Dismantling the Department of Education despite its shortcomings, does nothing to support students.
Increasing positive outcomes for students must always be our first priority — it’s what creates a better future for all of us. Arizona is one of the top five users of federal education funds, in part because we have so many low-income and rural families that state leaders have failed to prioritize in their funding decisions.
Those students and their families, who are only trying to access an education to improve their lives, depend on DoE-administered Title I and Title IX funding. We urge Arizona’s federal delegation to demand a plan to protect them.
Massive cuts and reckless implosions are not acceptable. We are making incremental progress on increasing educational attainment after high school, a decades-long effort in response to the workforce needs of Arizona’s business community. While progress is not as fast as we want, it will only get worse should the federal funding that supports Arizona students disappear.
Any disruption to financial aid will unwind decades of progress and hurt the very pipeline business leaders depend on. Given last year’s poor FAFSA completion rate, our collective focus should be on supporting, not hindering, students’ ability to afford education after high school.
Right now, Arizona students are completing the FAFSA at much higher rates than last year, landing Arizona in the top five states in year-over-year FAFSA improvement. We cannot stop this momentum. We urge Arizona’s entire federal delegation to demand specifics on how the Small Business Administration will protect financial aid from disruption.
Arizona students and families are not pinballs. This chaos is an attack on Arizona’s economic future and all of our collective efforts to hit the Achieve60AZ goal to reach 60% postsecondary education attainment by 2030.
Every student must have access to and complete a quality education, regardless of ZIP code, which is vital to nurturing Arizona’s skilled workforce, economic growth and increasing everyone’s quality of life. Education Forward Arizona has decades of success stories to tell of Arizona students who worked tirelessly, with the support of federal financial aid, to attain an education and better their community. If there is evidence that shows the opposite, we’d like to see it.
The bottom line is that instability is avoidable and only harms Arizona students, families and businesses. The majority of Americans oppose eliminating the agency. Now, as we deal with the fallout of this decision in the coming months, it will only pull our focus away from where it should be — improving educational outcomes for all students along the Arizona Education Progress Meter and hitting the Achieve60AZ goal. As Helios and Education Forward Arizona’s study shows, doing so means Arizona will gain billions of dollars in revenue.
Editor’s note: Education Forward Arizona is a statewide education advocacy organization dedicated to championing education as the key driver to improving Arizona’s economy and quality of life. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
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