Nearly 9 in 10 candidates running for the Arizona Legislature – 87 percent – say they rank K-12 education as their first or second priority. That’s according to legislative candidates who responded to a new survey distributed by the Arizona Charter Schools Association.
The Association, a non-profit advocacy organization for public charter schools, asked all Arizona legislative candidates to participate in a survey that sought their perspectives on public education.
The survey posed a dozen questions to candidates on a variety of topics related to public schools, both charter and district. You can find a complete list of questions and survey results here.
Among key survey findings regarding the opinions of legislative candidates:
- 96 percent oppose actions that would artificially limit or restrict where public charter schools can operate;
- 88 percent support closure or state intervention as appropriate when a public school – district or charter – is failing;
- 83 percent believe parents should have the right to choose the best school for their children;
- 77 percent agree that small charter schools should receive additional incremental funding, just as small district schools do;
- 75 percent support the concept of public charter schools as an educational option for Arizona families;
- 75 percent believe public charter and district students should receive funding on an equitable basis;
- 58 percent support additional funding to reward high-performing public charter schools.
“As Arizona’s largest support organization for public charter schools, we believe education must be the top priority for lawmakers this session. Survey results show that legislative candidates largely agree,” said Eileen B. Sigmund, Arizona Charter Schools Association President and CEO. “The results of this candidate survey indicate broad-based support for public education and school choice. After the election, it is critical that we as education advocates hold our elected leaders to the promises they’ve made to teachers and students.”
Arizona is a national leader when it comes to school choice and the use of public charter schools. About 15 percent of all Arizona students attend a public charter school – one of the highest percentages of any state – and charters represent nearly 1 in 3 public schools in the state. Arizona has 556 charter schools that enroll more than 170,700 students.
