The Arizona Tax Expenditure Report is a study prepared for the Governor and the Legislature by the Arizona Department of Revenue's Office of Economic Research and Analysis. The purpose of this report is to provide a better understanding of the costs associated with the existing set of tax exemptions, exclusions, deductions, and credits. There are sections on every tax imposed in Arizona. In each section, provisions dealing with that specific tax type are analyzed.

Arizona Revised Statute § 43-1089.01 provides a non-refundable individual tax credit for fees and cash contributions paid to public schools in Arizona for the support of extracurricular activities or character education programs. This credit is available only to individuals. The credit is equal to the amount of fees paid or amount contributed up to $200 for single or heads of household taxpayers and up to $400 for married taxpayers that file a joint return.

The mission statement of the Department of Revenue is to serve the people of Arizona by administering tax laws with integrity, fairness and efficiency. It is our vision that we set the standard for tax services. Tax laws that fall under the department’s purview are primarily in the areas of income, transaction privilege (sales), use, luxury, withholding, property, estate, fiduciary, bingo, and severance.

Since 1996, Arizona has been building a comprehensive statewide system of school-to-work opportunities for students from kindergarten through college, supported by a School-to-Work (STW) implementation grant from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education. After 3 years, a public opinion poll of a 2,200-person random sample drawn from parents, businesses, and educators sought information on these five topics: (1) public awareness of the STW initiative, (2) perceived need for school change; (3) reactions to specific changes embodied by STW; (4) specific attitudes toward STW; and (5) support for the STW initiative.

The polling data showed that awareness of STW among educators is up; increasing percentages of parents and educators report being involved in a regional partnership; and there are high levels of support for changes in the public school system, types of learning programs needed, STW implementation, and the changes in school operations that STW signifies. Educators are increasingly viewing STW as a broad-based career exploration and preparation initiative designed to meet the needs of all students.

Support for STW is also growing along the lines of public policy, tax-paying readiness, and candidate support. On the other hand, fewer businesses than in the past report being aware of STW or involved in local school efforts, although a majority of businesses polled continue to express high levels of support for STW,. More businesses view STW as a program that is limited in scope, serves only select students, and is likely to fail because of entrenched bureaucracy, and growing numbers of parents and teachers are beginning to share these views. The study concluded that policy-level action is needed to keep STW alive in Arizona.

The state envisions actively promoting GSPED’s (Governor’s Strategic Partnership for Economic Development) vision of economic development, and linking workforce development efforts with GSPED. This means fundamentally changing the way the state does business. And, similar to most "new" initiatives, there are those who embrace the challenges implied and those who prefer the status quo. Prior to forging ahead with a new agenda to link economic and workforce development using GSPED as an organizing framework, the OWDP commissioned a statewide opinion poll to assess public attitudes toward these potentially controversial ideas. This briefing paper summarizes the results of the polling.

In spring 1996, a statewide public poll was conducted to establish baseline measures of public attitudes toward school to work prior to its widespread implementation in Arizona schools. Findings indicated that although 83 percent of administrators had heard something about STW, more than half of the teachers and 7 of 10 parents and businesses had heard nothing. All constituent groups were uniformly high in terms of their support for all five proposed changes that could result from STW.

One component of a multi-faceted evaluation of the state's STW initiative is the evaluation of public awareness and opinions of STW as a concept and a vehicle for education reform. In spring 1996, a statewide public poll of parents, businesses and educators was conducted to establish baseline measures of public attitudes toward STW prior to widespread implementation in the schools. In fall 1996, Arizona public school counselors were surveyed as an additional constituent group. This paper highlights findings from the state's baseline study of counselors' opinions toward STW -- especially as compared with the opinions of other constituent groups.