Translating issues such as standardized testing, bilingual education and parental responsibility into terms that will interest voters isn’t always easy. But that’s the challenge before a crowded field of candidates for state superintendent of public instruction.

The five men gathered Wednesday night at Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix for an informal debate sponsored by the Arizona Policy Forum.

With the primaries still months away, the candidates haven’t begun to debate aggressively, but differences emerged.

The Republican incumbent, Jaime Molera, was one of the few who said he supported the AIMS test, the controversial exam that students first took three years ago. He and former state Rep. Tom Horne, a Republican, want to revise the test, while most of the other candidates would rather scrap it.

State Sen. Jay Blanchard, a Democrat, said the schools should use the Stanford Achievement Test as a graduation requirement. Former state Sen. Keith Bee, a Republican, said any test should have reasonable requirements and length.

“I don’t have a problem with testing but to be doing it from March through May, that’s way too much,” he said.

The 80 people in attendance seemed more engaged when the candidates discussed less intricate issues, such as who should ultimately control the state’s schools.

Blanchard and fellow Democrat Rod Rich, a Mesa junior high school principal, want local school boards to have most of the power.

“We are moving toward one school district called 1800 West Jefferson,” said Blanchard, referring to the state Capitol.

Molera and Horne said the state needs to be able to take over failing schools.

“If we want to achieve academic excellence in the state of Arizona, we have to have consequences,” Horne said.

The debate was one of the first to include all five candidates, and as the race wears on, they will likely try to set themselves apart even more.

The few exchanges Wednesday were over reaching poor Hispanic students and whether Molera has enforced a new law that replaces bilingual education with English immersion.

Molera said he’s enforcing the law and that getting parents involved is one way to help struggling Hispanic students.

“Just because you’re poor and of color doesn’t mean you can’t read,” he said.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or (602) 444-8155.



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