Gene V. Glass, distinguisher researcher of education at Arizona State University, brings us up to the date with the drama in Arizona over privatization and the Common Core, with surprising enemies and allies taking sides:
Professor Glass writes:
It all started when Doug Ducey won the governor’s race last November. Duce, who cut his political teeth as a student at Arizona State University editing the campus newspaper, made his millions in the ice cream business (Cold Stone Creamery). Immediately upon taking office he instituted a hiring freeze and promised to increase school choice. That same mid-term election saw a virtual unknown Republican school board member, Diane Douglas, defeat ASU Education professor David Garcia for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Douglas vowed to dump Common Core on grounds of its being federal intrusion into a state responsibility, but policy had nothing to do with her victory; if you had an R behind your name in the mid-term election, you won.
Two days ago, Douglas fired two of her top administrators — Executive Director and Asst. Executive Director — at the Department who were carry-overs from the previous Superintendent. It’s not hard to imagine why; they were far down the road of installing the Common Core in Arizona schools. Yesterday, the whole business erupted in a public fight between Ducey and Douglas over whether the latter has the authority to fire people in her department. After a prayer breakfast Thursday morning, the Governor was barely out the door before he gave reporters an insincere piece of his mind: “[I’m] sorry she chose to go down that path.”Douglas shot back: Ducey, she said, is establishing a “shadow faction of charter school operators and former state superintendents [referring to Lisa Graham Keegan who supported Douglas’s opponent in the election] who support Common Core and moving funds from traditional public schools to charter schools.”
Score +1 for Douglas for speaking the truth. The Arizona Senate has moved forward quickly in this session to support the privatization of K-12 education. The Senate education committee has already approved bills that would 1) award vouchers (at 90% state per pupil expenditure) to any student whose application has been turned down to open enroll in a public school or a charter school within 25 miles of their home, and 2) award a voucher to any student on an Indian reservation. Clearly the Republicans are flexing their muscles after the November victory; such radical pro-voucher legislating has never before made it into law in Arizona. Perhaps this is the year.
Gene V Glass
Arizona State University
National Education Policy Center
University of Colorado Boulder
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ducey is a fruitcake, and the bulk of the AZ legislators are the nuts. My home state is unrecognizable these days, which is why I never go home anymore. I knew Douglas would win despite her lack of qualifications, because 1) the R after her name on the ballot, and 2) her last name is Douglas, not Garcia, and 3) the anti-Fed fever pitch from the legislators, despite the fact that AZ receives a lot of Federal money. I’m glad to see she is at least trying to clean house from her corrupt predecessor, but she will have no luck with that. Interesting that Lisa Graham-Keegan was brought up, as I blame her for the final downfall of AZ public ed. She unleashed the unfettered charter school scourge onto Arizona, and destroyed what had been a pretty decent public system. Growing up, I had art (in an art room!), PE, music, band – even computer lab on what were then state-of-the-art machines. My public school in Phoenix was very much on the progressive side, something I realized once I began my teacher education program in college. But no more. The kids in my old elementary school don’t get anything near what we had. There’s no art teacher anymore. They don’t get daily PE. The library’s collection has not changed much from when I was there. The population of my old elementary school is much higher in ELL and special ed kids than it ever was before. And the charter school in the strip mall not too far away from my old elementary school is full of just white kids. Many of my high school and college friends fled the lunacy, as did I, escaping to Washington State, which for now is much more normal.
My Arizona is gone, however, and it is sad to see how far it has fallen.
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I taught in Arizona for couple years over a decade ago and education policy seemed fairly reasonable back then.
But Arizona has been home to — and largely ruled by — crackpots, crooks and racists (and there is much overlap there) for a very long time.
My theory is that they are descendants of the cattle rustlers, magic elixir salesmen and other con artists who ran amok back in the Wild West days.
Many people believe the good guys turned the tide at the shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone — but they are wrong.
“Tombstone”
Here lies Ed U Cation
Died from Common Core
Teacher devaluation
Charters, tests and more
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More of the crooks and crackpots have been imported rather than home-grown. Joe Arpaio – not from AZ. Ducey – from Ohio. Ben Quayle – carpetbagger from Indiana. Jan Brewer – came from California to go to community college and get her radiological technician certificate, and unfortunately never left. AZ had a decent proportion of its own, but that stayed reasonably balanced for a long time. Now – crackpot central.
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Lisa Graham Keegan is a Ducey advisor.
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“Unbounded Absurdity”
Once you throw out science
Absurdity knows no bound
Crackpot ploy reliance
Continues to astound
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I’m sorry to see comments focusing on whether Douglas has an R behind her name or a purported aversion to the name Garcia. A “D” behind your name or a name associated with an ethnicity doesn’t make you a better leader or provide you with any particular insight. People elected for the letter D or their name are just as suspect as others.
The focus needs to be on providing a great education. A “great education” doesn’t start and end with “well, these kids need to be prepared for the real world of getting jobs and getting into college.” A great education includes preparing for a wider role in a civilized society, an education that encourages you to “think” and to empathize with your fellow human beings; to apply critical thinking skills to problem solving, not a repetition of that which has been memorized. That includes Music, Art, Literature, Physical Well Being, and an opportunity to engage in an activity that doesn’t rely on “beating your opponent down” to be regarded as a success; sports are great for those so inclined…but so is Theater, and Theater programs are disappearing in public schools and reappearing in Charter schools…that’s not a “plug for Charter” … that’s a “shame on the Public schools.”
Kids don’t vote so let’s make an effort to educate our neighbors and the wider community who do. We need a better educational model, and it doesn’t start or end with the letters “R” or “D.”
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You can’t have crazy without R-AZ
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Is Arizona really part of the United States? Isn’t it really the corporate oligarchy of Arizona?
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Actually Tom Charters do not have more arts, the vast majority do not have Special Area classes nor sports. A democracy requires a quality education for all citizens, not the select few who attend “tuition free” charter schools. A great education includes the whole spectrum of citizens receiving a quality education. Unfortunately the modern day Rs in Arizona are attempting to destroy public education.
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The charter movement in Arizona is undoubtedly taking advantage of chronic underfunding by the state. While those of use in California shouldn’t boast about our own per-pupil-spending, Arizona recently moved to the bottom of the list. With funding levels set at several thousand dollars less than even median states, it’s no wonder that the public has grown dissatisfied with public education. Republicans have been able to leverage this discontent to bolster support for charter schools, through which charter companies can move in a soak up voucher money and further exacerbate the underfunding of public schools.
I came across an interesting nuance in the way how Arizona schools are spending their money (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2014/03/arizona_education_spending_classroom_per_pupil.php). The amount being spent “in classrooms” in AZ has been declining for years. The article above cites poor management of the non-instructional aspects of public schools in the state such as food service, transportation, and building maintenance. if public schools are to have a chance of regaining the trust of the public in Arizona, they will need to show improvements in these non-instructional areas.
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