John Huppenthal and John Deasy
John Huppenthal is the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. John Deasy is the Superintendent of the LA Unified School District. They’re both leaders of public education.
They’re also big supporters of school choice.
Huppenthal participated in a phone campaign in Arizona that targeted low-income parents (and upset many school choice critics). The call informed parents of their right to choose a private or public school through the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program.
Meanwhile, Deasy spoke at the School Choice Week rally in L.A. and told the crowd, “We believe that every single family and student has the right to a choice of a highly effective school in Los Angeles.”
These two men represent a “new guard” of education leadership that sees public education in a better way. To them (and many others), public education is not a destination, but the idea that the public helps children find the best possible education, wherever that might be.
Grade: Satisfactory
David Garcia, Arizona State University
David Garcia is an education professor at Arizona State University. He’s also running as the Democratic candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.
He is one of the critics upset that Huppenthal (the current superintendent) is informing parents of their right to choose a private school.
On his Facebook page Garcia writes,
“BREAKING: 12 News just reported that Schools Chief Huppenthal did a robo call to parents encouraging them to send their kids to private schools. Again, the Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction is encouraging parents to take their kids out of public schools to attend private schools. This is unacceptable.”
There are multiple posts on Facebook about Garcia’s “outrage,” but it is all based on his unfortunate willingness to play politics and semantics with voters. The “problem” is based on the title of Arizona’s education leadership position. Many states have their own variation on the title. Here in Florida that person is called the “Commissioner of Education.”
The education leader’s job, whatever the title, is to execute the laws established by the Legislature of that state. In the case of Arizona, the state has passed laws creating charter schools, tax credit scholarships and the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Part of the job of the Superintendent of Public Instruction is to oversee and administer these programs, as well as inform parents of these options. Yes, that includes overseeing private schools … and it has always been that way. (Many states require the state education department to collect information from private schools such as fingerprints and background checks on employees, student attendance records, building permits, proof of safety and fire inspections and more.)
Huppenthal didn’t do anything wrong. But Garcia’s position does beg one important question: Would he keep parents in the dark about options available to them? Sadly, many state education leaders do …
Grade: Needs Improvement
Parents in Tennessee
As an employee of Step Up for Students (which co-hosts this blog), we see and hear about the sacrifices parents make for their children all the time. But parents in Tennessee are taking their dedication to their kids’ future to a whole different level.
Braving cold winter weather, parents in Shelby County began camping out five days before the school district planned to allow parents (on a first-come-first-serve basis) to enroll their child in a different public school. Given this level of demand, Tennessee might want to create more options. And soon.
Read the full story here.
Grade: Satisfactory
