Issue Position: Improve Education

Issue Position

Debbie Co-sponsored SB1286 which helps parents easily identify good schools for their children by ranking schools on an A-F scale. Debbie also supported HB2732 which requires 3rd graders to read at grade level before being promoted to 4th grade and supported HB2281 to prohibit the teaching of courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. Government as was happening in some Tucson schools. Debbie also co-sponsored legislation to improve educational choice for parents.

Our students must be prepared to compete with other countries in a global economy. Unfortunately, student test scores keep dropping, less than half of all freshmen who enter Community College pass the entrance exam to enter College level math, and Arizona and the United States fall way behind in the percentage of students who graduate from high school and college and are proficient in math and science. We can improve education by focusing on the basics: math, science, reading, and writing. We must increase student expectations and stop "dumbing down" the AIMS test. We should also increase parental choice, because parents know better than anyone else where their own child will do their best. Why should a parent be forced to send their child to a failing school?

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