The GOP race for superintendent of public instruction is shaking out as a brawl between incumbent Jaime Molera and challenger Tom Horne. Former legislator Keith Bee is in the mix, too. But he refuses to get involved in the animosity and tends to get lost in the feud.

Horne is proving to be a divisive force, which is most obvious in his absolute opposition to bilingual education. The Paradise Valley School Board president accuses Molera of refusing to enforce the Arizona ban on bilingual education. Molera vehemently denies the accusation.

Because Horne runs a campaign of accusations and because Bee does not make a good case for bouncing Molera from office, the Star endorses Molera.

We like Molera, first of all, for his commitment to the AIMS test, Arizona’s graduation test. To be sure, AIMS has been fraught with problems. And this week’s results in which there were wholesale failures of the math portion is nothing less than distressing. Nonetheless, the test has in a few short years managed to focus education in Arizona where it should be – on achievement.

Molera also instituted AIMS ED, which allows students to demonstrate educational progress through relevant comprehensive course work.

Bee said he opposes the idea of a high-stakes exit test. He said such tests focus education on testing, rather than on teaching.

Horne, like Molera, favors the AIMS test. But Horne says it must be made more “reasonable” so that students who pass legitimate course work can also pass the AIMS test.

Molera is strong on efforts to make sure children can read by the third grade – the crucial gauge of whether a child will do well in later schooling. Children who haven’t mastered reading by the end of the third grade will receive intensive instruction until he or she reaches grade level. He notes that struggles in the early years play a part in decisions to drop out later. And he properly notes that achieving students must have parents who are aware and involved with a child’s education.

All three candidates are aware of the need to pay teachers better. They know teachers are leaving the profession for higher-paying careers. Molera likes the idea of dedicated funding sources.

Molera is weak, as is Horne, on the issue of educating Hispanics and in lowering the abysmal dropout rates among the group as well as those statewide. Dropouts are a many-faceted problem that require a comprehensive, long-term effort to eliminate. Molera’s answer is to get kids to read by the third grade and to add relevancy to the high-school curriculum by expanding the number of career and technical opportunities for students.

While those efforts are laudable, they are far short of the massive effort that would be required of teachers and schools to lower dropout rates, especially among Arizona’s Hispanics.

Horne, on the other hand, continues to fall back on his position that each child should learn English through immersion programs.

We see the role of the superintendent of public instruction as that of keeping the public focus on school achievement. We cannot see Horne, with his anti-bilingual posturing, being a unifying force.

The Star endorses Jaime Molera.



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