Last week, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas released her long awaited AZ Kids Can’t Afford to Wait! education plan. The plan was met with bipartisan praise and covers a wide range of issues including teacher pay and retention as well as student data privacy rights.
Douglas is proposing an immediate allocation of $400 million from the State’s general fund for the current year and every year thereafter for teachers. Douglas has placed a restriction on the funding that has been received bipartisan praise; “this funding would all go to classroom teachers, either for higher salaries, lower classroom sizes or both.”
According to Douglas, the funding is available:
- Currently, Arizona has approximately $460 million in its Rainy Day fund 1
- State revenues are running significantly higher than expected
- Contrary to expectations, the state did not have a deficit in 2015. Instead of being forced to dip into the Rainy Day Fund, Arizona already has a surplus in the range of $266 million, for a total of approximately $725 2
- If revenues continue to exceed expectations, Arizona could see a significant budget surplus given that December and January sales tax and April and May income tax are the largest revenue collection
In a speech before the unveiling, Douglas said she knows that “while funding is not a panacea for our education woes, it has become critical for our teachers and classrooms.” Douglas noted in her proposal that Arizona’s “teachers have officially reached the lowest paid in the nation, according to one recent study, and Arizona is third from the bottom of places for teachers to work. We have a teacher shortage, have extended the time substitutes can teach, are trying to recruit teachers from the Philippines and China, and have a turnover rate of around 45% in the first two years of teaching.”
“Teachers and parents making a personal impact on an individual student is how a child learns,” stated Douglas. “It is not the latest fad in standards, curriculum or technology. All of that has its place, but is worthless without talented teachers and well-informed, actively involved parents.”
Douglas, who had provided cover for the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), in its continued use of Critical Race Theory as a foundation for its Culturally Relevant course, expressed new opposition. While saying that she wants every school in Arizona to “teach a rich curriculum that celebrates the diversity of our population and the struggles and successes of all our citizens,” she called for an end Critical Race-based pedagogy. Douglas stated that she was opposed to “teaching racism by teaching children based on the color of their skin. We should have the same culturally rich instruction in Window Rock, Scottsdale, Yuma and Tucson.”
“Racism is hard to combat, but academic segregation and the teaching of hate through Critical Race pedagogy must stop now. The only thing that can prevent teaching hate is to actively teach appreciation for all our contributions,” argued Douglas. “Our schools need to be a model of acceptance and respect, not a breeding ground for resentment and division.”
Douglas also called for the development of Educational Development Zones, or EDZs, for neglected regions across the state. Douglas proposes that in these regions, the State would forgive teacher student loans and allow most staff and schools significant tax incentives. Douglas stated the “the alternative is to see one generation after another living in these areas, abandoned to poor education, poverty, crime and welfare – not because they deserve it or can’t learn, but because of the area they happen to live.” Douglas called the current situation in those are “intolerable.”
Douglas reiterated her opposition to Common Core. She stated that she opposes Common Core “with all my fiber.” She challenged the State Board of Education “to vote at their very next meeting to reverse their previous actions and sever the ties between Arizona and Common Core.” Douglas acknowleged that the vote “will not change a single standard immediately, it will make clear that we in Arizona are smart enough and engaged enough to develop standards that are our own and are uniquely designed for our specific state needs and population challenges.”
According to Douglas, the ADE will be recommending a significant increase in standards including explicit phonics instruction, additional requirements for reading in K-3, higher math standards, expansion of civics and economics instruction, and world language graduation requirements for those who have shown proficiency in English.
“Nearly every country in the world teaches its children to speak more than one language. Americans are unprepared for the current and future economy if they are not multi-lingual,” stated Douglas. “Once a child in Arizona is proficient in English, we should teach them at least one additional language. We should also seek to preserve our Native American languages, not just for members of our tribes and nations, but for any Arizonans who wish to learn.”
Douglas also recognized that due to inadequate math and foreign language standards too few Arizona students can meet college admission requirements.
Douglas emphasized the need to protect students data, but outlined a plan that provides little protection and few limitations.
Douglas asked the public to read the “proposals I have included in AZ Kids Can’t Afford to Wait! If you disagree, I ask that you join the discourse not to put me down, but to hold up our children.” She concluded, “My sincere hope is that all of these proposals are enacted, but failing that, I hope that we at least stop looking at Arizona education month-to-month. Instead we must determine what the best education system in the nation looks like, and start taking the steps to make ours into that vision.”
1 http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/mfh-jul-15.pdf
2 Id.