PHOENIX — The Footprint Center welcomed hundreds of people Monday, but not for a basketball game or concert, for a conference on how to help the education industry.
More than 800 school, business and organization leaders met for the 10th annual School Connect Summit, to go through educational achievements and discuss ways to help improve and help students and schools across Arizona.
Funding for public schools in Arizona has remained low. That’s according to many estimates including the National Education Association which says Arizona ranks 49th in the nation in 2023 for per-student spending.
However, it’s because of partnerships with organizations and businesses that they could help fill those gaps.
“One of the companies that partner with School Connect came into one of our schools, and based on our request, realized that we had some restrooms that needed to be redone, refurbished, simply to be made to look better for our kids,” said Carter Davidson, the superintendent of the Litchfield Elementary School District.
Another example is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. Washington Covena, the director of the public sector for the health organization, said they help schools with nutritional counseling, obesity training and mental health first aid.
“We know that school district’s funding is very low, and this is a way we think we can pitch in into making sure we are embedded in that fiber of the community,” Covena said.
For the 2023 Teacher of the Year, Ty White, he said those events are helpful to help him meet people he may not otherwise because he’s in the rural area of Wilcox, Arizona.
“Because I am a science teacher. I’ve gotten to take kids into the mountains, I’ve gotten to take kids out to the parks, and they have the chance to do science where we live,” he continued “The flip side of that, when we want to partner with businesses or show kids what engineering firms look like, they’re not always in our backyard.”
While education advocates and leaders have previously said more needs to be done at the state level, they’re leaning on each other to continue the path forward.
“At the end of the day, we’re all on the same side. We all want what’s best for these students. There’s plenty of divisiveness out there and we really strive to stay above that and focus on the positive and the great things that are happening rather than the negative and infighting that can sometimes happen,” said Chance Stribling, the events and outreach manager of School Connect.