John Huppenthal, Arizona’s state superintendent of PUBLIC instruction, is taking part in a campaign to urge parents to take advantage of tax credits to send their child to private school. He is doing it with public dollars. But, as usual, follow the money.
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This video contains the robo-call he has made so far to 50,000 parents, touting the virtues of private schools.
Question: Why isn’t this man State Commissioner of Non-public Schools? Why is he “State Superintendent of Public Instruction?
He should be ashamed of himself. Presumably it is his job to improve public instruction in Arizona, not to urge parents to abandon it.
But, wait!!
A teacher in Arizona sends Huppenthal’s explanation:
“Below is a letter sent to all the public school teachers in AZ this week by John Huppenthal who is our elected Republican State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He is trying to dig himself out of a hole.
“According to an article in the Arizona Republic on Feb. 13, front page headline, he “recorded a series of calls touting a program that diverts taxpayer dollars to private schools. Public-education advocates, however, were outraged at the calls, which they claim are politically motivated and inappropriate given his role as the state’s top advocate for public instruction.”
“The robocalls went out to about 15,000 families in low-performing school districts in Phoenix and Tucson on Tuesday. In them, Huppenthal promotes Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts”……(we all know that’s a fancy title for “vouchers”)……”The program is open to special-ed students, children in foster care, children whose parents serve in the military, and children who attend public schools that received a “D’ or “F” grade from the State Department of Education.”
“In defending himself, he goes on to say “I’m the Superintendent of Public Instruction, not the Superintendent of Public Schools.” Say what?!! OK that makes a whole lot of reformy sense I guess.
“He is up for re-election in the fall against Democratic candidate David Garcia, who stated in the same article, “…The answer is to improve public schools, not abandon public schools.” One to watch, perhaps? We shall see.”
Yes, we will watch this election.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you, Dr. Ravitch, for highlighting this on your blog. I want all people in AZ and other states to know how awful things have gotten here. I’m hoping more teachers will get angry and begin taking action. So far, I haven’t seen much happening here except on Arizona Bad Ass Teachers. I have been to a meeting of retired members of the AEA. They advocate for their benefits, but I don’t hear anything about advocating for public schools. I think we better worry about the standing of our public schools for the sake of our children–not just our benefits. I am going to the special screening at Arizona State University, Tempe, of the movie “Standardized–Lies, Money & Civil Rights” on Saturday, 2/22 at 1 PM. I hope more teachers from AZ attend to find out what is really happening in education.
When retirees realize a decrease of contribution levels puts their current benefits at risk, the tune will change. Most pensions must be funded a set number of years, but that depends on current contributions to sustain that level. Less active teachers or lower salaries have a major impact. I have heard current retirees adopt the GOP anti-teacher talking points with an “I’ve got mine” stance not realizing they are cutting off the branch they are sitting on. Just look at who was targeted in the Detroit fiasco.
It’s like the U.S. Postmaster General speaking as the spokesman for FedEx in its commercials, saying, “FedEx is so much better than this crap-can government joint I’m running. Do yourself a favor and stop using the U.S. Post Office.”
Can you send some info on the movie you mentioned? I am a school board member in Sedona Az.
The screening of “Standardized–Lies, Money & Civil Rights” will be on Saturday February 22nd at 1:00 at ASU. It will be in 117 Ed Building. Admission is $5.00 at the door.
Voucher proponents should be all in favor, then, of housing vouchers so recipients can choose ALL their public services – police, fire, utilities. After all, if their politician is not earning an “A” rating and the families are trapped in a failing legislative district, shouldn’t we have “voter choice” to hold our elected officials accountable by letting families live where they want?
Excellent point. I’m going to make the suggestion to my legislators. I’m sure that they will LOVE that idea!!!
Love that idea. We should be able to choose the leg. dist we want when our local legs. do not proved what we need like we can with open enrollment. (I live in AZ LD6 with 3 pro voucher, anti federal govt Republicans).
Isn’t this the same as a republican politician stating, “government is the problem so elect me to represent your interests in the government? “I’m the superintendent of Public Instruction not the Superintendent of Public Schools”. Wow! I think someone should pay to have some billboards erected with that quote and a big old picture of Mr. John H.
Love that idea, Betsy. And MathVale, I think I will propose your idea to my legislators, too.
By the way, Dr. Ravitch, aren’t you on vacation! I appreciate all you do, but take a break and have fun. Have a rum drink for all of us!
David Garcia’s website is here: http://dg4az.com/issues/
If you agree with him you could donate $ or volunteer to be part of his “response team,” meaning you will write letters and use social media to support his campaign.
When are we going to get angry and mobilize instead leaving our sisters and brothers to fend for themselves. We need to stop talking and move to action.
I agree, it is time to get angry and take action.
Call or write to John Huppenthal here: http://www.azed.gov/superintendent/contact/
Like on FB, follow on twitter, volunteer, or give $ for David Garcia’s campaign here: http://dg4az.com/
TAGO!
“The Arizona Department of Education and its chief position, a publicly elected state Superintendent of Public Instruction, were created upon the ratification of the Arizona Constitution. The job of the state superintendent is to “superintend” the K-12 public education system in Arizona through the state department of education. As stated in the state constitution, this involves providing for the students of Arizona a uniform public school system including kindergarten schools, common schools, high schools and normal schools.”
http://www.azed.gov/about-ade/
We should be calling for his impeachment.
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
So, Kidmade, are you saying this okay? Because I think this is an out and out maneuver to encourage children to desert the public schools for private schools. If you post on this blog regularly, I don’t think the folks here think what Huppenthal did is okay either. As Dr. Ravitch says, “follow the money.”
No, I was posting to show that it expressly says that the DOE and his position are specific to public education not to what he calls “instruction for the public”. Sorry, I posted without explanation.
This sounds very similar to Florida’s “choice” program that has been promoted by the state Department of Education for years. Each district is required to provide a school choice period each year and this year my district held a convention at the local civic center promoting private schools and charter schools and public schools are forced to “compete” without a single dollar of PR or advertising money since the state repeatedly cuts our funding.
The state supreme court knocked down Jeb Bush’s more ambitious voucher program as unconstitutional but NCLB makes the “opportunity scholarships” legal for those in special education, high poverty neighborhoods, and D/F schools which the school magically increased exponentially by raising the cut scores of the FCAT a whole lot the last few years.
I’m guessing Jeb Bush’s organization has advised Arizona and they are copying Florida’s worst laws through ALEC templates.
Bingo! We get our education laws from FL and our immigration laws from Kansas.
“He is up for re-election in the fall against Democratic candidate David Garcia, who stated in the same article, “…The answer is to improve public schools, not abandon public schools.”
Yup. Good for Mr. Garcia. Short and sweet.
If we’re hoping to get the attention of parents who send their children to public schools to tell them their child’s school has been abandoned by political leaders, we probably have to mention public schools, at least occasionally 🙂
Their kids are in existing public schools. They’re not listening for disputes over vouchers and charters. They don’t think it has any relevance to them.
Thanks for writing about this, Diane. AZ is on the verge of going full bore on empowerment scholarships that turn public money over to scholarships for children to attend private schools. There’s a bill in the lege right now, HB2036, that expands the program to children of firefighters and the military and any child on free or reduced lunch. That is 60% of Arizona children. This is what Huppenthal was promoting.
On the bright side the house is hearing bills prohibiting CC from being implemented, (for all the wrong reasons,) but it works nonetheless. The Tea Party will turn on Huppenthal since he’s promoting CC. He actually has a Tea Party challenger for the primary. The Goldwater Institute will play big in the election as will all the usual corporate players. Stock up om popcorn now. Should be good.
Thank you for helping to bring public attention to this issue. This man ought to resign immediately for abdicating his duty and job to superintendent of public schools. The question that I have now nis how these private entities which orchestrated the phone calls usig him as the caller actually obtained the personal contact information for all of these student’s residences… Did this public official provide these entities with personal identiable information? Sounds like an investigation may be needed immediately.
http://www.vincerabagolaw.com/2014/02/11/arizona-superintendent-of-public-instruction-john-huppenthal-abdicates-duty-to-public-schools-and-urges-parents-to-send-kids-to-private-schools-attorney-vince-rabago-calls-for-him-to-resign/
I was wondering the same thing, Vince. Where did he get the call list?
Corrected –
Thank you for helping to bring public attention to this issue. This man ought to resign immediately for abdicating his duty and job to be superintendent of public schools. The question that I have now is how these private entities which orchestrated the phone calls usig him as the caller actually obtained the personal contact information for all of these student’s residences… Did this public official provide these entities with personal identiable information? Sounds like an investigation may be needed immediately.
http://www.vincerabagolaw.com/2014/02/11/arizona-superintendent-of-public-instruction-john-huppenthal-abdicates-duty-to-public-schools-and-urges-parents-to-send-kids-to-private-schools-attorney-vince-rabago-calls-for-him-to-resign/
Thank you for writing about this. It shocked many of us here. I have been a
school board member in Sedona Az for 11 years and we got to know Supt Hupenthal quite well when he was in the state legislature and he asked our former DIstrict Supt to pilot some programs in our district. I used to think that he really wanted to improve public education here in AZ even if he relied too much on quantitative data to measure success–but not after this incident with a spiel written by the
Alliace for School Choice directing parents to a site owned by the Goldwarer Institute-two orgsnizations devoted to the destruction of public education as we know it.
Diane- I heard you speak at the NSBA federal relations network in DC a few years ago and now I hear rumors that you may be a keynote speaker at our AZ conference in December. I hope that is true–all of us in any part of edcational administration both professional and volunteer board members really need to hear your message.
Karen, I will speak in Az at ASBA in December. Looking forward to it!
Huppenthal is merely following a long line of unqualified AZ politicians who used this position not only to destroy public education, but also as a stepping stone to a higher spot. is predecessor, Horne, moved up to AG. Before him, Lisa Graham-Keegan opened up the charter floodgates and has made quite the profit there; she also was McCain’s education advisor, despite the fact that she had never taught nor had any advanced education in Ed policy. None of them have ever supported public education.
I am a product a of AZ public schools – elementary, high school, and college. I had a great public education experience. I feel bad that the children of Arizona will not experience the public schooling I had, before this position became a political stepping stone and an ideological cudgel. I am equally glad that I left Arizona when I did.
Looking forward to hearing you. Hopefully we will have a new supt of public inst. David Garcia elected and legislators who believe in education so we do not have to spend do much Time blocking bad legislation instead of preparing our kids to suceed.
And this year’s Stewardship of the Common Award goes to. . .
>>Robo-calls for privatization:
Sounds like police department hiring Robocops to replace officers. No?
Two nights ago, I received a Robocall. It has been changed to a woman’s voice. I stayed in my house since 1977, so my neighborhood has changed. The neighborhood school has a higher % of Title I students. I wanted to yell into the phone, but since no one on the other end would hear, I didn’t. But it really p—ed me off.