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What better way do we have to give our children the power and strength they will need to face the adult world but through education? Few areas of public policy are as important as the education of our children.
The state and local public school districts have the responsibility to provide the nuts and bolts of the education process. It’s with these basics along with the partnership of parents, students, teachers and administration that everyday learning experience takes place.
But we in Arizona are not doing our jobs. Arizona ranks 2nd in the country in school dropouts. We rank 49th in the country in per capita spending for education. One in every ten teenage girls in Arizona is pregnant before the age of 17.
These are more than mere statistics. These are lives in jeopardy. These are children crying out for us to do our jobs. These are families and voters asking why its elected officials don’t fulfill the promises that they make.
During the hard economic times of budget shortfalls and rising costs one of the areas that cannot be cut from our budget is educational funding. In the short term this funding must be stable and in the long term this funding must be increased when funds are available to a level commensurate with our political rhetoric on the importance of education.
To begin with we need to pay our teachers salaries that are commensurate with the importance of their jobs and the level of their education. It is most important that we keep our quality teachers in Arizona and that we prevent a brain drain due to inadequate salaries.
It cannot be more strongly stressed that the most important ages to target are those formidable ages of learning from the first days of birth to the 3rd grade. Every study has shown that the most cost effective education dollars are those spent for this age group. Every dollar spent getting children off to the right start in life will save as much as ten dollars that would be spent on the same individual later in life. Those extra costs are frequently incurred within the criminal-justice system. If a child is hooked on learning when young the rest of their educational years will be an exciting adventure into the world of the unknown.
I propose that the Arizona Legislature systematically help parents prepare their children for success in school. We should have programs to encourage parents to read with their children on a daily basis, thus instilling the critical love of reading that is so necessary to the learning process. I propose that the Legislature support programs that provide nutritional counseling and education for parents so that their children develop mentally and physically in the best possible way. The Legislature should support early childhood education through daycare centers and public schools.
Low class sizes and well-trained teachers for kindergarten through grade 3 should be a priority. The extra costs in the short term will be far offset in the long term by children who are better educated, stay in school and are excited about learning for the rest of their lives.
The No Child Left Behind and the AIMS testing systems have failed because they focus on an exit test from school. With a proper entrance process into formal education the exit from high school will naturally be a success!
I propose that the Arizona Legislature reevaluate the Charter School System. Not that charter schools don’t provide quality education, although many are lacking in facilities, but because I believe that they are draining valuable funds from our public schools and are undermining the infrastructure of the public school system. The education of our children should not be outsourced and privatized but instead the public school system should be upgraded, updated and fixed from within. It is up to the legislature to make sure that the school districts have the resources to do this.
Our children are digital natives growing up in a world where they work naturally with a bewildering array of electronic computers and devices. The older generations who are digital immigrants and much less adept at these technical advances must be supportive of our children who will compete with other digital natives from around the world. Our schools need to provide the up-to-date technology for our children.
And last but not least our Universities and Junior Colleges need our continued strong support. We have created world-class communities of learning that our children and their children will be part of and eventually graduate from. Remember that the educational adventure that begins in early education culminates with college degrees, high paying jobs and successful lives.
My vision is that we will no longer have the 2nd highest dropout rate in the country but the number one college graduation rate in the country.
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