YUHSD fires back at ADE chief
How can the state improve education in Arizona? Stop micromanaging schools and ease teacher certification requirements. At least, that's what one local official thinks.
"(The Legislature's) job is to find the money to fund the schools. This year YUHSD has 54 fewer teachers and the same number of students as last year," said Toni Badone, Yuma Union High School District superintendent.
Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne Monday warned about potential dramatic teacher layoffs in the coming school year due to the state's economic problems. He indicated the situation would be worse than this year when many initial layoff notices were eventually rescinded.
The ADE office reported 2,990 layoff notices were issued last spring, but 2,667 of those were recalled. In YUHSD, 13 out of 522 teachers were given a "reduction in force" notice last spring, but by the end of July all were offered a contract since the budget cuts were not as drastic as originally forecast.
It is estimated Arizona faces a $2 billion budget deficit midway through the current fiscal year and $3 billion for next year. The situation is "much grimmer" than most Arizonans realize, Horne said.
Badone said Horne's remarks reflect two crises impacting education.
The first is that shrunken school budgets are due to the state deficit.
The second is the continued tough requirements for teachers to become certified in Arizona. In March, ADE announced there would be no more emergency certificates issued for the school year 2009-10. As a result, more than 80 teachers this year were not renewed because of their certification status, Badone said.
"State officials blame the feds because of No Child Left Behind mandates requiring highly qualified teachers in all core area classrooms. But Arizona has many mandates that are state-specific which prevent teachers, regardless of performance, from becoming highly qualified and certificated."
She said that teacher certification in the state is illogical and prevents school districts from hiring and retaining talented teachers, while the cost in time and money has chased away many outstanding teachers from schools. The process also costs many thousands of dollars every year that could be allocated to salaries, she added.
Badone also shared e-mails she received from some of the teachers in the district.
David Hannah was recently hired after obtaining his certification in Los Angeles. He told Badone that certification is an issue because of "all the senseless demands." Teachers who are considered highly qualified in other states are deemed not qualified by Arizona, and there is something fundamentally wrong there, he said.
Cibola English teacher Monique Manifold said if staff size is reduced, classes will have 40 students each and students will suffer immensely. This will result in parents requiring to take more time with their children since teachers will be unable to provide the one-on-one time necessary.
Badone said if the state education department wants to improve education, it should honor all other states' teaching certificates, waive the Arizona requirements for structured English immersion, certify candidates with bachelor's degrees automatically if they pass the Arizona Professional Knowledge test and trust school districts to recommend teachers with elementary certificates to be awarded secondary certificates and those with secondary certificates to be awarded elementary certificates without further requirements.
William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 5396858.
