TUCSON (By Eric Sagara and Mary Bustamante, Tucson Citizen) January 5, 2005 - Arizona ranks nears the bottom again in per-pupil spending and teacher-improvement efforts, a new report says.

Local and state education officials and advocates blame the Legislature, saying the schools need more money from a dedicated source.

In the Quality Counts 2004 report, released today in Education Week magazine, Arizona received a grade D- and ranks 49th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for efforts to improve teacher quality. Arizona placed 50th for per-pupil spending.

Arizona spent $6,010 per student in 2001-02, compared to the $7,734 national average.

The state fared better on standards and accountability, receiving a B. It gets a C+ for school climate, but the report says the state's average elementary class size of 25 has been the highest in the nation.

Some local education officials criticize the state's funding system, which forces schools to compete with other state needs.

"The way they collect taxes and the way they fund education is horrific," said Margaret Burkholder, a former TUSD middle school teacher and school board member for Vail Unified School District. "We're trying to get what's left over."

Paul Karlowicz, president of the Tucson Education Association, which represents 3,100 Tucson Unified School District employees, mostly teachers, said state legislators need to restructure tax rates for major corporations and divert that revenue into public education. "The money is there if there is a will to make those choices."

He also suggested legislators look again at the high-stakes nature of the AIMS test "if the state is truly looking at improving education instead of trying to embarrass our schools."

Robin Hiller, executive director for Voices for Education, an advocacy group, said state lawmakers need to increase school funding.

"It's not something that our Legislature invests in, and I don't think this is what the people want," Hiller said. "I think the citizens want a better education system, and they want Arizona to be a good place for their kids to grow up in. The Legislature is not paying attention."

With more students and businesses moving to Arizona, the second-fastest-growing state, Burkholder wants a new approach to funding education.

"I think if you had better funding for teachers you would get good teachers," she said. "Teachers grow up in Arizona, go to Arizona schools, and then they leave Arizona to go teach somewhere else, where they can afford a lifestyle equivalent to their education."

Burkholder and Hiller both acknowledged that money isn't the sole cause of Arizona's education woes, but they said more funding is a foundation needed to build a better school system.

"People say that you can't throw money at the problem, but Arizona is ranked at the bottom of the list on per-pupil spending, and conversely we're ranked 50th in high school dropout rates, and these things have a connection," Hiller said.

Still, TUSD does things the report criticized the state as a whole for not doing.

It awards a $1,000 annual salary stipend to teachers who earn national board certification, and it requires professional development sessions for teachers every Wednesday.

Hiller said lack of professional development can be tied to insufficient state funding.

"Once again Arizona is trying to do this on the cheap, and districts are trying to piecemeal this together without any support from the state," she said.

In the Education Week report, Arizona was criticized for not banning or limiting the number of teachers with emergency certification or who teach outside their field of experience. "Ordinarily (such a ban) sounds good, but we're facing a teacher shortage right now," Hiller said.

TUSD interim Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer said TUSD encourages teachers get off emergency status and tells them how to do it. And district high schools, with some exceptions, require teachers to have a college major in the field they are teaching.

The state Board of Education just approved a program to reduce the teacher shortage by training professionals from science- and mathematics-based industries to be teachers, state Superintendent Tom Horne said.

It would include a series of summer classes focusing on instruction techniques and provide new teachers with mentoring while in the classroom.

The pilot program, set up to allow professionals to make a career change without a loss of income, is expected to generate 400 new teachers statewide over two years.

Undergraduates studying for content-based majors such as math, history and science will also be able to take the classes needed to become teachers without having to enroll in education colleges.

"I have inherited from my predecessors some problems that we're working hard to cure," Horne said. "Although the Legislature doesn't finance professional development in the schools, the Department of Education now furnishes free to the schools very extensive professional development programs."

He is expected to outline some of them today at Amphitheater Middle School in his 2004 State of Education speech. Among the programs are:

n Math and science institutes designed to give teachers knowledge needed to help students pass the math AIMS test and the 2008 science AIMS test. About 1,700 teachers have been trained, with about half learning how to teach counterparts.

n Courses on how to use test scores in the classrooms, connect lesson plans to standards, improve instruction and teacher observation skills.

Horne also will unveil five initiatives for the state education system - continued intervention in the state's "failing" schools, increasing adult volunteers in the classroom, incorporating technology into teaching strategies, the new math program and expansion of technical and career education.

He was scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. today before touring Amphi Middle School, 315 E. Prince Road.