| Ducey to Arizona universities: Keep cutting Schools should be more affordable, he says; constitutional question looms | |||
PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday asked the board that oversees the state's three public universities to come up with a new strategic plan that cuts administrative expenses and makes college more affordable. But Ducey also made no promise to the university Board of Regents that they might see higher funding to help cover that goal. Instead, he said deep cuts in university and other funding he signed off on in the upcoming budget might be permanent. Ducey's appearance comes about five weeks after he signed a budget that cut 13 percent, or $99 million, from state funding of universities. Those cuts have prompted talk from some regents that the state is falling short of its responsibility under the state Constitution to fund universities at a level that allows them to provide an education as "nearly free as possible." More |
American Freedom by Barbara: Arizona Constitution: Article XI, Section 6: The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be established and maintained in every school district for at least six months in each year, which school shall be open to all pupils between the ages of six and twenty-one years.
