Local control won the day Feb. 2 when a Senate education committee unanimously rejected a bill that would have given the State Board of Education authority to decide what textbooks would be used in public schools.

Sponsored by Sen. Robert Blendu and co-sponsored by fellow Republican Sens. Ron Gould, Linda Gray and Jack Harper, S1110 would have left the final selection of standard textbooks and workbooks up to the state Board of Education, after consultation with a committee of public school district and charter school representatives. The superintendent of public instruction would then recommend books to the state board, which would have the final say.

Teachers would be required to use the books, which the state would purchase.

After lengthy discussion, the K-12 Education Committee, which includes Mr. Gould and Mr. Gray, voted 0-8 not to forward the bill to the full Senate.

Mr. Blendu said the bill was needed to standardize what’s being taught in Arizona schools and would provide a baseline for comparison of academic achievement among schools.

“It would say that a math book used in rural Arizona would be the same math book that we teach out of in the richest districts,” he said. “And it will say that if we find a school that was falling behind, we can look at that school and say, ‘What is the problem here, when all the other schools are using the same book, and they are here, and you are there≠’

Mr. Blendu said the only argument against the bill “boils down to local control, and I support local control.”

“However,” he said, “our primary job is to educate our children. No one talks about the kids. We want kids ready for the world they’re going to walk out into.”

Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-16, a former teacher, said the bill did not allow for different reading levels among students who are in the same grade.

“And this is why they’re saying local control. We have to have some level of flexibility of being able to pick out the readers or books that fit their classroom,” she said.

Committee member Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-15, argued for local control, saying a book selection committee could have members with an agenda regarding, for example, the teaching of creationism or evolution, which he called a “political hot potato.”

Horne Says Bill Would Aid Buying Power

Tom Horne, superintendent of public instruction, said he supports the bill, but added, “It was not my idea.”

He said the bill would give the state purchasing power with textbook publishers, such as in California, which has established textbook standards at the state level.

“It would be nice to be able to say that Arizona has its own standards . . . and we would be buying in sufficient quantity so that textbook publishers would be influenced to customize to our standards,” he said. “It would be a tremendous cost-savings.”

He said he gets upset when he sees selection of teaching materials based on “political correctness,” rather than on rich historical content.

Sen. Jack Harper, R-4, said he appreciated the committee allowing him to testify for the bill “before it goes down in flames.” He said he went through one of his daughter’s textbooks several years ago and at the end of each chapter, there was an interpretation of the content by CNN.

Mr. Gould said he voted against the bill because “I believe in local control and I don’t want to bind charter schools.” —