Priorities for Putting AZ Kids First

Parents are entitled to seek the education they think is best for the children. In order to achieve that two things should happen simultaneously:

1. Expand school choice options, ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Accounts) and make the process as easy and smooth as possible. Currently the Department of Education is slow-walking applications and makes it harder for families to qualify for the program while providing inadequate customer service. It is one my highest priorities to make the ADE responsive and helpful in empowering families.

2. Improve the public school system so it becomes a preferable choice not a default option; as in the private sector, attracting customers is done based on performance and service. Every school either public, charter or private must aspire to be the best they can to earn their customers. It is important to note a decrease of 38,000 students for the 2021 enrollment in public schools. To me that is a very clear message of how unhappy the customers are. Surprisingly, the department hasn’t gotten the message yet.

Working closely with the Governor’s office during the months leading up to the next legislative session for consideration in the Executive Budget is a key initial step to a successful legislative budget request and outcome. The goal to funnel funds to programs that work while eliminating failing programs is the mission my administration will work to achieve. The practice of adding new programs and wasting more money on what isn’t working for decades has not served our children well.

It is time we have someone heading the department who understands that there is no shortage of money for education. Half of the budget of the state goes to education.

Keeping teachers’ pay low has been intentional to maintain it as a campaign issue, to the detriment of the teachers. The money is there and more of it became available through the 20% by 2020 act the governor signed into law.

The problem is that money is going to administrative positions instead of increasing teachers pay. This is an easy to solve problem if someone actually wanted to solve it, I am looking forward to demonstrate how it can be done once I take office. At the same time this also comes with supporting teachers based on performance, standards and merit.

Holding teachers and districts accountable, to ensure policy matters are centered around the interest of the students first. Merit based funding is imperative in order to support teacher and student excellence.

Accountability in education funding: While we have continued to fund education, teachers aren’t necessarily getting the promised raises. And funding isn’t landing in classrooms. Teachers are still pitching in to fund basic classroom necessities despite new funding. The students, the teachers, the classroom are all given less than they deserve. Where does the money go? A lot of it ends up trapped in administration and bureaucracy. The problem is, we don’t always know where it goes. It’s time to implement new levels of accountability and transparency for the use of funding. As Superintendent, I will work closely with the legislature to not only strengthen transparency and accountability but focus funding on programs that work while eliminating failing programs. The practice of adding new programs and wasting more money on what isn’t working for decades has not served our children well.

We need to ensure children are not confused or misguided, and are given the tools to excel. Our children are not mediocre. They are exceptional.

I will work to bring awareness of and stop the conditioning/ grooming of vulnerable children from all programs including Critical Race Theory,

Comprehensive Sex Education and Social Emotional Learning.

The illiteracy rates are staggering and the system is failing our children.

Students are taught what to think not how to think, which leads to them become functionally illiterate and handicapped in terms of their ability to add and subtract, or even to apply their minds and think critically.

Stop radical indoctrination: Most of us can agree. Teachers shouldn’t be questioning children about their gender or sexuality. Children shouldn’t be learning to divide along racial lines. But the left is intent on using our classrooms as indoctrination centers, introducing damaging Critical Race Theory and “comprehensive sex ed” (read illicit sexual content) to early grades. It’s time that stopped.

It might be a surprise to many, but the Superintendent’s role is largely administrative.

However, the Superintendent is able to SET THE TONE at the Department of Education.

Bringing back the spirit of unity, emphasizing American values such as patriotism, the importance of the nuclear family, understanding and respect for our cultural heritage and appreciation of the importance of physical fitness. I will focus on open communication, accessibility and above all a profound stance that the good of ALL Arizona children is of the highest priority.

Create a firewall at the school board level. We need more parents engaged at the school board level - not just attending and speaking up at meetings but running for their local boards. Change needs to come from the top and the bottom. We can influence the implementation of policies that put kids first and create a firewall against radical indoctrination at the school board level.

Curriculum must be readily available to parents at all times. The new trend of hiding information from parents, opting students into classes without the consent of the parents, and language construction naming curriculum in different name to conceal what it really is has been troubling to many parents, is against the law, and must come to an end. School board meetings are becoming a contentious topic. This should never happen in a decent society. The parents must

remain an integral part of their child’s education experience. This is not a controversial statement. It is a fact.

No taxation without Representation. The community subsidizes the public school system. In return parents ought to have a say in the material their children are exposed to, and have the ability to opt in or out of certain subjects.

This has all but disappeared from the education arena. The simple skill is one that is necessary to bring back the trust of the parents in the broken system. The agenda driven and politically motivated decision makers and activists have put our children LAST for too long.

Some school districts retain staggering amounts of cash, where others cannot afford some basics. More than half of the school districts in Arizona are in remote or rural areas of the state. Those districts and the Indian reservations deserve to get their fair share.

Current formulas used to allocate funding to rural districts is not sufficient and requires reform and/or providing a stable, dedicated revenue source less reliant on the general fund or annual legislative appropriation.