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More on the Ethnic Studies funding debate

by on Apr. 22, 2011, under Arizona, education, Tucson, TUSD

In the current Tucson Weekly, reporter Mari Herreras gives additional details on The Elective Question– referring, of course, to the question of the century: Should the Mexican American Studies (MAS) classes in Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) be core courses or electives.

The article juxtaposes quotes from TUSD School Board members, TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone, members of the Mexican American Studies [Community] Advisory Board (a group of Latino activists, Latino elected officials, and University of Arizona MAS faculty, a group that I didn’t know existed until last week), and an unnamed source or sources speaking for maintaining the MAS status quo. (It’s a very good article, but I thought it curious that all sources were named except for the MAS supporters. What’s up with that?)

In addition to confirming that the board will vote on the MAS reorganization proposal that I posted earlier this week, the story reports that Pedicone will provide details on MAS funding. From the Weekly…

At the same meeting, TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone is expected to present a detailed report on where desegregation funds are spent in the district’s four ethnic studies programs: African-American, Mexican-American, Native American and Pan-Asian studies.

The report was requested by governing board president Mark Stegeman and approved at the Tuesday, April 12, meeting. Stegeman, Michael Hicks and Miguel Cuevas voted yes, while Adelita Grijalva voted no. Judy Burns did not vote.

Just to clarify, the TUSD Board wants full transparency on how all of the district’s $68 million in desegregation funds are being spent– not just Ethnic Studies. Between now and the end of 2011, there will be multiple funding reports; next week is the Ethnic Studies report. Let the sunshine in.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 22nd, 2011 at 6:32 am and is filed under Arizona, education, Tucson, TUSD. Tags for this post: , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • allen

    are you nuts? how about an elective in the constitution or better yet core studies of the constitution.

    • ziggy

      What do you expect from the Tucson Citizen?

  • Wolf

    Wait a minute!!!!!!!
    What happen to: GAM,IAM,ect ect.
    Oh yea I forgot the other ethnic groups in this country are studied in Social Study type classes. I would realy like to know where and how these groups are funded.
     

    • Pamela Powers

      Bingo, Wolf. There are many oppressed groups in the US. LGBT studies will be taught in the California public schools in the near future– but not in AZ. (That would make Russell Pearce’s head explode, wouldn’t it?) By IAM, do you mean Indian American? There is a Native American Studies program under the Ethnic Studies umbrella name. Mexican American Studies, Native American Studies, African American Studies, and Asian Pacific Island Studies are all structured differently. It is my understanding that only MAS has courses that count as core courses (ie, they replace other required courses for graduation credit.)

  • Clement R Knorr

    A shocking number of TUSD victims, a/k/a students, can barely read or do simple math.   The  La Raza folks would have us waste precious dollars and classroom time spewing their message of hate in order to perpetuate their vicious propaganda.

  • steve

    Desegregation funds?! From what level of government come these funds? What government agency provides these funds, and decides who gets how much? From whence come these funds? Taxes, obviously, but at which level? Local? State? Fed?

  • Vato Loco

    This is very tiring… trying to save your souls from your own ignorance/bigotry.  A little goggle search on TUSD web page will lead you to how MAS(Mexican American Studies) is funded. Maybe then you all could escape this abyss of darkness… thus, formulate your own informed, factual based opinions on the merits of MAS classes and not on what you heard this morning on the John (mis-informed) in-justice propaganda show.  MAS classes are mandated by the federal government as a result of TUSD’s historical and continued educational neglect of African, Native, Pan Asian, Mexican people.  As a parent of a MAS fourth grader, he and his classmates could teach you about a Mayan concept of “In La Kech” which translate to… “you are my other me”. Clement, this is what my federal tax (not my state taxes)dollars go to… You, my friend are the one who is espousing hate… Please look in the mirror and learn to love yourself… the world would be much better place… paz y refleciones…

    • http://www.facebook.com/pages/Three-Sonorans/144198198931412 Three Sonorans

      I agree with Vato… all the transparency already exists. Try looking on the TUSD website for tons of budget sheets instead of the talking points Stegeman is giving you.
       
      Stegeman should focus on the part of the PUP that says to leave MAS classes alone. He should focus on other issues, the deseg monies are free for the district, so what’s he complaining about? I hear the state is cutting budgets, how about he look there, or he try listening to the unions instead of ignoring them and firing teachers?

      • http://www.facebook.com/pages/Three-Sonorans/144198198931412 Three Sonorans

        In case you need help, you go to the TUSD website, click on “Information”, then click on “Finances”. Under “Budget Book” you can find the budget, surprisingly, and Section 14 is Deseg monies, tons and tons of pages on how ALL the money is spent…
         
        I’ll help you out some more. Just click here: http://www.tusd.k12.az.us/contents/distinfo/budget/budget.html
         
        The sunshine has been shining through… transparency and all that, for some time already.

        • Pamela Powers

          I think what they mean by “sunshine” is that it is a matter of public record in a public meeting– not just information on a website. Yes, websites are public, but you must admit they require skills, hardware, and software. Also, websites change and disappear all the time. A permanent record is a permanent record.

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The Tucson Progressive

Pamela Powers Hannley writes the Tucson Progressive blog on the TucsonCitizen.com and contributes articles to the Huffington Post and Salon.com. She has had more than 30 years of experience in written, visual, and electronic communication—including freelance writing, photography, graphic design, and consulting. In addition to blogging for the Citizen, she is the Managing Editor of an international medical research journal.

Hannley has authored medical research articles, print magazine and newspaper stories, and numerous cancer prevention and self-help publications.

She has been a blogger since 2006, joined the ranks of Tucson Citizen bloggers in October 2010, and started contributing to the Huffington Post in 2011 and to Salon.com in 2012.

Hannley holds a masters’ degree in public health from The University of Arizona and a bachelors’ degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a native of Amherst, Ohio but has lived in Tucson since 1981.