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 are anchored in the belief that, apart from defense of the nation, 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 in education, our state government will devote fully 37.5 percent of state general-fund spending 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 about eight percent of the total amount spent on education. State and local governments continue to contribute the lion’s share – 89 percent – with private sources contributing the rest.
The federal government’s influence over education policy is disproportionately large, though, because it conditions federal aid on states abiding by various 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 Wall Street Journal editorialized “that the U.S. has been trying without much success to spend its way to education excellence for decades. Between 1970 and 2004, per-pupil outlays more than doubled in real terms, and the federal portion of that spending nearly tripled. Yet reading scores on national standardized tests have remained relatively flat.”
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 that we could make is one that allows parents to choose the schools their children will attend. Allowing parents the choice to move their children from underperforming schools to schools that excel will give children the chance to learn at their fullest potential. It will 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 later this year.
Encouraging Innovation
Arizona is unique in that it leads the nation in charter schools, which are tuition-free public schools that operate with unparalleled innovation and flexibility. In fact, about 13 percent of the nation’s charter schools are in Arizona. About 93,495 students attend 455 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 new Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal, announced that he intends 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.
President Obama’s “Race to the Top” Federal Grant Program
The President’s $4.4 billion “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.
The President claims that Race to the Top will be based on merit, rather than ideology. I hope so, but am skeptical. His administration has already rejected a popular voucher program that has proven effective in helping minorities, in part because of objections from teachers’ unions. So, such innovative state proposals are likely to be rejected.
Lawmakers in several states, including Tennessee, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Massachusetts have also passed charter school-friendly legislation as part of their attempts at educational reform, hoping to win Race to the Top grants. The Obama administration claims to accept charter schools, so hopefully it will back its words with dollars when it comes to awarding money to promote school choice and other reforms.
Arizona competed for Race to the Top funds and was among the finalists in the second round of funding applications last year. It did not ultimately win an award of funds, but the state is continuing to pursue reforms on its own.
