Elevating the Education Policy Debate in Arizona, by Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona

I wanted education to be a centerpiece of my administration and I am not an educator, so finding an education policy advisor became a high priority for me after being elected Governor in November 2002. Wherever I went, I heard Paul Koehler’s name.

I learned that Paul was a respected, knowledgeable educator who worked for WestEd — a place I didn’t know much about at the time. I met him, offered him the assignment, and we developed a shared arrangement with WestEd, where Paul remained as Policy Director. It was a great, two-for-one deal: we got Paul backed by WestEd’s resources.

Public education issues in a state like Arizona are monumental. We immediately confronted complex problems related to the implementation of No Child Left Behind, statewide testing, and much more. To assist me, Paul brought personal expertise plus invaluable research analysis from WestEd.

WestEd gave us access to helpful, comparative information from other states, plus entrée to the education context on the national level. We traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with personnel at the U.S. Department of Education and other federal officials about NCLB and other important issues. Making these contacts through WestEd was critical.

In 2003 I decided to make funding full-day kindergarten a statewide priority. I met with legislators and with community and business leaders to convince them that education is an investment in Arizona’s future. And the conversation began to change.

Our state legislature never talked about kindergarten; now legislators discuss it every day. And since we were very substantive about recommendations — laying out research studies and findings from WestEd — the level of the education policy debate was raised. Today discussions about funding all-day kindergarten focus on what we know from research.

I am confident that we will fund full-day kindergarten and make other education reforms in Arizona, and Paul and WestEd must share the credit for helping to make it happen.

Editor's Note
On May 25, 2004, the Arizona Legislature sent a $7.4 billion budget to Gov. Janet Napolitano that meets nearly every education priority she set in January and increases education spending by $1 billion over the current year, including a guarantee of all-day kindergarten for more than 150 of the state's poorest schools.