Democratic Governor Napolitano’s pet education bills continue to take hits from Republican officials.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne says the governor’s legislation to adopt a statewide career ladder program to retain teachers creates an unnecessary bureaucracy, and Sen. John Huppenthal, R-20, repeats his position that there is no proof career ladder and all-day kindergarten programs result in better teachers and pupils.

Their criticism was expressed at a Senate K-12 Committee meeting held Feb.15 to discuss S1419, a teacher compensation bill that also sets minimum starting salaries at $30,000, and S1336, which calls for expansion of voluntary full-day kindergarten to all eligible school districts and charter schools, beginning in July.

The committee did not vote on the bills, sponsored by Sen. Toni Hellon, R-26, chairman of the committee, and Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-16.

“The bill has created a monstrosity,” Mr. Horne said of the teacher bill. He said it establishes multi-million dollar bureaucracies in career and professional development that are wasteful because the Department of Education has those programs in place.

The bill, which appropriates $93.2 million to expand the career ladder program and expand master teacher and professional development grants and increase base pay and retirement rate for teachers, is the product of Ms. Napolitano’s Committee on Teacher Quality and Support.

A member of the governor’s committee, John Haeger, president of Northern Arizona University, told the committee the career ladder program needs to be reworked “so that it’s more administratively friendly to small school districts, and so we don’t create disparate performance pay packages.” He also said there is no statewide program for professional development and mentoring of teachers, many of who will be leaving the classroom in the next three to five years.

Mr. Horne disputed that, saying his agency runs academies on professional development that half of Arizona’s teachers have attended. “We have built a massive structure of professional development,” he said.

Mr. Horne said the bill sets up “parallel bureaucracies and should be defeated.”

NAU should not be involved in the issue, he said.

Senator: Program needs validation

Mr. Huppenthal said there are no studies that show a difference in teacher performance between districts with and without career ladder programs.

“We shouldn’t consider going forward with the career ladder program until we validate it,” he said.

And Mr. Huppenthal again brought up an extensive study that found there was little advantage to pupils who attend all-day kindergarten.

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Department of Education, tracked 22,782 pupils of the kindergarten class of 1998-99 through the end of the 5th grade.

‘There was a boost [in performance] from all-day, but that boost was gone after the first grade,” Mr. Huppenthal told the committee. “And by the end of third grade, there was a slight deficit,” including in motivation, social and anti-social behavior.

“At a bare minimum, it raises questions about all-day K as a solution to academic achievement in public schools and how you construct and operate all-day kindergarten,” he said.

Ms. Aguirre disagreed. “Obviously there is a gain,” she said. “I do know…it works and it works for children. The earlier we get them, the more gains they make.”

Governor wants full-day K statewide

In her State of the State address, Ms. Napolitano called for statewide full-day kindergarten and better teacher wages.

“Young minds are hungry for information and develop quickly — the more they learn, the more they can learn, she said. “Let’s offer voluntary full-day kindergarten to every parent who wants it, and let’s do it this year.

“…We cannot expect the best from our teachers as long as we continue to pay them a paltry sum. I am asking you to pass legislation that will increase the base salary so that every teacher in Arizona makes at least $30,000 a year. And that’s just a start. In addition, I ask you to appropriate the dollars necessary to ensure that every teacher also receives a raise this year.”

The estimated average starting salary for state teachers in the 2003-04 school year was $24,302, ranking Arizona 50th among the states and the District of Columbia, a U.S. Department of Education study reported.