Arizona lawmaker to push wide-ranging education reform effort in 2026

PHOENIX — When Arizona’s next legislative session begins Jan. 12, the school system will be the subject of a proposed education reform effort.

Republican state Rep. Matt Gress is planning to introduce a bill that would create an education commission to take a deeper look at five key issues. He said it would be a multiyear process with funding attached that would hopefully result in improving the system.

“The goal is that each segment will produce its own legislative changes or administrative changes,” he said.

Gress said the commission would investigate Arizona’s state letter grade system and its accountability, the state’s education funding formula, class standards, school assessments and graduation requirements.

Why does lawmaker think education reform is needed?

“School letter grades are jokes,” he said. “An A or a B school can achieve that rating with proficiency in the 20 percent range on math or reading. It’s laughable.”

Gress wants to see research into how to stop sending the wrong signals and to come up with ideas for improving proficiency instead of focusing on other metrics like growth.

The education reform commission would include members from the state House and Senate and have the Arizona State Board of Education participating in the research.

Gress said when it comes to funding, teacher pay needs to come first.

“I think that when a district budgets, it should start first and foremost with its teacher allocation line. … I know that that might cause some administrators’ heads to explode, but my concern is that when you look at the Auditor General’s report, we’re spending 52 cents on every dollar on direct instruction, down from like 60 cents in 2022. That’s a problem,” he said.

In terms of class standards, Gress is worried that focusing on requirements for teachers outside of the major subjects like reading and math could be minimizing education.

Will Arizona Legislature pass education reform proposal?

Gress said he chose the five areas of focus because they are the “most complex” of Arizona’s education problems and are foundational to the classroom.

He added that he is a little concerned about his colleagues not supporting his education reform bill because of the amount of the time it will take before results are seen.

“These are very significant policy discussions, and I don’t think that you can have that level of a discussion in the context of a 100-day session. It just isn’t enough,” he said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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