OP ED

Viewpoints: Yes, Arizona has K-12 success stories

Glenn Hamer
AZ I See It
Arizona is filled with K-12 education success stories.
  • K-12 education in Arizona is characterized by best-in-the-nation school choice, where families have access to high-performing, nationally ranked public schools
  • The business community is working to ensure that a quality education isn’t limited to just a few suburban zip codes
  • Gov. Ducey is also committed to modernizing our education financing model, which was established long before the advent of school choice in Arizona

A recent report that two companies passed over the Phoenix area for relocation is raising big questions about our state’s economic development strategy and our education system.

What can we do better to land top employers? Is our K-12 system up to snuff to attract the most demanding firms? Do we have enough quality schools?

The central question we should be asking, however, is whether these companies had access to Google. A simple search would have revealed that Arizona is an excellent place to invest and grow for a number of reasons, including our educational system.

A HOTBED FOR INNOVATION

K-12 education in Arizona is characterized by best-in-the-nation school choice, where families have access to high-performing, nationally ranked public schools. They have their pick of district schools through open enrollment, as well as chart-topping charter schools.

Even private schools are an attainable option through a tuition tax credit program. If you want access to a great education in Arizona — especially in the Phoenix area — you can find it.

We have schools that are the envy of states around the country. BASIS Oro Valley, for example, is ranked by The Washington Post as the nation’s most challenging high school, and it’s joined by three other Arizona schools in the top 10 alone.

Students at the Great Hearts network of schools score 300 points above the national average on the SAT and 100 percent of its students leave the 12th grade to attend a two or four-year college.

WE'VE GOT HIGH RANKINGS, TOO

Looking for something else? Arizona families have access to outstanding schools whose emphases range from the arts, to agribusiness to Montessori models. Some K-12 schools meet entirely online. Unique and plentiful educational offerings with excellence and rigor abound.

All of this adds up to make the off-the-record claims by company executives a head-scratcher, implying that Arizona has somehow put one over on the nation’s leading companies.

Did Apple executives invest in Mesa without considering area schools? Mesa Public Schools, after all, boast the best graduation rate among the nation’s 50 largest districts.

Surely, Intel is aware that all of the Chandler Unified School District’s five comprehensive high schools have earned an A, and that 11 of the district’s schools are in the state’s top 100, the most from any district.

SPREADING EXCELLENCE STATEWIDE

What about other high-profile companies that have announced expansions here, like General Motors, GoDaddy, State Farm and, most recently, Aviage Systems?

The truth is Arizona’s educational infrastructure is very strong. There is work to be done, however, to make the educational options available to families even better and more plentiful. Thankfully, Gov. Doug Ducey is committed to ensuring that all of Arizona’s students, no matter where they live, have access to a high quality education.

The governor has acknowledged that our K-12 system needs more resources, which is why he’s proposed injecting billions into education over the next decade without raising taxes by increasing the distribution to schools from the State Land Trust. This is an innovative proposal that puts to work assets intended for our schools.

30 A+-rated Phoenix-area schools:

And the governor has also recognized that while we have a number of fantastic schools in Arizona, far too many families are stuck on waiting lists attempting to gain entry into the school they want their child to attend, which is why he’s crafting a Public School Achievement District that is focused on ensuring that our best public schools can expand and replicate.

THE 'GREAT SCHOOL GUARANTEE'

The business community is also working to ensure that a quality education isn’t limited to just a few suburban zip codes. A for Arizona, a joint initiative of the Arizona Chamber Foundation and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is striving to increase by 10 percent each year the number of low-income students who are attending an “A”-grade school.

We’ve identified the over 90 school leaders who are earning A grades with a 60 percent or greater low-income population at schools like San Cayetano Elementary in Santa Cruz County and Presidio School in Tucson, and they’re ready to join the effort to replicate what’s working all around the state.

MORE:Arizona schools guide

Gov. Ducey is also committed to modernizing our education financing model, which was established long before the advent of school choice in Arizona. The governor has tapped his Classrooms First Initiative Council to make recommendations for a school finance overhaul centered on improving educational outcomes and rewarding student success.

Glenn Hamer

In my comments before the most recent meeting of the State Board for Charter Schools, I said that the business community in Arizona is working to make employers a “Great School Guarantee.” We can make that guarantee in some communities today. We want to make it true for all parts of the state.

Arizona has a business environment that features competitive tax rates, business-friendly regulations, and labor and legal systems attractive to employers. But we’re also in the midst of a revolutionary change led by Gov. Ducey that is creating an educational environment defined by a commitment to excellence and expanded opportunities for all students.

It’s too bad these unnamed companies skipped over Arizona. They’re missing out.

Glenn Hamer is president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.