Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Teacher Pay
Teacher pay should be the cornerstone of Education funding. There is no greater predictor of student achievement and success than the quality of instruction. The problem is we don't have salary levels or teaching environments that are very attractive. The talented individuals who work in the classroom are often underappreciated, and underpaid. This should not be. The teaching profession, in my mind, should be held in the highest regard. These are the folks outside of the home who are helping to lay the foundation for our children's future. School budgets should be designed around teacher pay. And, teachers should be paid based on their abilities and with consideration to their students' improvement and outcomes.

Teaching Resources
Teachers should be given a budget to spend on classroom resources and supplies. Let them teach how they want to teach, using the materials they think best! Many educators already spend money on school supplies out of their own pocket. This just isn't fair, especially considering the less-than-stellar teacher salaries.

Parental Choices
On the flip side of the equation, I can think of no greater way to drive schools to be better than to create an academic environment that emphasizes parental choice. The more choices there are, the greater the competition. I realize competition makes some folks within the public school sector uncomfortable, but competition is not a dirty word. It is a great motivator forcing all those competing to be better! Healthy competition should exist at every level of our education system: between schools within a district, between districts and charter schools, between online and ground campuses, and between public and private schools. Where this has been done, studies have shown improved education quality across the spectrum, and that's what we need.

Education Funding
The K-12 finance system in Arizona is the most complicated education funding method in the country. It is illogical, incredibly frustrating to navigate, and long overdue for an overhaul. One of the obstacles to genuine reform is that so few people actually understand it well enough to begin reforming it! Fortunately, I spent a number of years working with education finance issues before getting elected, which gives me a leg up in the push to address this problem.

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