Superintendent of Public Instruction

Statewide Democratic Citizens Clean Elections candidate debates online (updated)

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The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission hosts (during election years) candidate debates for contested races between those seeking public funding (clean) and those raising funds privately.   AZ Blue Meanie posted the entire statewide schedule earlier, but here’s the listing for the few contested Democratic races, statewide.  The Republicans have their own contested candidate forums.  Videos of these debates will be posted online as well.

Governor (3 candidates – Steve Farley, Kelly Fryer, David Garcia):  August 2,  5:30 p.m., view online at Arizona PBS

https://azpbs.org/horizon/2018/07/democratic-candidates-running-for-governor-debate-the-issues/

Secretary of State (3 candidates – Katie Hobbs, Mark Gordon, Leslie Pico): July 18, 5:30 p.m. view online at Arizona PBS /// UPDATE6/29/18 : Mark Gordon and Leslie Pico have both withdrawn, so only Katie Hobbs is running for this seat.  July 18 debate has been cancelled.

Superintendent of Public Instruction (2 candidates – Kathy Hoffman, David Schapira): https://azpbs.org/news/horizon/horizon-episodes/#episodePlayer  (held on June 13)

Corporation Commission (3 candidates for 2 seats – Sandra Kennedy, Bill Mundell, Kiana Sears):   June 27, 5:30 p.m. view online at Arizona PBS.  Updated video below:

https://azpbs.org/horizon/2018/06/clean-elections-corporation-commission-democrats-debate/

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Kathy Hoffman: A Progressive Candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Kathy Hoffman is An advocate for special needs children, mainstreaming ELL students in order to achieve immersion, and protecting the safety and rights of students in the LGBTQ community.
Kathy Hoffman is an advocate for special needs children, mainstreaming ELL students, and protecting students in the LGBTQ community.

Over drinks of iced tea and ice water, Democratic candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman passionately conveyed why she would be the best choice to lead our public schools starting in January 2019.

She is a native of Oregon who moved to Arizona and has taught special needs, and elementary age children in Tucson and the Valley. Ms. Hoffman said she was propelled to run by the Women’s Movement following the electoral college victory of Donald Trump and the ascension of Betsy DeVos, an opponent of public schools, to Secretary of Education.

She is competing with David Schapira in the Democratic primary.

An advocate for special needs children, mainstreaming ELL students in order to achieve immersion, and protecting the safety and rights of students in the LGBTQ community, Ms. Hoffman would pursue the following policies and positions if elected this November.

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Arizona’s mismanagement of public education

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You may have been following this story over the past several weeks. Arizona allocated $85 million to wrong schools for special-education, low-income students:

Financial miscalculations by state education administrators have resulted in hundreds of Arizona schools missing out on tens of millions of federal dollars to serve students with special needs and those from low-income families.

According to an Arizona Republic analysis of data provided by the Arizona Department of Education, the state has misallocated $85 million over the past four years, giving some schools too much and some too little.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas last month publicly announced that the state erroneously allocated $56 million in federal Title I funds for low-income students. Last week, she sent a letter to schools notifying them of another problem: $30 million in federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) grants over the past three years allocated to the wrong schools.

For some underfunded schools, this may have required them to pull general classroom funds to cover expenses for special-needs services, and prevented them from hiring additional teachers or giving raises.

“The superintendent and (Arizona Department of Education Chief of Staff) Michael Bradley are not taking this lightly,” said department spokesman Stefan Swiat. “They are taking an audit found under a previous administration and they are tackling it.”

Swiat said the start of both problems dated back to prior superintendents, although the issue with special-education funds wasn’t fully assessed by federal officials until this September.

The disclosures from the Arizona Department of Education has fueled the argument from education leaders that they need more money to properly educate the state’s K-12 students.

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Choice of 2 Democrats for AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Two Democrats Dr.David Garcia and Sharon Thomas  are running in the Arizona primary (August 26) for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The winner of this race will face of the winner of the Republican primary between incumbent John Huppenthal and Diane Douglas.

In case you haven’t cast your early ballot and prefer to vote later, or on election day, there’s still time to consider the 2 candidates on the Democratic ticket:

Dr. David Garcia, Associate Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.  Bio from Citizens Clean Elections Commission Voter guide:

Party:  Democrat     Campaign Funding:  Traditional     Web:  www.dg4az.com

As a 4th-generation Arizonan, public school parent and ASU professor, I know our schools,  students and state are not falling behind because of a lack of talent. We are racing to the  bottom because of a lack of vision and expertise at the top. Arizona’s public schools have been  struggling under the weight of increased demands and drastic funding cuts. We face an  alarming achievement gap, an overreliance on test scores over commonsense instruction, and a  lack of leadership from the state superintendent. I’ve devoted my career to improving our public  schools. I’ve been an education policy analyst, research director and Associate State  Superintendent for Standards and Accountability. I have the expertise and ideas that will  strengthen our public schools. As a professor, I’ve trained hundreds of Arizona’s educators. I  know what our teachers need to be successful in the classroom, and I am proud to have the endorsement of the Arizona Education Association and party leaders such as Fred DuVal. Our schools are not better off than they were four years ago, and we can’t afford more of the same. End the status quo. Vote for strong schools and a  stronger Arizona. Vote David Garcia!

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