Colorado Springs — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday credited his state’s extensive access to charter schools with his state’s leadership on education, and said it’s part of his answer to the problem of finding qualified people for jobs.
Ducey, one of several Republican governors to attend the Koch brothers’ donor conference here, said that about 16 percent of his state’s students are enrolled in charter schools.
“Arizona has led on school choice for decades,” Ducey said. “We have 500 charter schools in the state of Arizona, and 180,000 children in those charter schools.”
He said his state recently signed new legislation that gives the families of all 1.1 million of Arizona’s students access to educational savings accounts, so they can use their tax dollars to pay for the kind of education they want.
Matt Ladner, a senior research fellow at the Charles Koch Institute, said data shows Arizona’s effort to expand charter schools is paying off. He said research shows that Arizona has led all states in academic gains since 2009, and said Arizona’s charter schools are among the highest performing in the nation.
Ladner said giving people more educational choices has shown to help families break out of the cycle of having to go to underperforming schools that they get assigned to based on where they live.
“Zip code assignment has to go,” Ladner said.
Gov. Ducey said he sees his state’s educational progress as a major factor in improving the economy and access to jobs for people.
“I’ve often thought as governor, if I had a K-12 education system working for all of our kids, almost every other issue I have in public policy would be solved,” he said.
