly a school district
either does qualify for that benchmark or does not?
>> Dave Braswell:
Correct. That was a consideration that we gave in our recommendation.
>> Michael Grant:
Dave, did the committee look at all at the correlation between
-- I understand the reason for using free and reduced lunch as
a phase-in criteria. Generally students are regarded to be more
at risk in that population, but I'm not certain I've ever seen
data that necessarily links up the fact that, well, if you have
a heavy free or reduced lunch population, they are at risk in
that regard and they are also educationally at risk. Did the committee
look at that at all?
>> Dave Braswell:
The educators, when we met, to put forth our recommendations discussed
that extensively, how best to meet the needs of those students
that were most at risk as quickly as possible. I'm not aware of
any longitudinal study that would correlate necessarily the need
of a student tied to whether or not they meet the requirement
of free and reduced lunch. We do know, however, though, that there
is -- that the schools that have large populations of free and
reduced lunch also receive and qualify for large amounts of title
1 funds. And those funds are used for reading intervention and
remediation in reading and math.
>> Michael Grant:
In fact, some school districts have taken those and other funds
already to put together voluntary all-day K programs; is that
correct?
>> Dave Braswell:
That's correct. They've done that for several reasons. The most
important is that there is a need for high levels of intervention,
and having a program like that would increase the time on task
for those students that are considered most at risk. The second
reason is that there is a large contingency of parents in our
state that really support all day kindergarten and the additional
time on task.
>> Michael Grant:
Part of this is about priority setting. The Governor has made
it clear that one of her top if not her top priority is all-day
kindergarten. What about Bob Burns' argument on funding which
basically says okay, let's set priorities, but if we're setting
that as a priority, in order to handle the funding for it, let's
look at other noncritical, less priority programs and try to balance
out dollars in, dollars out and where your priorities are.
>> Dave Braswell:
I think it's an excellent question. It's a question, though, that
is not for me to give a recommendation for. It's -- our charge
was to provide a recommendation for the eventual fuel phase-in
-- full phase-in of all day kindergarten statewide. The Governor
will set her priorities. The Governor made it clear that this
is a high priority for her, and she and the legislature will sit
down and go through the process with study committees to determine
where those priorities will eventually be agreed to.
>> Michael Grant:
What about the physical space issue? There are some school districts
who just don't have the classroom space for all-day K?
>> Dave Braswell:
That's correct. And there is such growth in many of our school
districts that not only do they not have the space for all day
Kay, they don't have the space for regular programs, for what
they've got. They have such a large influx. So our recommendations
to the committee and the committee paths were to look at not only
the funding and phase-in but the capital accommodations. The School
Facilities Board provided a feedback to us and gave us some input
on the cost to build kindergarten classrooms.
>> Michael Grant:
Is that the $72 million number?
>> Dave Braswell:
Correct.
>> Michael Grant:
Is that a five-year number? I mean, would that pace the -- are
we phasing in buildings at roughly the same base that we're phasing
in the phasing in the program itself?
>> Dave Braswell:
I'm not sure of the answer to that question. I do know that that
is a number that is tied with the number of students that we have
been told would qualify for an all-day program today. But I'm
not sure about that, whether that's a five-year number.
>> Michael Grant:
Are we going to undertake any attempt to longitudinally study
the efficacy of all-day K? It seems to me if the program is to
either succeed or not, this debate is going to be ongoing, and
attempting to generate some local data of its efficacy or lack
thereof would be critical to that debate.
>> Dave Braswell:
It was critical to the committee. All of the members heard statistics
for kindergarten, and we heard testimony from senator elect Huppenthal
that had questions about the long-term effects of that through
third grade. We also saw statistically that there was a good number
-- there were good numbers that show that students will succeed
if it's a tight and well produced program.
>> Michael Grant:
Dave Braswell, thank you for joining us. We appreciate the information.
>> Dave Braswell:
Thank you, Mike.
>> Michael Grant:
He was the first Hispanic elected to the Phoenix City Council
in 1953. Adam Diaz is now 95 years old. Paul Atkinson and Photographer
Richard Torruelles looked at the contributions Adam Diaz has made
over the years.
>> Olivia Diaz:
Emotion on demand.
>> Adam Diaz:
There isn't very difficult to do, you know.
>> Paul Atkinson:
On his 90th birthday, Adam Diaz meets his daughter and granddaughter
outside of old Phoenix city hall. His daughter Olivia is writing
a book on the family's history. Lisa, his granddaughter is along
to learn more about her grandfather's remarkable life.
>> Adam Diaz:
I loved this car. Way back. We played some Mexican music, you
know. We would dance around with the skirts.
>> Paul Atkinson:
In the early 1920s, Adam Diaz helped his father build their home
just east of downtown Phoenix. He had an older sister and two
younger brothers. Adam would be the first to attend high school.
His dad was seeing to that.
>> Adam Diaz:
When we graduated from the 8th grade, why, we all went to work
to help out the family. But he said, you're going to go to high
school. So he managed I believe something like $40 which is enough
to buy books in those days, you know, we had to buy our textbooks.
>> Paul Atkinson:
Shortly after graduating grammar school, Adam's father died suddenly
of pneumonia in 1924.
>> Adam Diaz:
The world kind of tumbled because I had to figure out what to
do. I had my brothers and sister to take care of and my mother.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
15-year-old Adam spent the $40 on a bike in hopes of becoming
a messenger for Western Union. He wasn't old enough. Adam latched
on with a different messenger service, earning 5 cents per delivery.
He could go to parts of Phoenix that Hispanics and other minorities
were not allowed.
>> Adam Diaz:
It gave me an opportunity to go north of Van Buren. I was amazed
at the beautiful homes and gardens and lawns, and I, of course,
began to wonder. Porque, why is it that it's so different from
that part of town and our part of town?
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
The Luhrs building is where he worked next. He learned free shorthand
typing and bookkeeping classes. Despite working full time, Adam
didn't lose out on his teenage years. He hung out with friends.
Dated numerous girls, even took trips to California. But there
were some things he couldn't do. Hispanics could dance at the
Riverside. But were not allowed to swim in its pool.
>> Adam Diaz:
We more or less accepted that somehow the others are well, we'll
go to the rivers and swim, you know, go to the Salt River and
swim.
>> Paul Atkinson:
When a Latino club pressured them to let Mexican Americans swim,
they were allowed to use the pool on Wednesday.
>> Adam Diaz:
It took a little while to discover it's because they changed the
water on Thursdays.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
By 1940, Adam Diaz had married. He was now helping George Luhrs,
Jr. run the building and the Luhrs tower.
>> Adam Diaz:
The neighbors said well, Mr. Diaz, we came to tell you can't live
here. I said that's odd. I don't see why we can't live here. We're
American citizens. We're born here. Adam told him he would get
a lawyer and fight.
>> Adam Diaz:
And my wife said no you don't. We're going to get out of here.
We're not going to stay here one minute longer.
>> Paul Atkinson:
Adam had a home built south of downtown across from Lowell school.
He began working with neighborhood parents, encouraging them to
get involved with their kids' education. Adam felt education was
the one way for Hispanics to overcome discrimination.
>> Adam Diaz:
We would point out how necessary education was, and how important
it was for the parents to take an interest in their children.
>> Reporter Paul Atkinson:
Adam and other parents raised money to help neighborhood kids
go to high school and college. His efforts didn't stop there.
>> Olivia Diaz:
Once they got these group of people who were graduated from college,
he began for take them to assemblies, to the students to show
them that it was possible to go to college, that you could become
an accountant. You could become a teacher. You could get an education.
So these children began to have some role models.
>> Adam Diaz:
Here we are. In this chamber. This is nice, you know. I want you
to see this.
>> Paul Atkinson:
The old Phoenix council chambers is now a ceremonial room, but
it's full of memories for Adam Diaz.
>> Adam Diaz:
People like Barry Goldwater is the one that first asked me who
said you've got to run on this ticket. We think that you could
be a great service.
>> Paul Atkinson:
Goldwater and others wanted to end corruption at city hall. They
asked Adam to run for city council in the late '40s. He declined.
But finally agreed in 1953 and easily won. Prior to his election,
the only jobs Hispanics could get with the city were low-level
positions. That changed.
>> Alfredo Gutierrez:
His legacy isn't -- you know, it isn't a building or a specific
act of legislation. His legacy was the fact that he broke through.
And that having done so, he opened the door to all of us who came
there after.
>> Paul Atkinson:
Adam Diaz did much more than open the door for Hispanic politicians,
fight discrimination or stress education. He also helped dozens
of individuals and families in need, a trait instilled by his
parents.
>> Olivia Diaz:
You see, his parents were both revolutionaries in the Mexican
revolution. The stories he tells me about his father, that he
hated the injustices that were perpetrated on the -- by the Mexican
government onto the Campasinos (phonetic). So he had to rise in
rebellion against that.
>> Paul Atkinson:
There is another trait Diaz inherited from his parents, humility.
>> Adam Diaz:
I don't feel that I've done enough. I wish I could have done more.
>> Reporter Merry Lucero:
It is the largest criminal justice construction project in the
nation, and now it is nearly complete, the massive $522 million
Maricopa County Jill expansion program spanned over 5 years, create
over 3.3 million square feet of facilities. Its impact on Maricopa
County justice system, Wednesday on "HORIZON."
>> Michael Grant:
Also Wednesday, Dr. Ted Diethrich will talk about the first heart
surgery using a new FDA approved procedure.
>>> Michael Grant:
Then on Thursday, Governor Janet Napolitano talks about events
and issues facing our state in her monthly "First Thursday"
appearance. That's Thursday on "HORIZON." This was Tuesday
on "HORIZON." Thank you very much for joining us. I'm
Michael Grant. Have a great one. Good night.
Back to the top
