Sylvia Allen's Views on Education

Views on Education

I believe Arizona has a good education system, but like most things, there is room for improvement. My children all went to public schools and universities and went on to become successful adults.

I believe that parents are responsible for the education of their children. I believe that public district schools, public charter, private, and home schools help parents fulfill that responsibility by giving them choices that are best for their children. I will protect and promote the diversity in education opportunities provided in our state.

I believe that teachers should be empowered in the classroom with very little regulations that micro-manage them and stifle their creativity and talents. I believe in high standards for our children, but we don’t need to nationalize our education and make our children “common” to achieve those standards.

I believe in strong, traditional, basic education that is locally controlled. The diversity that local control brings empowers our teachers, allows for creativity and new ideas, freedom, and motivates parents to be involved while allowing for more money to go into the classroom.

I believe we need to reform our education budgeting process. We need to reform Title 15 and return as much responsibility back to the local school boards and parents as possible.

Funding:

The Arizona General Fund budget spends 51% on education. In the last three years, those dollars have increased. Counting all dollars from local, state and federal combined, we have reached over $10 billion for education. Public District schools (counting all dollars) receive $9,084 per pupil and Public Charter schools receive $7,413 per pupil. Charter schools only receive ADM (Average Daily Membership) and do not receive: local property taxes, soft capital, Transportation Support (TSL), Capital Outlay revenue Limit (CORL), or most federal funding. I will work to see that we fund education in Arizona in the best possible way.