On Tuesday, Superintendent Diane Douglas issued the following statement:
“Over the holidays a columnist for the Arizona Republic spent her time arguing that an important piece of democracy be taken away from the people of Arizona. In my several tours around the state I somehow missed the hue and cry from our electorate for less input.
“In fact, the most important issue for most voters is education. The founders of the state created the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction as one of the elected members of the Executive branch of government to expressly guarantee that one official has no other responsibility than to answer to the people for the education of their children.
“Laurie Roberts calls the position a ‘glorified department head’ with all the decision making done by an appointed board that by statute meets four times per year. The same could be said of State Mine Inspector, as Roberts does, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, and the State Attorney General. Why not just have three offices on the ballot? Governor, Senator and Representative? Under such a system, the people would be ill served indeed.
“The State Treasurer, as an elected official, was able to weigh in freely on the discussion of the state land trust, resulting in a modification of the proposal. The Attorney General was able to weigh in on the Corporation Commission conflict of interest issue, while the Secretary of State was able to argue her position on clean elections.
“In my own case as Superintendent of Public Instruction, I promised the voters that I would get rid of Common Core. Despite the refusal of staff and board members, I was successful on a 6-2 vote to do just that. It would never have happened if I was not an elected official and the people of the state would not have been given what they were promised.
“Our Arizona Executive branch is currently composed of all Republicans who on most issues agree completely, such as limited government, lower taxation, more personal freedom and reduction of regulations. However, when we disagree, having equal footing as elected officials is the only way better decisions are made through debate. It is the only way the public would even hear of such disagreements. No department head would ever publicly disagree on a policy issue.
“The real problem Roberts appears to have is not with the office, but with the voters. Despite her best efforts to oppose me in the primary and general elections, to join in saying I’m unfit for office in several vacuous articles and to support the recall efforts, she has failed. Having failed in those efforts, she suggests eliminating the office altogether. I certainly trust the voters in Arizona to select their leaders and their issues more than I do one solitary columnist who opposes the majority of voters on every major issue.
“Any pilot will tell you that in war time you only take flak when you are over the target. If I was irrelevant and not making the important changes that the voters asked me to make, no one would care. It is only as an elected official that the Superintendent has the power to make positive changes for our children’s education, and that is what I’m doing each and every day.
“Later this week I will provide a list of accomplishments of the Arizona Department of Education over the last year. I doubt Roberts will read it, much less agree that the accomplishments are positive changes. Nor do I believe she will let the voters know that their voice is being heard, is strong and is being acted upon.
“We need more democracy, not armchair columnists out of touch with the wishes of voters. I’ll be proud to answer to the people of Arizona for my actions.”
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