Maricopa County superintendent has advice for Diane Douglas

PHOENIX — Diane Douglas may be Arizona’s new superintendent of public instruction, but it appears she will need allies heading into office.

With Arizona funding in jeopardy, the new governor-elect proposing more cuts, and Douglas already facing a possible recall, we asked Maricopa County Superintendent Don Covey what he would do in Douglas’ shoes.

“Go easy for the first six months,” he said in a measured voice, and “learn as much as you possibly can about your agency, federal programs, local programs, testing programs, as well as assessments and standards.”

When Arizona launched the Common Core Curriculum in 2010, it quickly jumped off and renamed the new state program the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards
(ACCRS).

Douglas and her constituents complained it was just another name for a federal mandate and had vowed to nullify it if elected as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Now that she has the seat, Covey warned, “Don’t be rash in terms of things you’re allegedly going to do.”

He sees snuffing ACCRS four years into a program that’s working as reckless.

“We have standards and we’re going to continue the standards we have,” Covey said, “(and) to disrupt that right now would be chaotic for our educational system.”

Besides, he reminded Douglas, she is not a policy maker, but an executive held to the laws of Arizona’s state constitution.

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