A measure to provide in-state tuition to all Arizona high school graduates regardless of immigration status will be on the ballot this November.

Known as Prop 308, it also would ensure that DACA and undocumented students are eligible for public scholarships if they have been in the state for at least two years.

Slightly more than 2,000 undocumented and DACA students graduate from the state's high schools every year, and Jose Patiño, vice president for education and external affairs for the nonprofit group Aliento, said they often have to pay 300% more than their peers at community colleges, and 150% more at public universities.

"The majority of the students who graduate who are undocumented, DACA students, just have this barrier that they can't overcome," he said, "cannot pay for college because you're not eligible for traditionally how low-income students go, through FAFSA, and you also are charged significantly more than your peers."

He noted that some especially high-achieving students can get private scholarships, but thinks it's critical to expand access to college for all Dreamers. Twenty-two states allow undocumented residents to qualify for in-state tuition, and Patiño said he hopes Arizona will soon join them.

In 2006, Arizona lawmakers put another measure on the ballot - Proposition 300 - barring undocumented students from accessing in-state tuition, and it passed. Prop 300 also prevented Dreamers from getting child-care assistance or accessing literacy programs and adult education classes. But Patiño said it makes no sense to stop any student from realizing their full potential through postsecondary education.

"Education has transformational experience - specifically for first-time, low-income students, first-generation students," he said, "where you not only are benefiting yourself, but you're changing the trajectory of your family."

He added that giving students a fair shot regardless of immigration status helps the economy; undocumented immigrants in Arizona contribute hundreds of millions of dollars a year to federal, state and local taxes.


Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

West Virginia is among a handful of states with the highest increases in educational attainment between 2019 and 2021, according to a new report from the Lumina Foundation.

Overall, around 44% of adults age 25-64 have completed a degree or certification, but the state still lags behind the national average of around 53%.

Sarah Armstrong Tucker, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, explained several initiatives are in place to try to make college completion within reach, including shifting to an open educational resource model, where textbooks are free online and low-cost to print.

"We know that the cost of textbooks is an impediment for students," Tucker observed. "A lot of students actually drop after they find out how much money they have to pay for in books."

In 2019, lawmakers passed House Bill 2853, which established the West Virginia Program for Open Educational Resources, making it easier to share and redistribute learning and resource materials.

According to the Education Data Initiative, college students spend on average between $628 and $1,400 each year on books and supplies.

Tucker pointed out over the past few years, West Virginia's colleges have focused more on mental health, overcoming Covid challenges, and assisting student parents who are navigating work and caregiving on top of classes.

"Community colleges have been really focused on making sure that we have students who are able to work while they're going to school and are able to receive benefits," Tucker noted. "So that they can help to support their families."

Tucker added the state is now working to expand opportunities for high school students to take college-level classes. She added the Dual Enrollment Initiative seeks state funding, so parents don't have to pay tuition for dual enrollment.

"Low-income students, first-generation students are much more likely to go to college. If they take dual enrollment courses, they're much more likely to graduate college if they take dual-enrollment courses."

According to state data, Nearly 67% of students in the class of 2021 who took dual enrollment courses went to a community college or a four-year institution after graduation.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

The state's "divisive concepts" law is preventing educators from holding rational discussions about race relations in America, New Hampshire civil rights leaders said. February is Black History Month, a dedicated time for students to learn about the struggles and triumphs of African Americans despite systemic racism.
James McKim, president of the Manchester chapter of the NAACP of Manchester said the law has caused educators to fear reprisals for even mentioning the word "race" in their classrooms.

"This is the true history of our country that we need to be teaching and the history of how Black people, African Americans, have contributed is a part of that history," Kim said.

Supporters of the law say it merely prevents the teaching of discrimination but educators say they have received little guidance from the Department of Education on what they can teach.

Public opposition to the "divisive concepts" law remains high and legislation has been introduced to repeal it. Civil rights leaders say the law has emboldened New Hampshire's growing number of white-supremacist groups.

Grace Kindeke, program coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee, said the original divisive concepts bill was always meant to divide communities.

"So, we've created an environment where hate is able to flourish, and despite what the bill claims that it does, what it actually does is it really helps to nourish that kind of hateful environment," Kindeke said.

Kindeke added communities grow stronger when they are honest about the impacts of white supremacy and where it manifests in state policies and institutions.

Honest classroom discussion about the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvan Martin is what led Ronelle Tshiela of Black Lives Matter Manchester to attend law school. She worries the "divisive concepts" law will stifle those same discussions today.

"That is very disheartening to me," she said. "And it also worries me because when you don't have conversations like this it leads people to repeat the same behaviors."

Tshiela said educators should not have to fear facilitating tough conversations in the classroom, but those fears may be short-lived. The U.S. District Court of New Hampshire recently ruled in favor of allowing a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of New Hampshire and teachers' unions against the "divisive concepts" law to move forward.

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has announced a $450 million investment in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park to develop new drugs, and put more people to work in the state.

It is the latest in a series of investments in North Carolina's research sector, designed to put more medications and more jobs in the pipeline.

Edgardo Hernandez, president of global manufacturing for Lilly, said it builds on investments the company has already made in the area, and will help them keep up with the soaring demand for pharmaceuticals.

"We are building capacity ahead of these promising medicines, including medicines for Alzheimer's disease, medicines for immunology, and medicines for diabetes," Hernandez outlined. "An extensive pipeline of new molecular entities that we are testing in the clinic to commercialize."

In addition to being used to create pharmaceuticals, the investment will also boost enrollment at trade schools and universities, but especially at Durham Technical Community College, which has an agreement with Lilly to train the students the company needs for many of its jobs.

So far, Lilly's recent investments have created at least 350 jobs in the pharmaceutical field, and the new money is projected to mean 100 more. Once trained, Hernandez explained the employees will do a wide variety of industry jobs.

"It goes from scientists, engineers and pharmacists to operators that operate our lines and maintenance technicians, lab technicians and even logistics and warehouse operators," Hernandez noted.

Nationwide, employers have said there is a shortage of work-ready high school graduates in lots of industries, and an investment in community colleges such as Durham and other trade schools will help train workers to address the problem in the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical sector.