In October, Salon Magazine reported that Secretary of Education Arney Duncan “rattled the education policy world with news of a controversial grant” of millions of dollars to the charter school industry, now Arizona State Rep. Randall Friese has done the same with his proposed legislation that would a change the elected position of Superintendent of Public Instruction to an appointed office.
In a state like Arizona, Friese’s bill would guarantee that the anti-traditional public school forces, led by Republican governors, would not only control the ever growing Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, but the last line of defense traditional public schools have in Arizona – the Arizona Department of Education (ADE).
Already Arizona’s current Superintendent of Public Instruction, Diane Douglas, who oversees the ADE, has survived battles with the pro-charter Governor Doug Ducey/chamber of commerce-controlled State Board of Education, in an effort to protect traditional neighborhood districts. Should the office become one that is appointed, traditional schools would likely lose one of the only offices through which they have a chance to be represented.
Friese did not respond to our inquiries as to what his rationale was for making a move that would serve to weaken the public’s role in public education. Friese, a doctor, who earns into the hundreds of thousands of dollars teaching at the public University of Arizona, is a Democrat. His move is seen by pro-union educators as surprising, but one in keeping with the questionable decisions by Duncan.
A recent report from the Center for Media and Democracy found that over the past 20 years the federal government has sent over $3.3 billion to the charter school industry with virtually no accountability. That report notes “the federal government maintains no comprehensive list of the charter schools that have received and spent these funds or even a full list of the private or quasi-public entities that have been approved by states to ‘authorize’ charters that receive federal funds.”
That opaqueness is something charters in Arizona enjoy. The fact that Friese chose to have the governor’s office take complete control public education rather than fight for legislation that would make charters as transparent as their traditional counterparts, is shocking.
The bill reads:
HCR 2002
Introduced by Representative Friese
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA; REPEALING ARTICLE V, SECTION 1, CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA, AS AMENDED BY PROPOSITION 100; AMENDING ARTICLE V, SECTION 1, CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA, AS AMENDED BY PROPOSITION 107; AMENDING ARTICLE V, SECTIONS 6 AND 9, CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA; AMENDING ARTICLE XI, SECTION 4, CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA; RELATING TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring:
1. Article V, section 1, Constitution of Arizona, as amended by Proposition 100, election of November 3, 1992, is proposed to be repealed as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:
Article V, section 1, Constitution of Arizona, as amended by Proposition 100, election of November 3, 1992, is repealed.
2. Article V, section 1, Constitution of Arizona, as amended by Proposition 107, election of November 3, 1992, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:
1. Term limits on executive department and state officers; term lengths; election; residence and office at seat of government; duties
Section 1. A. The executive department shall consist of the governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, AND attorney general, AND superintendent of public instruction, each of whom shall hold office for a term of four years beginning on the first Monday of January, 1971 next after the regular general election in 1970. No member of the executive department shall hold that office for more than two consecutive terms. This limitation on the number of terms of consecutive service shall apply to terms of office beginning on or after January 1, 1993. No member of the executive department after serving the maximum number of terms, which shall include any part of a term served, may serve in the same office until out of office for no less than one full term.
B. The person having a majority THE HIGHEST NUMBER of the votes cast for the office voted for shall be elected. If no person receives a majority of the votes cast for the office, a second election shall be held as prescribed by law between the persons receiving the highest and second highest number of votes cast for the office. The person receiving the highest number of votes at the second election for the office is elected, but if the two OR MORE persons have an equal AND THE HIGHEST number of votes for the office, the two houses of the legislature at its next regular session shall elect forthwith, by joint ballot, one of such persons for said office.
C. The officers of the executive department during their terms of office shall reside at the seat of government where they shall keep their offices and the public records, books, and papers. They shall perform such duties as are prescribed by the constitution and as may be provided by law.
3. Article V, section 6, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:
6. Death, resignation, removal or disability of governor; succession to office; impeachment, absence from state or temporary disability
Section 6. In the event of the death of the governor, or his resignation, removal from office, or permanent disability to discharge the duties of the office, the secretary of state, if holding by election, shall succeed to the office of governor until his successor shall be elected and shall qualify. If the secretary of state be holding otherwise than by election, or shall fail to qualify as governor, the attorney general, OR the state treasurer, or the superintendent of public instruction, if holding by election, shall, in the order named, succeed to the office of governor. The taking of the oath of office as governor by any person specified in this section shall constitute resignation from the office by virtue of the holding of which he qualifies as governor. Any successor to the office shall become governor in fact and entitled to all of the emoluments, powers and duties of governor upon taking the oath of office.
In the event of the impeachment of the governor, his absence from the state, or other temporary disability to discharge the duties of the office, the powers and duties of the office of governor shall devolve upon the same person as in case of vacancy, but only until the disability ceases.
4. Article V, section 9, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:
9. Powers and duties of state officers
Section 9. The powers and duties of secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction AND ATTORNEY GENERAL shall be as prescribed by law.
5. Article XI, section 4, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:
4. Superintendent of public instruction; board membership; powers and duties
Section 4. The state superintendent of public instruction shall be a member, and secretary, of the state board of education, and, ex-officio, a member of any other board having control of public instruction in any state institution. His THE GOVERNOR SHALL APPOINT THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION WITH THE ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE SENATE. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION SERVES AT THE PLEASURE OF THE GOVERNOR. THE powers and duties OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION shall be prescribed by law.
6. The Secretary of State shall submit this proposition to the voters at the next general election as provided by article XXI, Constitution of Arizona.