AZ: 10th grader in Arizona slurred by state senator

NOTE: A special needs teenager sent an email to her state senator to question why the senator had decided to cut the budget for education. Take a look at the Senators' response, as reported by Knoeful of the blog Daily Kos.com, whereby the "good senator" tells this poor girl that the state's education funding is being wasted on her education. Is there any wonder why there's such a problem with education today?

by Knoeful
Fri Mar 13, 2009 at 06:43:02 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/13/20377/7376/567/708284

Is this how you'd want your legislator communicating with your teenager? In an email response to a sophomore high school student Arizona State Senator Linda Gray wrote:

Ana, I have grave concerns on your ability to pass the AIMS language test. Why didn't you take to time to write an email with the proper punctuation? By your poorly written email, your example tells me that all the money we have spent on your education shows a lack of learning
on your part. My son and daughter went through the Glendale UHSD and had a public school education. My daughter is a 6th grade teacher and she would be embarrassed if a student in her classroom sent such an email. You should be ashamed of displaying such ignorance in writing
to a public servant. Perhaps you watch too much TV or don't know how to speak proper English.

The last line I sure is a reference to the student's hispanic last name. The student, encouraged by her teachers, had merely asked the senator in an email about the budget process for education and why cuts were being made.

Knoeful's diary :: ::
I can't believe how angry this email made me. I felt this needed to be passed on to a broader audience to hopefully have a "teachable moment" for Senator Linda Gray.

Budget cuts in Arizona are imploding all public schools. Every district is slashing budgets, cutting teachers (some as deep as 15 years of experience), and imposing mind-boggling fiscal measures (pay-to-play arts/athletics/activities, eliminating buses and services, shutting off power before and after school, etc.) To teach students about social justice and responsible citizenship, students were encouraged to compose letters to their representative legislators to inquire about the budget for next year and the decision-making process lawmakers use when making these decisions. Read what one student received as a persona response. Below is the entire text of Linda Gray's e-mail to a sophomore high school student.

Dear Ana,
1.why cut our budgets? All budgets were cut. K-12 education was cut the least 3.2% and only 1.9% of all monies that come to the school district. Education is 42% of the general fund budget, so we cut very little from education and a lot more from the other 58% of the budget.

2.how come you don't cut any money from your budget? I have not had a pay raise in 10 years so you could say I have had my budget cut every year. Three years ago the legislature gave education a 6% increase and 2% increase for the last 10 years. We keep trying to help. You
could ask the Glendale Union High School District why they only spend 59.5% of the money they receive into the classroom and 40.5 to administrative costs. The national average is 61.2 into the classroom.

Ana, I have grave concerns on your ability to pass the AIMS language test. Why didn't you take to time to write an email with the proper punctuation? By your poorly written email, your example tells me that all the money we have spent on your education shows a lack of learning on your part. My son and daughter went through the Glendale UHSD and had a public school education. My daughter is a 6th grade teacher and she would be embarrassed if a student in her classroom sent such an email. You should be ashamed of displaying such ignorance in writing to a public servant. Perhaps you watch too much TV or don't know how to speak proper English.

Senator Linda Gray
1700 W Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-926-3376

This is a person who considers herself a crusader for education and one of the legislature's experts in education policy. Maybe this how those "GOP Values" listed on her webpage help make the senator so sensitive to a 10th graders simple attempt to learn how the budget process works. If you live and vote in Rep. Gray's district, I urge you to contact her office and inform her of how to speak to citizens - especially young adolescents - in an appropriate manner.