The Tucson Unified District Governing Board is meeting tonight to consider issuing a letter to the Pima Community College Board of Governors asking them to support a revision to their in-state resident tuition for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients.
The letter proposed to the Board of Governors notes that, “Some students, who have been with us from a young age, successfully complete our K-12 program and find a great financial hurdle, barring them from continuing their education after graduation,” due to the fact that they are not legally in the country. The letter argues that it is “most difficult for young people who grew up in our community, consider Tucson their only home, and are not granted the same in-state tuition benefits as their peers.”
The letter encourages the College to:
• Approve in-state tuition for DACA beneficiaries.
• Revise the residency definitions in your policy to include DACA beneficiaries.
• Allow DACA students equal access to in-state resident scholarships.
• Publicize your decision so young people and their families in our community understand the opportunity this decision grants them.
The Board will also receive an update of School Consolidation Plan and employee negotiations. At the last Board meeting Board members questioned the changes to the Consolidation Plan. Board members Adelita Grijalva, Michael Hicks, and Mark Stegeman challenged district administrator Brian Nodine about the latest plan which seems to contradict what the Board agreed to when voting to close 11 schools.
The District is expected to layoff over 100 employees as a result of the school closures. The District is facing a deficit due to declining enrollment. School closures and layoffs will close part of the looming budget gap.
At last night’s “State of the District” address Superintendent pedicone told the small group of attendees that the “has made costly mistakes,” but is “moving in the right direction.”
Pedicone focused primarily on shoddy business practices, “mistakes have been made due to a lack of checks and balances, costing the district revenue and credibility.”
Also on the agenda at tonight’s meeting are expenditures for telephone systems and LAN lines.
