Page 7 - the NOISE August 2014

08. razing ‘the standard’: how a developer Faced down Flagstaff & Lost
10. ProFiLe: Flag Council Candidate Jim McCarthy
11. ProFiLe: Flag Council Candidate eva Putzova
12. Film!
13. interVieW: Kristian bush 16. it’s the Arts
20. Poet’s Corner
24. Jerome Artbeat
26. Artsbriefs
28. Music for the Masses
30. Astrologically speaking 31. the Wine Monk
32. the “A “List Calendar
36. ghosts of dandy Crossing 38. interVieW: Lo Cash ninjas 40. Prescott’s don’t Miss List 42. Letters & Corrections
wet cloud editîon
August 2014 • no. 159
Editorial Board:
Clair Anna rose, ellen Jo roberts Kyle boggs, sarah gianelli bobby Carlson, Cindy Cole
Contributors:
tony ballz, John Abrahamsen Angie Johnson-schmit bob reynolds, omar Victor Katie Lee
Mike Williams
Annie botticelli Kendall Perkinson dena Johnson, greg hales Cole Lahti, rachel Alford Cody burkett, Kris Pothier nikki Check
Publisher Charles seiverd
The Noise is a free forum for ideas and creative expression, hence all opinions expressed herein are of no affiliation to the directors of Weavel Inc and are strictly those of the individual artist. Copyrights are held by the individual artist and no part of this publication may be duplicated without explicit consent by the artist.
Readership: 42,000 Distribution: 245 locations
in Northern Arizona: Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott, Cottonwood, Jerome, Clarkdale, Prescott Valley, Pine, Payson, Camp Verde, Williams & Winslow
Cover Art: Dragonfly by suzanne doucette-stebila StebilaStudios.com
inQuiries: 928-634-5001 | thenoise.us
Pob 1637 • Flagstaff AZ 86002 | Pob 1257 • Clarkdale AZ 86324
a “zero waste” perodical
a publication of
an Arizona 501c3 nonprofit organization
funded in part by a grant from
As campuses are flush once more with squeaky shoes and backpacks, we might turn our attention once more to Arizona’s beleaguered subject: Education. When this writer attended grade school in this great state of ours years ago, the
education system as a whole, directly related to the amount state legislators budget for each child, rated at 48 out of 50. Now, after 2 recessions, 3 wars, and a boatload of new Arizonans, this state is now ranked #50.
Say what you will, but this is not the fault of parents, teachers, school districts, or even registered voters. After all, in at least three elections since the turn of the mil- lennia, voters have gone to the polls and overwhelmingly pulled the lever for more money for education, even going so far as adding another 1¢ of sales tax during a major recession so schools could stay afloat and children would not be left behind.
That one-penny sales tax increase, which had a sunset last May, collected $2.7 bil- lion for the State Treasury. In the direct wording of the bill (2010’s Prop. 100) , it mandated 2/3rds of that new revenue be used for education.
Meanwhile, when the Governor announced her latest budget, she allocated $3.6 billion to education, a billion-dollar slash from the $4.3 billion her predecessor had allocated. When looking at the sheer black and white of these figures, one is left to only wonder: “Who the heck lost $1 billion of our kids’ money?”
Perhaps the answer is in a recent superior court judgment regarding a previous voter-approved funding boost to education (2000’s Prop. 301): the Executive Branch of our State Government must now return revenue to the Department of Education — accounted to fund private prisons, among other non-voter approved measures, by the state legislature — much to the vitriolic chagrin of our beleaguered governor ... and to the tune of $478 million.
Realizing the voice of voters had to be tried in court before made clear 14 years later, another wondering may be: “How long must we sing this song?”
Happy Apples! Charles Seiverd
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news •
AUGUST 2014 • 7