More on the Jeb Bush visit

by David Safier

An article by Amanda Soares in the AZ Guardian, which you need a subscription to read, discusses the Jeb Bush talk with legislators in more detail.

The bottom line: if we want to do some of the things Florida did in education, it will take more money.

Chuck Essigs, a veteran education lobbyist with the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, said Arizona will not be able to afford the billions of dollars Florida spent over the years on its education system.

According to the latest U.S. census report released in July, Florida’s per pupil spending was nearly $8,500, bringing the state to number 34 in the nation for spending. The same report ranked Arizona number 47 nationally, with per pupil spending at a little over $7,000.

Essigs said that, to catch up with Florida, Arizona would have to increase its per pupil spending nearly 20 percent, and come up with a staggering $1.5 billion.

“If you want to use Florida as a model you can’t just pick the programs that didn’t cost anything,” Essigs said. “It takes money to do a lot of these things.”

Bush himself didn’t deny the high cost of his programs.

“It’s easier to do reform with money, that’s for sure,” he said. “But just putting money in without policy reform also won’t work.”

And that's why Huppenthal jumped on the idea that we should change our school grading from under performing, performing and excelling to A-F. It won't cost a thing. And if you take the word of a man who wants to be our next Ed Supe, it'll make a huge difference.

“That is really going to have a galvanization effect,” Huppenthal said. “We have real problems with our labels in terms of people understanding them, in it being a call to action. There’s nothing like an A for a call to action.”

Huppenthal also said that a mentoring program similar to Florida’s may also work here. Mentors would consist of volunteers or older students who helped younger ones.

The volunteer-only basis of the system, however, could make it impractical, he said.

“Logistically it’s hard when you look at school culture today,” he said. “But I don’t think we have a choice.”

Um, yeah, Hupp, we have a choice. Spend more money on education. Florida is number 34. We're number 49-50, depending on the day. A few more well spend dollars just might do more for our children than giving each school a letter grade.