Tuesday, May 20, 2014

My message for Obama: Don't write our standards, don't select our textbooks and keep your liberal agenda out of our schools!

John Huppenthal
President Obama and the Democrats are relentless in pursuing their liberal agenda to unravel the many successful Republican education reforms we’ve seen passed in Arizona, namely empowering parents with the ability to choose the best educational environment for their children. My liberal opponents believe in a “one size fits all,” federally-controlled education, but you and I both know that that simply doesn’t work.

Each child is precious and unique, and a focused, targeted education that best meet those unique needs is what each child deserves. While my opponents advocate restricting choices, I’m looking to expand them.

As Arizona’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, it is my responsibility to oversee Arizona’s K-12 public school system. As the state superintendent, I have fought and will continue to fight against the encroachment of the federal government in our state’s education system. Arizonans know what’s best for Arizonans; local school districts and parents know what’s best for their kids.

With your support, I have been honored to serve as Arizona’s Superintendent of Instruction for the past three-and-a-half years. Together, we have worked hard to make Arizona a great place to live, work and raise a family – and educational outcomes have significantly improved. Now, I need your help again. Help me continue what has been my greatest mission, my greatest passion: to improve the quality of education in Arizona as Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Contributing is quick and easy. Please click here to contribute $5 to my campaign through the secure server at the Arizona Secretary of State website.

If I am to continue my fight for high standards, school accountability, English for all students, reduced bureaucracy, and returning more money directly to the classroom, I need your help.

Please click here, now, to contribute $5 to my campaign.

As a Clean Elections candidate, I must collect over 2,000 five dollar contributions. Fortunately, I only need a few hundred more $5 dollar contributions in order to qualify. Your help will ensure every child in Arizona continues to have access to an excellent education of their choice. Your generous donation will go a long way toward securing vital campaign resources like website development, brochures, mailers, signs, and necessary campaign infrastructure and supplies.

My first few years in office have been extremely productive and highly gratifying. As Superintendent of Public Instruction, I have recruited and built an extraordinarily high quality staff at the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) – a staff committed to increasing efficiency and effectiveness as it serves the needs of Arizona’s parents, teachers, educators, employers and, most importantly, more than 1.1 million students in our K-12 public education system.

Critical to our success has been our partnerships. We have created and strengthened dozens of partnerships and advisory groups to help guide the agency on how to best serve our schools and students.
Following are just a few of my accomplishments as Superintendent of Public Instruction:
• Oversaw the reduction in bureaucracy. Arizona spends $300 less on administrative costs per student than the national average, over 300 million dollars, and was able to return money saved back to the classroom –where it belongs!
• Improved K-12 educators’ satisfaction with ADE’s service and support by over 30% in only two years.
• Ensured English for all students. Arizona’s 90% reclassification rate of English language Learners leads the nation.
• Measured educator performance. Rolled out teacher & principal evaluation systems across Arizona.
• Developed teacher dashboards – IT software that aids teachers by tracking student achievement & academic growth.
• Developed a tracking system that links students’ academic performance to their teachers and courses.
• Took ADE’s Information System (IT) from being available to schools only 50% time to 100% availability.
• Held schools accountable. Designed and implemented an A-F school grading system that holds school administrators accountable while providing parents with letter grade labels that clearly identify schools’ academic performance.
• Increased transparency. Initiated and developing school report cards – online school profiles that provide parents, students, businesses and other stakeholders with important academic and demographic info on Arizona schools.
Please click here to contribute $5 to my campaign. It will greatly help me get my message out about conservative education reform.

With your generous help and support to reelect me to Superintendent of Public Instruction, we will continue to streamline and automate processes, upgrade neglected departmental education technology, set higher standards and expectations for our students, and improve the accountability of our schools.

Together, we will ensure Arizona’s school choice environment remains the best in the nation – so that parents will continue to be empowered to choose the best educational environment for their children.

I have a great vision for Arizona’s education system, and, with your help, look forward to continuing to implement this vision during my second term in office.

Please join me in my re-election efforts with a contribution, today, so that we can continue our work toward building a better tomorrow for all of Arizona’s children. Together, we can make Arizona’s education system among the best in the nation.
I thank you for your friendship, your generosity and your support.

Many thanks,

John Huppenthal

John Huppenthal
State Superintendent of Public Instruction 

To contribute online, please go to https://www.azsos.gov/apps/eps/qc/CCECVoterAuth.aspx. To learn more about me and my campaign, go to www.huppenthal2014.com.