Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas doesn’t like that the state’s education code, known as A.R.S. Title 15, is 1,000-plus pages long. She’s announced that she’ll establish an annual committee to review the code’s regulations and get rid of everything that is outdated, unnecessary or “detrimental to the work of school district and charter schools.”
“The first education statutes enacted for the area now known as Arizona was under the Revised Statues & Laws of the Territory of New Mexico dated January 27, 1860. At that time Arizona was still part of the New Mexico Territory. Those statutes consisted of only ONE page,” Douglas said in a statement. “Now, Title 15, the current 2014-2015 edition of the code, contains more than 1,000 pages. No one can reasonably claim that education has become one thousand times better as a result.”
If it hasn’t had a positive effect on education, then Douglas wants it out of the code.
She also touches on Gov. Doug Ducey’s request for deregulation “to unburden the private sector to stimulate economic growth.”
In the case of education, that would be the removal of allegedly useless regulations in Title 15.
“Arizona’s education code and its associated bureaucracy has grown, although not commensurate with student achievement or student success. It’s time to make Arizona’s education code shorter, not longer,” she said. “I strongly support the effort to free up more funding for classrooms, and one way to do that is to remove unnecessary burdens which force local education agencies to use vital funding for administrative costs.”
The committee would be made up of school superintendents, human resources and food service workers, business managers and others “impacted by the statutes.”
She’s asking for applications, by the way.
From the press release:
Professionals in those areas and who are interested in participating on the committee should submit their C.V. or resume either electronically via email to the ADEInbox@azed.gov or by U.S. Postal Service to Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1535 W. Jefferson, Phoenix, Arizona, 85007. The deadline to apply is May 15, 2015, with the first meeting planned for June. Please include in the email title, or on the envelope, “Application for Title 15 review committee.”
The committee will present its findings by Dec. 1, 2015. The report will be presented to the state Legislature in the 2016 session.
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2015.
I don’t know what unnecessary ‘administration expenses’ she is talking about. THe only ones that Ducey says are in the category are transportation, speech, counseling. All necessary and some are federally mandated.
You don’t understand how 1,000 pages of regulations might create “unnecessary administrative expense?”
This is a good idea, at least in concept. Stuff has been accumulating in Title 15 for literally a hundred years, and it is a mess. I do not see the point of an annual committee however. One thorough cleanup should be sufficient.
It’s called K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupide. We need to go back to the old days when schools taught Reading, writing and Rhythmetic along with History, English and Science. Kids nowadays don’t know history or how to spell (thanks to texting) and are graduating? All schools are teaching now are MAS or Mexican-American Studies, most school kids can’t wright a simple two line sentence without bad grammar and spelling. And the worst part is the dammed parents that want to do away with testing because it might hurt their son/daughters feelings by getting an answer wrong.
Looks like Clifford needs to go back to school so he can learn correct spelling and grammar. BTW MAS was banned a few years back. Try to keep up.
Those regulations keep our kids safe by requiring finger printing…they ensure that our kids are taught by qualified teachers by requiring certain credentials (especially for our most vulnerable children)….they set about the day to day requirements of running a school system. Has anybody actually read them??? They are a good thing!!!!