Preserving State and Local Control | Promoting Parental Choice in Education | Encouraging Innovation | President Obama’s “Race to the Top” Federal Grant Program
My views on education are born out of my experience as the son and brother of teachers, and they are anchored in the belief that, apart from national defense, there is no more pressing duty than seeing that all young Americans are able to secure an excellent education. They are, after all, our nation’s most precious assets.
I view education as the “great equalizer” in America. While I have voted to increase federal support for education, I recognize that spending increases alone will not ensure a quality education for our youth. Funding must be accompanied by greater accountability, as well as more competition and greater choice to ensure results.
Preserving State and Local Control
State and local governments have historically exercised primary control over education, and that is as it should be.
After all, it’s better to have those who know our children best – and who are closest and most accountable to parents – determining where schools are built, how many teachers are hired, what curriculum is to be taught, and what standards students and teachers must meet. As evidence of the priority the state of Arizona places on education, our state government will devote fully 43 percent its general-fund spending for K-12 education to further these objectives this year.
In recent years, however, the federal government has played an increasingly important secondary role, substantially increasing the number of federal dollars it devotes to education programs. Even so, the federal government’s share still amounts to only 10 percent of the total amount spent on public elementary and secondary education. State and local governments continue to contribute the lion’s share – nearly 90 percent.
The federal government’s influence over education policy is disproportionately large, though, because it conditions federal aid on how states abide by certain mandates. And, unfortunately, those mandates – instead of enhancing educational outcomes – often end up stifling innovation, diverting resources away from classrooms, and imposing one-size-fits-all policies that have proven ill-suited to the challenges we face in Arizona.
Moreover, evidence suggests that more spending alone does not result in better outcomes. The United States spends thousands of dollars more per student for secondary education than many other countries, but still lags behind in international assessments for mathematics, reading, and science. Indeed, since 1970, total state, local, and federal spending for elementary and secondary education has more than doubled. Yet, despite these large and consistent increases in funding, students’ scores on national assessments have improved little. Graduation rates have also stagnated in recent decades.
As the Goldwater Institute correctly observed: “If we’re going to fix the schools here in Arizona, it’s going to be because of the decisions we make here in Arizona.” I agree. State and local governments, schools, and parents should have maximum control.
Promoting Parental Choice in Education
The single most important change in education policy we could make is one that would allow parents to choose the schools their children will attend. Offering parents the choice to move their children from underperforming schools to schools that excel would give children the chance to learn at their fullest potential. It would also force underperforming schools to improve in order to keep students and attract new ones. Federal educational policy needs to embrace choice as a fundamental principle.
I will support such choice for parents when Congress considers renewal of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Encouraging Innovation
Arizona is unique in that it leads the nation in charter schools – tuition-free public schools that operate with unparalleled innovation and flexibility. In fact, about 10 percent of the nation’s charter schools are in Arizona, and about 125,284 students attend 506 charter schools in 14 of Arizona’s 15 counties. Such schools afford both students and parents with choice and enhanced educational opportunities, so it is important that they continue to grow and flourish.
Arizona and other states should also look at the experiences of states that have made the greatest strides in improving their educational systems. I was encouraged, for example, when Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal, announced his intention to focus on the successful model in Florida, in particular. As noted by the Goldwater Institute in a September 2008 report, no state has been as ambitious and successful as Florida:
Florida has implemented reforms to foster accountability and improvement, including establishing high academic standards, implementing innovative student-centered testing policies, ending “social promotion” and increasing early intervention, creating new pathways for hiring and compensating quality teachers, and offering parents greater choice options.
Florida’s success has been validated by higher test scores for all students, including Hispanic and African-American students. I am encouraged that Arizona Superintendent Huppenthal is looking at this successful educational reform model for our state.
Arizonans can be proud that, based on the most recent annual Washington Post Challenge Index (which assesses the rigor of schools’ academic programs), two of Arizona’s charter schools – Basis of Tucson and the Sonoran Science Academy – ranked among the top 30 high schools in the entire nation.
President Obama’s “Race to the Top” Federal Grant Program
President Obama’s multi-billion dollar “Race to the Top” grant program is predicated on states implementing new federally imposed national education standards. The problem is, it requires parents and local officials to cede even more control over the content of such standards and tests, and further empowers Washington bureaucrats.
