Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is launching a statewide tour that will make a pit stop in Tucson at the end of May to listen to your concerns on all-things K-12 education.
There will be a series of public meetings throughout the so-called “We Are Listening” tour to pair up with recommendations from the Arizona Department of Education on things like how to improve a school’s curriculum, or the Common Core standards.
“I am dedicated to continually improving the state of education in Arizona through conversations with the people it most directly affects—parents, students, teachers and administrators,” a statement from Douglas said. “It is paramount that Arizona not only has the highest standards possible, but that its standards belong to Arizona and are continually improved to best represent both student and local community needs. This process allows us to hear every voice and set high expectations for every child.”
People’s comments on state standards will be compiled and presented to the State Board of Education, where they can vote on possible changes. This goes hand-in-hand with Gov. Doug Ducey’s request for a “thorough review” of the state’s standards for English and math.
The statement says that people also can submit their feedback via email at HearingEveryVoice@azed.gov, online at www.azed.gov/HearingEveryVoice, or via the @azedschools Twitter account using #HearingEveryVoice.
The tour will make a total of 14 stops, starting in Kingman and wrapping up in Springerville. The Tucson visit is on Thursday, May 28 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Pima Community College Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road.
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2015.
I have the vague feeling that this fault finding tour will result in a written report that may already be outlined – no matter what is actually said. Discussions may ramble and rumble, as many do when parents and taxpayers and educators have their say, but beware the agenda for change that gathers data and then broadcasts the agenda as foreseen.
A good start would be to not gut the funding for education at every opportunity. Also, to get the money that exists through the admin bottleneck to the teachers and classrooms.
I think she is really trying. My question is, how does she reconcile her seemingly honest desire to improve public education with Governor Ducey’s apparent goal to destroy it? As long as he can only cut education funds, and send the existing funds available to education in so many different directions, I fear there won’t be a lot she can do. I hope I am wrong.
Make it illegal to use maintenance and operations for extra curricular activities. Realign maintenance and operations monies so that the millions of dollars spent on extras go back into the classroom instead of funding an after school culture. Use M&O money to build more school libraries and hire more librarians, increase funding for curriculum based classes like art, music, fashion design, wood and auto shop into the daily instruction so that it will augment students abilities in other content areas. Stop paying $1,600,000 to the head basketball coach of U of A and $400,000 for each assistant coach especially when the head of surgical instruction at U of A earns less than $250,000 annually. University coaches who desire a seven figure salary should have to look at private universities and the professional sports in order to earn that kind of money. I
AZ schools are ranked 48th in the nation and yet we allow M&O money to pay for sports and extras, when I was a kid if I didn’t retain a ‘B’ average then I wasn’t allowed to play sports or play in the band (after school was for studying until my grades were acceptable). AZ schools grades are unacceptable compared to the national average. Where and why aren’t the teachers, principals, superintendents and parents standing up and voice opposition to the legislation that would allow this gross mismanagement of fiscal resources and discontinue funding extracurricular activities until our state is ranked in the upper 20% (B average). The legislature claims that they have no funding for education and yet they allow school districts to spend millions of dollars of M&O monies each year to build a culture of sports while cutting curriculum based school programs.