State Sen. Kate Brophy McGee (R-Phoenix) said she has been diligently working in the legislature to advance education in the state and to be a leader for her District 28 residents at a recent Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Committee meeting.

McGee also outlined her goals for the year at the meeting, a release on the chamber's website said.

“I thought it imperative given the issues that are facing our K-12 and higher education arenas that I re-engage,” McGee said in the release.

McGee said she finds it very imperative to advance state education and "to keep herself up-to-date on the most current Arizona education issues, she requested to serve on the Arizona Senate Education Committee," the release said.

Currently, state education faces a financial crisis, McGee said at the meeting. “To quote (state schools) Superintendent Diane Douglas, ‘We are at a crossroads in K-12 education,’ we are at a crossroads in education funding and we need to address those issues seriously," McGee said in the posting.

In addition to fighting for better education, McGee told the chamber panel she is passionate about child welfare and said she is involved with several bills aimed at improving the Department of Child Safety, the release said.

“I am really happy that after all the turmoil that we have been through as a state with our child welfare system, we have managed to engage a number of Republican legislators in the DCS system,” McGee said in the posting. “It was really my goal to expand the number of Republicans that are familiar with DCS.”