| Text of Napolitano address
There was no plan to give Arizona's children the early start they need and deserve. Teacher pay was lagging, and we weren't doing what was necessary to support our new teachers and keep our best educators in the classroom. Phoenix was the largest city in the nation without a university-based medical school and our state was not graduating enough students with college degrees to keep up with our growth.Fast-forward to today. We've created a new grade level by making full-day kindergarten available to every Arizona family. We've made historic investments in early childhood education and in teacher pay. We've broken ground on an all-new medical campus, tripled our contribution to student financial aid, and built up our universities.This is progress, and it is precisely where we needed to go.Now, we must move quickly this year to implement the voter-approved initiative aimed at early childhood.
Colleges uneasy about Harvard's deal on tuition
Two words to students hoping to get a break on college tuition now that Harvard and a handful of rivals have increased financial aid to middle-class students: Fat chance. Most colleges say they aren't loosening the purse strings just yet, although as financial-aid season approaches they are under intense pressure from parents to offer Harvard-style deals. Ursinus College's enrollment director, Richard DiFeliciantonio, said a parent already had called him to ask: "'If Harvard can do this for their kids, why can't you?' " The answer is obvious: Ursinus, like most colleges, isn't as filthy rich as Harvard, whose endowment of $35 billion is the largest in the nation. "Maybe 30 colleges in the country can even think about doing what Harvard is doing," said DiFeliciantonio, whose school has $150 million in its coffers.
Conference of Municipalities Asks Rell to Push Tax Relief for ...
With tax anxiety threatening many state cities and towns, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) Wednesday asked legislators and Gov. M. Jodi Rell to provide tax relief. Earlier, the governor had proposed a cap on municipal property tax revenues, but CCM [www.ccm-ct.org] has warned her idea is not the magic bullet needed to ease the burden on local taxpayers and asked Rell to pull back on that proposal. "Unless the governor and the General Assembly act this session, property taxpayers in towns and cities across the state face steep property tax hikes, huge reductions in public services or both," said Elizabeth Patterson, president of the CCM and mayor of Mansfield. Westport First Selectman Gordon F. Joseloff, in a brief telephone interview yesterday morning, said there is a need to be concerned about finances and that Westport will be getting "a little bit more money" from the state.
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