Michele Reagan
What is your education and relevant experience for this office?
Bachelor's degree - Illinois State University Small business owner - 10 years Elected to AZ House of Representatives in 2002, served 4 terms 6 years as the House Commerce Chair
If you have children, do you/did you send them to public school? If so, did they graduate from a public school?
N/A re: children, although I am a product of public schools
Do you feel you are an advocate for public education in Arizona? Use specific examples of what you will do or have done to demonstrate your level of support for public education in Arizona.
Yes, I am and advocate and I have proven that several times over the last 8 years in the House. I have voted to keep the 2% inflator funded, I have fought for keeping career ladders in the districts that have them, I helped write the current excess utilities formula, and have sponsored legislation to try to get more transportation (bus) money for the schools.
Will you work to protect public education from any further budget cuts?
Yes.
The system for funding public education in Arizona is a maze of laws, rules, regulations, funding sources, etc. Please share specifics on how you would simplify how we fund our public schools here in Arizona to make that funding source more efficient, effective and reliable?
This answer could be 20 pages long! There is no doubt that the education funding formulas are outdated, and worse – they are the most confusing of all the state’s funding formulas for agencies and departments. For example, the state requires the school to be open for 180 days, yet only reimburses the districts for 175 days of transportation (buses). I ran a bill several years ago to try to correct this. Unfortunately, the state didn’t have the funding then, and we have even less cash now! Regarding excess utilities – the old formula was written in the early 1990’s and did not take into account the money spent on new technology that counts as utilities expenses (such as cable and broadband, internet etc…) because some of these expenses did not even exist when the formula was written. Not to mention that the cost of electricity has gone up severely over the last 20 years. We addressed fixing this formula 2 years ago and changed it to be really simple, and fair. In addition, the new formula encourages conservation of electricity.
Should the education formula be based on seat time and average daily membership or on student academic progress and successful achievement of academic standards?
It would be nice is we could include student achievement into the funding formulas, even if only it was a hybrid-system taking into account both of the above mentioned determinations
Knowing that money does not cure all, how do you feel that Arizona ranks dead last in per pupil funding? Are you happy with the status quo or how will you work to change that? Can you share your plan on how Arizona can improve it's school funding to at least a competitive level? Be specific.
No, I am not happy with status quo. We need to specifically be focusing on science and math. These are the skills the next generation will need. Other countries place science and math as much higher priorities than the U.S.
Do you think that class-size affects academic performance? How and at what size?
Of course it does! It has been proven over and over that smaller classroom sizes equal a better learning environment for the students. How can we expect a teacher to meet the individual needs of 40 students at once? My mother (a retired teacher) is volunteering in the Scottsdale schools helping 3rd graders who are behind on their reading skills. They needed volunteers in the classroom because there were too many children for one teacher to handle.
How do you feel about the unfunded mandate of the AIMS test (or a similar test) when teachers spend a large portion of their school year "teaching to the test"? Be specific.
The AIMS test was implmented with the best of intentions. But "teaching to the test" is not going to help our students be successful in college or in the working world.
Do you believe that the voters approving Prop 301 intended the 2% inflation factor to be applied to the entire M&O budget or just legislatively selected portions of the operating budget?
It would be nice if the inflation factor could be applied to the whole M&O budget, but Arizona couldn't afford it. There were several of us legislators (on both sides of the aisle) who had to fight to even get a portion of it funded.
How do you plan to support districts with textbook adoptions with the decrease/limits on soft capital funding? Do you understand that many districts such as CCUSD operate with textbooks that are ten years old?
If we could make the language constitutional, we should allow monies collected from the public school AZ tax credit to be used for books and computer programs.
The budget cuts have eliminated the funding for the Gifted Students Educational Program. With the passing of Prop 100 what legislative measures will you take to restore this funding to meet the many critical needs for our brightest minds and high acheivers in AZ?
Prop 100 isn't going to be the cure-all for every program that was cut. We need to prioritize what programs we save withthe additional revenue. This is where YOUR voiceis needed, We need to hear from the parents and the teachers what programs to allocate the monies to. Personally, I believe the Gifted Students program is very valuable. Heck, these are our best and brightest and we should not let them down.
Where and what grade level classrooms have you observed in the last 12 months? What specifics can you share about class size and per pupil expenditure in those classrooms?
I shadowed your Superintendent for a day last year. We visited several schools. It was fascinating! I did see one classroom with 36 students in it. What a shame! I also gained a new respect for the role of a Superintendent, and for teachers. They don't sit still for a minute!
Due to our district's low poverty, or "free and reduced lunch" level, do you understand the disparity that places CCUSD at a disadvantage for federal and grant application-based funding, and would you be willing to support legislation that would allow districts such as CCUSD in low-poverty areas to secure supplemental funding to reach curriculum or achievement standards that may be desired by the governing board? If so, what might those funding sources be? (please cite examples such as local prop tax, program fees, etc.)
This is an issue that has "irked" me ever since it was put into place about 10 years ago. The intent was to make sure funding was equitable for all districts statewide. Under this scenario, your district is one of the biggest losers as your residents put more money into the system, than you receive back per pupil. I know CCUSD has not had much success in getting overrides to pass, but this is one way where the money raised, actually gets to stay in your local schools.
Do you support performance pay programs like Career Ladders and Prop 301 for teachers?
Yes, I support the Career Ladder program. i have a history of fighting to keep the program available. And shame on Gilbert for suing because if theywin it will most likely mean the end of career ladders. They should have accepted the program into their district when they had the chance. I would LOVE to see the program be able to be implemented statewide.
In constructing new schools, do you believe that bonding or direct general fund support is the most efficient and cost effective?
How many people can afford to pay cash for their homes? When AZ was flush with cash, paying cash for construction made sense. But now, we should not be afraid of borrowing for new school construction - especially with interest rates so low right now.
Would you support a requirement that all new education policy initiatives proposed by the legislature contain a fiscal note and be required to include all necessary funding prior to adoption?
Yes. We (the AZ Legislature) hate unfunded mandates from the Feds, and completely understand why school districts dislike unfunded mandates from the state.
Do you think the Constitutional requirement to fund a general and uniform public education system should take precedence over programs supporting private schools?
I think the Courts have already answered this for us. The Private school vouchers were declared Constitutional. Now, let's focus on making sure we give attention to all areas of education. This shouldn't be a public school vs. private school fight. We as a state choose to either support Education - all forms of it - or we don't. My opinion only!
Please describe your level of support for school vouchers and private school tax credits, how should they be used (if at all), to whom should they be given/used for, and how would you change the current system in place? Be specific.
I support school choice. When I say I support Education, that means that I support all the forms of education we currently have available in our state – traditional public schools, charter schools, private schools and students who are home-schooled. There is no one-sixe-fits-all when it comes to a child’s ability to learn. I believe there are some changes that should be made to the way the private school vouchers are used. For example, I do not agree with the “You pay for my kid, and I’ll pay for your kid” tax credit swaps. This is not how the program was intended to operate. It was envisioned as a way for lower income students to receive a private school education if it could provide a better learning environment for that student. I also think the current monetary level of the tax credit is sufficient. Last year there was an attempt to raise it to $5000 per taxpaying couple (right now it is $1000). I blocked that effort on the House floor, even though I am a supporter of school and parental choice because I was worried we were getting a little too carried away with the tax credits.
Do you feel that the use of Vouchers and private school tax credits is appropriate considering the struggle that our public education system has recently faced and continues to face? Be specific.
If the private school voucher program operated the way it was intended to operate, it could actually save the state money. Example - let's say a private school costs $8,000 / yr. to attend. The parent receives a $1000 tax credit and pays for the left-over $7,000. This saves the state money because the state is no longer paying to educate that child (beyond the $1000 credit given). This scenerio is disputed by many because the tax credits can be lumped together and allocated to 1 child, in which case the parent pays very little. School choice advocates say this is very rare though, and that it is only used for low income families. I do think we all need to see some hard data on how many students are getting the use of more than one tax credit though.