Francisco Peña contemplates a math problem at an AIMS workshop at Pueblo High Magnet School.

After many years as a political observer and erstwhile practitioner, I usually understand why what I think is sensible policy doesn’t get enacted.

Often, there is some interest group opposed. In our political system, intensity matters. An organized group that cares a lot can usually carry the day against policies whose benefits are diffuse.

Our political system also is set up to make big reforms difficult. Incremental change at the margins is more the norm. And usually, that’s a good thing.

And not at all infrequently, my views are in the minority, and not infrequently a very small minority at that.

Nevertheless, the failure of policy to move in the direction I think sensible about a high school graduation test in Arizona perplexes me. It doesn’t disadvantage any organized interest group. It’s not that big of a reform. And I think most people would agree with me, although I might be wrong about that.

Nevertheless, Arizona’s high school graduation test remains stuck in a place that makes no sense, and reform efforts, to the extent they are gaining traction, move in the wrong direction.

Arizona has a high school graduation test, AIMS, that all students must pass to receive their diploma (ignoring the temporizing fudging mechanisms the Legislature has adopted and extended).

However, the test doesn’t really determine whether a student knows what a high school graduate is expected to know. Instead, it is set at a 10th grade level.

So, Arizona can be relatively confident that its high school graduates know what a sophomore in high school should know. Wouldn’t it make more sense to determine if they know what a high school graduate should know?

I think Arizona should have a high school exit exam that actually tests what high school graduates should know. If passage were made a graduation requirement, however, the failure rate would be, at least at first, politically unacceptably high.

So, I’ve proposed a two-tier diploma: a certificate of achievement, representing passage of the test; and a certificate of completion, representing passage of all other graduation requirements but failure to pass the exit exam.

No one would be denied graduation because of the test. But employers and universities could place appropriately differential value on the two diplomas.

An AIMS Task Force formed by the Legislature recently released its recommendations. It said, much to my surprise, that AIMS should remain a 10th grade test and should remain a graduation requirement. However, it should be supplemented by two “college and career readiness” tests in the freshman and junior years.

Now, that would mean that there would still be no way of knowing whether an Arizona high school graduate actually knows what a high school graduate should know.

The desire for new “college and career readiness” tests issues from two growing fallacies.

First, that all students should graduate high school ready for college. Second, that what is necessary to prepare for college is the same thing as is necessary for jobs that don’t require a college degree.

If college is to be what it should be, and not just the new high school, then it should require cognitive abilities and a keen interest in hard academic work that just isn’t universal. And the math skills that an aspiring plumber or carpenter needs just aren’t the same as for an aspiring physicist or economist.

This is an overreaction to the commendable desire not to prematurely track kids, and particularly to avoid lower expectations for low-income and minority students.

But there are plenty of college readiness tests that already exist, and the entry requirements for Arizona universities are not opaque. Avoiding low-expectations is a matter of exhortation, not new tests.

Arizona does, however, need a high school graduation test that actually tests high school graduate knowledge.

Getting one shouldn’t be this difficult.

Robert Robb, an Arizona Republic columnist, writes about public policy and politics in Arizona. E-mail: robert.robb@arizonarepublic.com

Sari Horwitz, Tucson Citizen High School Student Achievement Award recipient in 1975, holds the plaque inscribed with decades' worth of winners' names, including hers. BELOW LEFT: The guitar-playing 17-year-old Horwitz in a photograph accompanying a story announcing her winning the award. She said she was thinking about pursuing a career in political journalism. Boy, did she ever. BELOW RIGHT: She accepts the award from Citizen executives.

In 1957, when the Tucson Citizen set out to pick the top high school student in the city that year, the editors may have thought it was possible to choose just one teenager who was the very best.

What this project has proved through more than half a century is that local schools are filled with caring, intelligent, thoughtful young people who have been, and will continue to be, fabulous leaders and contributors to our world.

Many past winners have gone into law or medical professions. Some have taken jobs that help the underprivileged.

Sari Horwitz, the 1975 Student Achievement Award winner and an investigative reporter at The Washington Post, has won three Pulitzer Prizes, the most recent just last year. She was nominated for one this year, as well.

The nomination was for a 13-part series with another reporter on the murder of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy. The series prompted Washington, D.C., police last fall to reopen the7-year-old case. In early March, they arrested a man the stories had focused on.

The top journalism prize last year went to the 11-member Washington Post team Horwitz was on that covered the Virginia Tech shootings, the deadliest campus massacre in U.S. history.

In 2002, she won a Pulitzer for a series uncovering the District of Columbia government’s role in the deaths of children placed in protective care. In 1999, her first Pulitzer, the Pulitzer board’s Gold Medal for public service, went to Horwitz and four colleagues at the Post for a five-part series on the high rate of police shootings in the District of Columbia.

Winning such big awards hasn’t kept her from remembering the one she received from the Citizen almost 34 years ago.

As a senior at Tucson High, it was the biggest award she had ever won.

In 1975 she was a teenager who had never been back East and was more than a little nervous to know that in a few months she would be on her way to Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia.

“The big award from my hometown newspaper and the front-page story about me sent me off with confidence,” she said.

Horwitz, who graduated from Bryn Mawr and then from Oxford, said she is sad to see the end of the Tucson Citizen, and the end of the Student Achievement Award.

“In these hard economic times, especially in the newspaper business, it’s wonderful to see that the hometown newspaper continued to give out these awards. It’s a big honor for the recipients and their families,” she said.

The Citizen used to give winners watches. For a brief time, it changed to gift certificates, and, in the last few years, $500 scholarships.

It rarely was easy to choose who would get that scholarship.

By the time we got to the handful of finalists who would come in for interviews, we were overwhelmed by the breadth of knowledge and experiences one young person could cram into four years of high school. In 2000, 2003 and 2005, the Citizen chose two winners each.

In just the last few years, we have had winners who have started organizations, been to Africa to teach children English, and had to flee a hostile homeland for speaking out against political injustice.

We expect that among our winners, we may have a future chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and maybe even a president of Iraq.

Super families

Throughout the past 51 years, a handful of families have been great producers of students nominated for the award. Two pairs of siblings have won the award. And four times one family has had a winner (or winners) and a finalist.

Duoc Ngoc and Nga Thuy Duoug, both high school teachers in Vietnam, and their children fled that war-torn country and came to Tucson just before the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Daughters Thuy Ngoc and Thu Mai won in 1988 and 1990, respectively, and son Quang was a finalist in 1989.

T. Herman and Teddy K. Moore raised two winners, Julia in 1980 and Eric in 1984. Gabriela and Frank Konarski’s son John was one of two winners in 2000 and daughter Patricia was a finalist in 1998.

When we were interviewing Jessica (Miller) Hartley in 2007, 10 years after she won the award, her sister, Rebecca Miller was one of our finalists. Their parents are Dane and Mary Miller.

Another Vietnamese family, headed by Ho Cam Thai and Canh Thi Phan, had a daughter, Hong Anh, who won in 1996 and a son, Hai Anh, who was finalist in 1993.

Early on, before we named finalists, the Rev. John and Hazel Coatsworth had three children nominated: David in 1966, Wendy in 1972 and Cindy in 1977. David won the award.

Super schools

Catalina Magnet High has had the most winners, 11, from the second contest in 1958, won by Robert Kirk Young, to the 2004 winner, Mariana Gramajo-Sherman.

Tucson High had the second-most winners at seven: The first winner from THS was Emma Gee; its most recent winner was Katherine “Kata” Pettit in 2003.

Desert Christian High School, whose students rank extremely high in volunteerism, had two winners in the past three years: Carina Groves and Ali Rawaf.

The contest is the longest project the newspaper has had in its more than 138 years of publication.

In 1964, Jon Hoffman said he wanted to become a dentist. He did, practicing here for 31 years before retiring in 2005.

The award “made me feel very good about myself. I had worked very hard to earn it.” And 45 years later, “I still have the watch the Citizen gave me. It’s had a lot of wear, but I can still read the inscription.”

Some who didn’t win have lived up to the promise we saw in them as nominees. Hundreds of them, we’re sure. We’ve heard from a few.

Lauren Johnston Lowe, a 1998 nominee, guards children’s rights as a lawyer in the Child and Family Protective Service division of the state Attorney General’s Office.

Jack Gillum, a 2002 nominee, is database editor for USA TODAY, the nation’s largest newspaper, with a daily readership of more than 3.5 million.

We thank all the nominees through the years who showed us what teens really are like and how they planned to make our world better. We’re sad we cannot bring you many more years of examples.

Citizen file photo

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Year: Recipient, School

1957: Emma Gee, Tucson High

1958: Robert Kirk Young, Catalina

1959: Russell Sidney Nielsen, Sunnyside

1960: Margaret Ann King, Salpointe Catholic

1961: John Moffatt, Catalina

1962: James R. Davis, Catalina

1963: Joel M. Vavich, Tucson High

1964: Jon A. Hoffman, Catalina

1965: Diana Lee Baum, Flowing Wells

1966: David R. Coatsworth, Pueblo

1967: Jennie Tom, Flowing Wells

1968: Douglas Barry Wilson, Rincon

1969: James Wood, Salpointe Catholic

1970: May Gin, Flowing Wells

1971: Carol Gilman, Catalina

1972: David Galligan, Catalina

1973: David W. Quinto, Canyon del Oro

1974: Douglas R. Linkhart, Palo Verde

1975: Sari Horwitz, Tucson High

1976: Mark Barker, Amphitheater

1977: Thomas R. Harrell, Tucson High

1978: Wayne E. Yehling, Tucson High

1979: Bari Weick, Tucson High

1980: Julia Elise Moore, Amphitheater

1981: Heidi Van Voris, Sabino

1982: Lynn Marcus, Catalina

1983: Daryl Clarke Johnson, Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

1984: Eric J. Moore, Amphitheater

1985: Fong Sau Tom, Palo Verde

1986: Tinamarie Federico, Pueblo

1987: Flint Callaway, Sahuarita

1988: Thuy Ngoc Duong, Santa Rita

1989: Brad Alan Chvatal, Sahuaro

1990: Thu Mai Duong, Santa Rita

1991: Ross Crowley, Flowing Wells

1992: Shannon Clark, Catalina

1993: Wendelyn Julien, Amphitheater

1994: Francisco Manuel Hernandez, Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

1995: Julie Martin, Desert View

1996: Hong Anh Thai, Catalina

1997: Jessica Miller, Flowing Wells

1998: Clair Donovan, Catalina

1999: Heather Ayn Davis, Immaculate Heart

2000: John Konarski, Desert View; Alia Gecobe Peera, Santa Rita

2001: Jennifer Musty, Salpointe Catholic

2002: Marcella Marie Acosta, Santa Rita

2003: Christopher Courneen, Pueblo High; Katherine “Kata” Pettit, Tucson High

2004: Mariana Gramajo-Sherman, Catalina

2005: Annalyn Rose Censky, Salpointe Catholic High; Kevin Joseph Lopez, Ha:Sañ Preparatory and Leadership School

2006: Carina Groves, Desert Christian High

2007: Amber Rose Horvath, St. Gregory College Preparatory School

2008: Ali Rawaf, Desert Christian High

Arizona’s decision to defer payments of $300 million to school districts expecting the money by Friday means the districts will have to take out loans to meet payrolls.

Tucson-area districts are worried about losing capital funds saved for new schools and other improvements. The loans, registered warrants, come from the county treasurer’s office and districts pay interest on them.

The budget deal, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday, closes a $650 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year by taking $400 million from the school districts and universities and using $250 million in federal stimulus funding.

It pushes $100 million of state aid for universities and $300 million of state payments to school districts into next fiscal year.

Sunnyside was expecting $6.4 million Friday, spokeswoman Monique Soria said, “and now we won’t get it until next fiscal year.”

Another wrinkle: Districts that have saved money exceeding 4 percent of their maintenance and operations budgets, which is the state cap, will not get the money at all because the plan requires districts to pay back their share of the $300 million from the excess funds.

The Tucson Unified School District, which had expected $32 million Friday, doesn’t have carryover money the state can “sweep,” spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander said.

Neither does Marana Unified, said Chief Financial Officer Dan Contorno. Still, he’s worried, based on the wording of the legislation, that other funds may be at risk.

Marana has about $3 million in carry-forward funds in unrestricted and soft capital: money being saved for things like new schools, textbooks and replacing buses that break down.

“I think the Legislature intended to protect the 4 percent in M&O (maintenance and operation) plus any balances in unrestricted and soft capital, but that’s not the way it’s worded,” Contorno said.

Amphi’s Todd Jaeger, associate to the superintendent regarding legal counsel, had similar concerns.

“This could impact our programs and our schools that have wisely and appropriately accrued capital funds over time to enable them to make large purchases,” he said.

As for the University of Arizona, roughly $40 million in state aid will be held back until the fiscal year that begins July 1. Johnny Cruz, director of media relations, said UA will have to rely on cash reserves maintained by some of its self-sustaining operations such as the bookstore, residence halls and the Student Union.

Citizen Staff Writer Eric Sagara contributed to this article.

Az doc-to-patient ratio below national average

Medical student Nathaniel Rial checks on patient Rachel Trefry at the UA College of Medicine on Tuesday morning. Rial will graduate Friday.

It’s a choice fewer young doctors make.

When they recite the Hippocratic Oath on Friday, University of Arizona College of Medicine graduates Erica Lindsey and Nathaniel Rial will pursue residencies as primary care physicians. Generalists in an industry dominated by specialists, primary care doctors make hundreds of thousands of dollars less than cardiologists or neurosurgeons and work less-than-predictable hours.

Rial will remain in Tucson, beginning a three-year residency in internal medicine that will have him seeing patients at University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center and the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System.

He spent his last week as a medical student studying for exams and working in a lab at the Arizona Cancer Center.

This summer, Lindsey will begin a three-year residency in primary care at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. She spent much of the past two weeks moving into a new place.

The pair will gut out long hours, which, in the end, probably will reduce their salaries to “a little more than minimum wage,” Lindsey joked.

In recent interviews, both of the doctors-to-be said they entered primary care to fill a need.

Nearly half of the 124 students who will graduate from the UA medical school on Friday will remain in Arizona for at least the next three years, as they complete residencies at hospitals throughout the state. More than a third of the class of 2009 will go into primary care.

These are not insignificant numbers given the state’s overall shortage of doctors.

Arizona has 214 physicians per 100,000 patients, a ratio well below the national average of 250 doctors per 100,000 patients. A 2007 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges ranked Arizona 33rd out of 50 states based on that doctor-to-patient ratio.

The state’s ranking drops to 39th when the focus shifts to primary care.

In 2007, the latest data available, Arizona had 4,719 primary care physicians, a ratio of about 77 per 100,000 patients. Nationwide, the number of primary care physicians per 100,000 patients stood at 88 in 2007.

“We have more of a shortage than is found nationally,” said T. Philip Malan Jr., vice dean for academic affairs at the UA medical college. “I like it when our students go into primary care.”

As an area of practice, primary care requires physicians to do a little of everything – pediatrics, family and internal medicine, general surgery and obstetrics and gynecology.

No one can predict how many of the 43 UA medical school graduates will remain in primary care after completing their residencies.

A 2008 report by the Council on Medical Education found that 55 percent of the nation’s internal medicine residents in 2006 chose to enter a subspecialty the following year. Nearly 40 percent of pediatric residents chose to specialize as well.

A residency in primary care or internal medicine constitutes a “gateway” to specialty practices, Rial said.

He has yet to decide whether he will remain in primary care after completing his residency. Because the tuition at UA – around $18,000 a year – remains cheaper than at two-thirds of the nation’s medical schools, Rial said he has the “flexibility” to weigh his options.

“I think another way to look at why so few are going into (primary care), so many are following other pathways, is for lifestyle or quality-of-life issues,” Rial suggested.

The Council on Medical Education report found that nearly three-quarters of medical school graduates “reported that lifestyle had a strong influence on their choice” of specialty.

Mounting debt also factors heavily in medical students’ after-graduation decisions, according to the study. The average U.S. medical student had about $127,000 in debt in 2007, up 43 percent from 2000.

“You have a house in your brain by the time you’re done,” Lindsey said of the cost to complete four years of medical school.

The debt graduates must repay likely forces many of them into more lucrative specialties, she said..

“We don’t compensate (primary care doctors) well,” said Steve Nash, executive director of the Pima County Medical Society.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a family or general practitioner in Tucson can earn an average of $148,030 annually. Doctors in other specialties earn on average $52,000 more per year.

“One can live pretty well as a doctor in any specialty,” Malan said. “A student has to have a passion for primary care.”

The 43 UA graduates headed into primary care this year represent 35 percent of the graduating class.

“That’s about average for us,” Malan said.

It’s about twice the average in Pima County.

Of the 2,800 or so physicians practicing in PIma County, about 500 – 18 percent of them – focus on primary care, according to Nash. That’s about 50 primary care doctors per 100,000 patients, or 38 below the national average.

In rural or impoverished areas, like the Navajo reservation where Lindsey grew up, the average can be much worse.

“There’s a big need for primary care doctors,” Lindsey said. “It’s kind of always been the focus for me.”

Because Rial and Lindsey will remain in Arizona for their residencies, they are more likely to stay in the state afterward.

Arizona ranks 12th in the nation based on the number of its doctors who studied and completed residencies in the state, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The UA medical school hopes to incrementally increase the number of doctors it trains annually, Malan said, by increasing its enrollment to 115 students per year, up from 110. “It’s all about training more physicians,” he said.

It’s long been a rule of thumb in medical circles that a doctor stays where he or she trains.

Lindsey said there’s a simple reason for that: life.

“You’re almost 30, you have a family or are thinking about starting one,” she said. “You’ve got relationships with the doctors you’ve worked with.”

Rial and his wife moved to Tucson 12 years ago.

“We’ll be here at least three more years,” he said.

Source: Association of American Medical College’s “2007 State Physician Workforce Data Book”

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BY THE NUMBERS

The University of Arizona College of Medicine will confer doctor of medicine degrees during a ceremony on Friday. The 2009 class includes:

• 124 graduates

• 66 women

• 58 men

• 17 Hispanics

• 2 Native Americans

• 61 who will remain in Arizona for their residencies

• 43 who will go into primary care

Source: University of Arizona College of Medicine

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Arizona Doctor Shortage

The University of Arizona produces about 100 medical school graduates per year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Nationwide, about 16,000 graduate from medical school every year, not nearly enough to keep pace with the country’s growing population, most observers say. Compared to national averages, the shortage of doctors in Arizona is more pronounced.

Active physicians per 100,000 patients

U.S.: 250

Arizona: 214

Arizona’s national rank: 33

Active primary care physicians per 100,000 patients

U.S. 88

Arizona: 77

Arizona’s rank: 39

Percent of active physicians in each state who completed undergraduate medical education in the state

U.S. average: 29 percent

Arizona: 10 percent

Arizona’s rank: 41

Percent of active physicians in each state who completed a residency or fellowship in the state

U.S. average: 45 percent

Arizona: 25

Arizona’s rank: 38

Percent of active physicians who graduated medical school and practice in the same state

U.S. average: 39 percent

Arizona: 47 percent

Arizona’s rank: 14

Percent of active physicians who completed graduate medical education and practice in the same state

U.S. average: 47 percent

Arizona: 47 percent

Arizona’s rank: 18

Percent of active physicians who graduated from medical school, completed graduate medical education and practice in the same state

U.S. average: 66 percent

Arizona: 73 percent

Arizona’s rank: 12

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Convocations and graduation

The University of Arizona’s colleges and schools began holding convocation ceremonies Wednesday. The College of Medicine convocation for candidates for a degree in medicine, will be at 5 p.m. Friday at Centennial Hall.

The campuswide commencement ceremony is 8 a.m. Saturday at McKale Center.

The following are the remaining school and college ceremonies scheduled for this weekend.

Friday:

Eller College of Management, undergraduates, 1 p.m. at McKale Center

College of Nursing, 1 p.m. at Centennial Hall

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2 p.m. at Tucson Convention Center arena

University College, 3 p.m. at Integrated Learning Center

College of Optical Sciences, 5 p.m. at Integrated Learning Center 130

Saturday:

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 11 a.m. at Centennial Hall

College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, 11 a.m. at Crowder Hall

College of Medicine, physiology undergraduates, 11 a.m. at Student Union Memorial Center

College of Law, 2 p.m. at Centennial Hall

Eller College of Management, graduate students, 5 p.m. at Centennial Hall

For more information on each college convocation, visit commencement.arizona.edu/collegeconvocations

PHOENIX – Gov. Jan Brewer signed the latest midyear budget-balancing legislation into law Thursday but added a warning to lawmakers that they should bend her way next time.

“It would be fiscally irresponsible for the Legislature to ignore the depths of the (2010-2011) state deficit by promoting a budget plan for (2009-2010) that relies primarily on one-time measures,” Brewer said in a statement.

To close the latest $650 million shortfall in the current budget, GOP lawmakers resorted to accounting maneuvers that postpone $400 million of education spending into the next fiscal year. They also included $250 million of stimulus money, an amount larger than Brewer wanted but much less than lawmakers sought.

The plan also set the stage for the state to grab some school district savings to help balance the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Estimates on how much money that would produce aren’t firm.

Brewer told lawmakers that the next state budget shouldn’t rely primarily on similar maneuvers because that would spell trouble for the following fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2010. It also faces a projected big shortfall that spending cuts alone won’t close, Brewer said.

Most majority Republican legislators have balked at Brewer’s call for a temporary tax increase to produce $1 billion of new revenue to help balance the next several budgets in face of deteriorating revenue collection.

Brewer said she “will not approve” a budget that doesn’t take into account the following year’s “needs and requirements.”

“I am hopeful that, with a continued emphasis on negotiation and compromise, the Legislature can reach consensus with my policy goals to approve a (2009-2010) budget package promptly,” she said.

Lawmakers approved the $650 million plan about 3 1/2 months after they closed a previous $1.6 billion budget shortfall. That action included spending cuts, raids on special-purpose funds and use of stimulus money.

Parents and other citizens are often frustrated by certain policies in public schools.

Arizona, for example, for several years has required students to pass Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards in order to receive a high school diploma.

An exception, called “augmentation,” allows students who fail the test to get a diploma, provided their grades are good and they take remedial courses in math, English or both.

The problem has been that students, parents and even teachers have not always known about this important exception or how students can take advantage of it. Confusion results.

The Center on Education Policy, an independent Washington, D.C., advocacy and research organization, studied policies for at-risk students and English-language learners in Arizona during the 2006-07 school year.

Researchers conducted 364 interviews with students, teachers, administrators and parents at five high schools in southern Arizona.

Three Arizona policies in particular were the focus: AIMS and augmentation, the Arizona English Language Learner Assessment and the written. individualized compensatory plan (a learning plan for English-language learners who have been classified as “fluent” in English but are not making progress).

Serious problems were found with understanding and implementing all three policies.

In addition to the confusion about the augmentation policy, many teachers believed English-language learners passing AZELLA were not necessarily ready for mainstream classrooms, let alone passing high school exit exams.

Once students pass AZELLA, in principle, they are not qualified to receive any language service; AZELLA becomes a legitimate excuse to deprive students of desperately needed services.

Under such circumstances, it is natural that some schools create their own rules of classification and manage to subsidize programs without funding from the state.

Legal arguments, such as Flores v. Arizona, should not be surprising, because the state’s identification, classification and funding system is simply not working for students, teachers and schools.

Another problem area is Arizona’s written individualized compensatory plan. Teachers are to specify learning goals for struggling students to help with their academic progress.

This is a really good idea when a couple of students in each class need such service. But when a school has to write individual plans for more than 700 students, as in some of the schools reported in the study, this well-intended policy turns out to be unrealistic.

This program was abandoned by some schools because they did not have sufficient staff, resources or knowledge to put it into practice.

Policy design is not just theory; this individualized plan program is an object lesson in how idealistic design can contribute to impractical implementation.

The lesson from our work in Arizona couldn’t be clearer: State policies may not only fail in achieving their goals, but also may bring unexpected consequences to students and schools.

CEP’s report captures this reality during 2006-07 and describes a wide range of reactions among teachers and school staff.

We hope, for the students, parents, teachers and other citizens of Arizona, the situation has improved.

But the broader lesson is that the state government and local school boards should make sure their policies make sense when implemented together and don’t conflict with one another.

They should also be sure that teachers and local administrators have the capacity to carry out those policies.

Otherwise, there will be confusion in the public and frustration in the schools.

Arizona is not alone in having school policies that do not fit well together and in requiring policies when there is little or no capability to carry them out.

But not being alone should not be an excuse. Policymakers must make sense out of what we ask our schools to do.

Jack Jennings is president and CEO of the Center on Education Policy. Ying Zhang is a CEP research associate.

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More online

To read the full report, Conflicts Between State Policy and School Practice: Learning from Arizona’s Experience with High School Exam Policies, go http://www.cep-dc.org and look under High School Exit Exams.

To help kids prepare for summer reading, A Children's House of Books owner Pat James is having a trading day where families can trade a can of food for a book.

Finding a cool spot to get lost in a good book is one of the best ways to survive a Tucson summer.

The “bookmarm,” as she calls herself, at A Children’s House of Books wants to connect Tucson kids with great reading to help beat the heat.

“I want to foster literacy in the community,” said retired teacher Pat James, owner of the children’s used book shop at 2624 N. First Ave.

James, who opened A Children’s House of Books six months ago, has transformed the spot into a charming, colorful hideaway, with children’s art on the walls. A brightly colored paper dragon, created by students at Miles Exploratory Learning Center, hangs from the ceiling.

There is a dress-up chest, vintage toys and about 5,000 books for children up to about age 13 to choose from. Nearly all are used. Some belonged to her children, now grown.

James wants to make it easy for children to get books. Families can trade in books or pay half the list price.

She is hosting Trading Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 22-23. Families can trade cans of food, to be donated to the Community Food Bank, for books.

“Bring in a can of food and get a book, or bring in a book and get a can of food,” James said.

James, who retired from Tucson Unified School District in 2004, also offers teaching resources.

She wanted to spread her love of reading to kids in the neighborhood. She offers story time at 11 a.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, along with tutoring and special events.

“It’s very important for families to have books in the house and to be reading to children,” she said.

LIBRARY SUMMER READING KICKS OFF

Kids, teens and adults can join the free summer reading club at Pima County Public Library, winning prizes and taking part in hundreds of educational activities.

“Be Creative @ Your Library” runs May 21 through July 18.

The calendar of events is available at all branch libraries.

Children can pick up a free “Be Creative @ Your Library” game board at any branch and use the game board to keep track of how many hours they read. They can also log their minutes online at library.pima.gov.

For every six hours spent reading, children earn prizes. All those who read 24 hours by July 18 will receive a certificate and a ticket for four people to the Tucson Toros baseball game at Hi Corbett Field on July 26. Six hours of extra reading will earn the child a pass to Breakers Water Park and a free paperback book.

The reading program for teens, called “Rock a Book,” is open to ages 12 to 18. They can earn coupons for local businesses and other prizes for every 10 hours spent reading. Prizes include a $10 gift certificate to Bookmans and a backstage pass to the “Rock a Book” band finale, where they can watch bands in the Main Library’s garage. Teens can register online at library.pima.gov or go to their neighborhood library for details.

Adults can list, rate and review books online, earning chances in weekly drawings for $5 Bookmans’ credit slips. Those who read 20 hours will earn a reusable book bag and a pass with discounts to Pima County attractions. Those who read 30 hours by July 18 will be entered into a drawing for a $100 credit voucher at Bookmans.

Citizen file photo by RENEE BRACAMONTE

Pat James in her store, A Children's House of Books, 2624 N. First Ave. James sells children's books - mostly used - in her 6-month-old store.

James is a retired Tucson Unified School District Teacher. Many of the used books belonged to her own children.

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IF YOU GO

What: Trading Day at A Children’s House of Books. Bring in a can of food and take home a book, or bring in books to trade

Where: 2624 N. First Ave.

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 22-23

Price: free admission

Info: 822-8211

PHOENIX — School-choice backers are proposing new state income tax credits to replace private school voucher programs that a court ruled were unconstitutional. And they want Gov. Jan Brewer to call lawmakers into special session to get that done in time for the next school year.

Chandler Republican Rep. Steve Yarbrough says the proposed legislation would create new individual and corporate tax credits for donations for tuition grants for disabled and foster children attending private schools.

Yarbrough says the proposal is a reaction to a March Arizona Supreme Court ruling that overturned voucher programs for disabled and foster children. The court previously upheld an existing state individual income tax credit.

A Brewer spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment.

Danielle McBurnett has had people compare her to the main character in the old television show “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” about a teenage doctor.

The first time she heard that comparison, however, someone had to explain to her who Doogie Howser was. The show was canceled in 1993, when she was just 1 year old.

On Wednesday, McBurnett, 17, became the youngest person ever to receive a bachelor of science degree from Arizona State University’s College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation. She graduated summa cum laude from the program and plans to enroll in the school’s doctoral program in nursing practice in the fall.

McBurnett lives in Chandler with her parents, Ray and Lori, and three siblings. She was home-schooled, but at age 12 she started taking classes at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

She received her associate degree (4.0 grade-point average) and high-school diploma at the age of 15 and enrolled at ASU.

She said she has never let her age stand in the way of accomplishments.

“Most people (when told her age) have just said, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ When I meet people, I don’t wear a big name tag that says, ‘Hi, I’m Danielle, I’m 17.’ I’ll tell some people when it’s pertinent information, but I don’t let my age dictate who I am.”

McBurnett has always carried herself in a mature fashion, said her mother, Lori McBurnett.

“She was born an adult, that’s the world she wanted to live in,” she said. “When she was very, very small, she wanted to talk with the adults and be with the adults. She didn’t want to play with toys. That was her nature.”

Danielle McBurnett has also been active in performing arts: She plays piano and has acted in a variety of plays. That training has helped boost her confidence and allowed her to project herself in a more dynamic fashion.

She said college just sharpened her focus on a goal she has held since she was 10 years old.

“I knew I wanted to be a nurse,” McBurnett said. “Now, I’m more focused on what I want to be on top of that and the next degrees I want to get. Now, I want to be a nurse practitioner. After that, I’m even considering going to law school, too.”

McBurnett said she didn’t want to become a doctor because she wanted a closer relationship with patients and the doctor’s career path didn’t offer as much flexibility.

“Nurses really get to interact with patients more than doctors, typically,” McBurnett said. “I really want that human, patient interaction. Also, I want to have the ability to do lots of things. I don’t want to be confined to just being a doctor, and I feel like I can do that better as a nurse practitioner. And I want to possibly spend more time with my own children, some day in the future, and I feel I’d be better able to do that as a pediatric-nurse practitioner.”

She wants to eventually be an advocate for children, both domestically and abroad, which is why law school may be part of her future.

She has opinions on subjects ranging from the health-care system to tort reform that may make her seem mature beyond her years, but she has also taken part in more typical activities for girls her age.

“I did go to prom,” she said with a laugh. “The home-school community has its own prom. I’ve been to a number of dances, and I feel like I participated in every high school opportunity out there.”

Overflow stadium crowd braves heat to hear upbeat message

President Obama makes a point during the Arizona State University commencement ceremony on Wednesday in Tempe.

TEMPE – President Obama apologized for “stealing away” former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and urged students to never stop achieving as he made a commencement speech Wednesday night at Arizona State University.

Some 63,000 people filled the stands and most of the football field at Sun Devil Stadium.

It will be up to young people to redefine success, Obama told graduates, from materialistic greed to building a quality life while taking on the nation’s challenges. That means serving a higher purpose than themselves, he said.

Developing clean energy and improving failing schools will be this generation’s job, he said. He pointed to his own job title and said that doesn’t define success, comparing Abraham Lincoln to Millard Fillmore.

Being a superpower isn’t enough for America, he said. It must be mindful of the struggles of the rest of the world.

“Class of 2009, that’s why we’re going to need your help,” he said of issues such as global warming, rebuilding the economy and solving other “unprecedented” problems.

Careers such as engineering and teaching can be crafted with service in mind, he said.

A body of work is never finished, he said. He went on to cite the achievements of people who never gave up, including Kurt Warner, a former Arena Football League player who led the Arizona Cardinals to their first Super Bowl in 2009.

He also pointed to late achievers Julia Child, Col. Sanders and Winston Churchill.

While acknowledging that graduates were facing a tough economy – the nation has lost 1.3 million jobs since February – he called the challenges an opportunity.

“Because it’s moments like these that force us to try harder and dig deeper and to discover gifts we never knew we had – to find the greatness that lies within each of us. So don’t ever shy away from that endeavor,” Obama said during a speech that invoked the bravery firefighters demonstrated on Sept. 11, 2001, and the civil rights movement.

“Don’t stop adding to your body of work. As a nation, we’ll need a fundamental change of perspective and attitude,” he said. “It’s clear that we need to build a new foundation – a stronger foundation – for our economy and our prosperity, rethinking how we grow our economy, how we use energy, how we educate our children, how we care for our sick, how we treat our environment.”

Some 9,000 students were awarded diplomas at Sun Devil Stadium on a day when the high temperature in Phoenix was 101, but Obama wasn’t going to be one of them. University officials declined to give him an honorary degree, saying he had not yet accomplished enough to deserve the honor.

“His body of work is yet to come. That’s why we’re not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency,” university spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said shortly after the school’s student newspaper reported the decision.

Obama said he “heartily concurred” with that assessment.

Officials later backtracked and instead named a scholarship in honor of the nation’s first African-American president. The President Barack Obama Scholars program will offer students up to $17,000 annually to pay for tuition, books, room and board.

Some sweated the wait for Obama’s speech. An official at the university’s emergency operations center said about 95 people were treated for heat-related illness while waiting for Obama’s address. None of the illnesses was considered life-threatening.

Rocker and Phoenix-area resident Alice Cooper was to perform “School’s Out.”

Obama was to fly to Albuquerque, N.M., after the speech. The president planned to have a town hall-style meeting Thursday in Albuquerque on proposed restrictions on credit card companies before he returned to Washington.

The White House has announced Obama plans other commencement addresses at the University of Notre Dame and the U.S. Naval Academy.

Student protests were expected Sunday at Notre Dame over Obama’s support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

Nancy Tranchese (center) and her mother, Kathleen Tranchese, both of Tempe, join members of the End the War Coalition in a protest Wednesday in front of Sun Devil Stadium.

President Obama and Arizona State University President Michael Crow sing the National Anthem before the commencement address Wednesday at the university stadium.

President Obama arrives at the Arizona State University commencement ceremony at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Wednesday.

By Citizen Staff Report, Wire Report

PHOENIX – The Arizona Legislature has approved a plan to close the current state budget’s growing shortfall by delaying some spending and using federal stimulus money. It also moves to trim the next budget’s shortfall by grabbing some school district money.

House and Senate votes Wednesday nearly tracked partisan lines as the chambers approved the Republican plan negotiated with Gov. Jan Brewer to close the current budget’s projected $650 million shortfall.

Brewer, a Republican, is expected to sign the two-bill package into law.

“If these bills are passed, they will receive the governor’s support,” Eileen Klein, Brewer’s budget director, told a legislative committee before the House and Senate votes.

The Legislature approved a midyear budget-balancing plan in January to close a $1.6 billion shortfall, but deteriorating revenue collections have produced the expectation of the new shortfall at the June 30 end of the fiscal year.

Republican leaders unveiled the plan Tuesday and pressed for approval Wednesday, citing the state’s lack of cash to pay a $330 million payment to K-12 schools Friday.

The plan would use $250 million of federal stimulus money to replace state dollars for K-12 schools. It would postpone $100 million of university funding and $300 million in K-12 school funding into the next fiscal year.

State repayment of the postponed K-12 funding – nearly all of the payment scheduled for Friday – would then be reduced several months from now by amounts lawmakers say districts have saved above state limits.

Republican supporters said that taking the school districts’ money targets dollars that the districts’ legally can’t have or use and that sweeping it up will help avoid cuts in state aid for schools.

“If there was ever a time to reach into excess funds, this is the time to do so,” said Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa. “They’re going to be used to offset reductions for the classroom.”

Most Democrats protested the grab, saying it could force school districts to raise local property taxes to recoup money grabbed by the state.

“This a backdoor tax increase,” said Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction.

Amounts to be taken from districts have yet to be determined but estimates range up to $300 million.

Even with enactment of the new plan, lawmakers still face the challenge of closing a $3 billion shortfall to produce a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

By approving so-called “rollovers” of funding obligations into the next fiscal year, Republican lawmakers are following a course of using virtually any and all budget maneuvers before resorting to a temporary tax increase proposed by Brewer.

“What we’re doing here today is fighting off that potential tax increase,” said Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler.

Brewer has exclusive authority to decide spending of most of the state’s stimulus money, and the $250 million allotment for the current fiscal year represents a compromise with legislators who wanted her to use more.

Some legislators said they wished Brewer used stimulus cash to close the current year’s entire shortfall, but Brewer originally wanted to use only $200 million so more could be saved for the next two fiscal years.

“She did compromise,” said Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman.

Board members and administrators of Tucson Unified School District have made a valuable discovery: When you ask for ideas on how to save money, people can be very creative.

And there is another lesson: One size definitely does not fit all. What is best for one school is not right for another – and the only way to know that is to ask people closest to the students.

Faced with the likelihood of having to make massive budget cuts, TUSD Superintendent Elizabeth Celania-Fagen tried something very different. Instead of working with the TUSD board and her top aides to make the cuts, Fagen turned the responsibility over to individual schools.

Site councils – consisting of parents, teachers, principals and staff – were asked to propose ways of dealing with cuts of 10 percent and 18 percent. Because the Legislature is dawdling on adopting a state budget, it is not yet known how deep the education cuts will be.

There is no easy way to deal with the “smaller” cuts of “only” 10 percent. But the site councils came up with a range of ideas that show those working closest to the schools have a deep understanding of what can be eliminated if worst comes to worst.

Two schools that now share a principal with two other schools, decided they didn’t need a principal at all. The site councils at Holladay Intermediate Magnet and Richey Elementary schools decided the best way for them to cut costs was to let lower-paid assistant principals be in charge.

Other schools had other priorities. Alice Vail Middle School opted to make deep cuts to its supply budget. Counselors, librarians and monitors were endangered at all schools – yet some schools felt it was important to keep them and others did not.

Many high schools said they would do away with campus monitors and funding for fine arts.

Some cuts are troubling, such as the possible elimination of arts classes. But as long as site councils are representative of all parents and the cuts don’t eliminate programs required by the state, individual schools should be given as much latitude as possible to best meet the needs of their students.

This marks the first time that site councils have been able to make budget decisions for their own schools. And even though most of the decisions will be grim, those choices are better made by the people in the trenches, not by administrators at 1010 E. 10th St.

We hope legislators will come to their collective senses and find ways to mitigate the cuts to schools. Education must be in the top echelon of state spending responsibilities – and that can happen if lawmakers are willing to get as creative as the site councils did.

Fagen took a risk in turning such critical budget decisions over to site councils. But her confidence in those parents and teachers has been rewarded with laudable creativity.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The mayor of Providence wants to slap a $150-per-semester tax on the 25,000 full-time students at Brown University and three other private colleges in the city, saying they use resources and should help ease the burden on struggling taxpayers.

Mayor David Cicilline (sis-ah-LEEN-ee) said the fee would raise between $6 million and $8 million a year for the city, which is facing a $17 million deficit.

If enacted, it would apparently be the first time a U.S. city has directly taxed students just for being enrolled.

The proposal is still in its early stages. But it has riled some students, who say it would unfairly saddle them with the city’s financial woes and overlook their volunteer work and other contributions, including money spent in restaurants, bars and stores.

“We want to support the city as best we can, but financially is not really what we can afford to give,” said Heather Lee, president of the Brown Graduate Student Council. “We’re more able to provide labor, we’re more able to apply the things that we’re learning in the classroom, than we are to write a $300 check.”

Cities often look for revenue from universities to compensate for their tax-exempt status, and many schools already make voluntary payments to local governments. Providence’s four private schools – Brown, Providence College, Johnson & Wales University and the Rhode Island School of Design – agreed in 2003 to pay the city nearly $50 million over 20 years.

The idea of a student head tax has been floated before in other cities, generally to start discussions about collecting money from universities in lieu of taxes.

But Tony Pals, spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said he knows of no city that charges students a direct fee.

“The bottom line is, a tax like this has never gone into effect,” Pals said. “The timing is also unfortunate, given the significant amount of budget-cutting that institutions have had to go through because of the recession.”

The four schools generate more than $1 billion a year in economic activity, said Daniel Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island. They employ nearly 9,000 people in a city of roughly 172,000.

“We think the indirect and direct benefit of students within the community would outweigh any costs,” Egan said.

Cicilline’s office said there is no study showing how much students cost Providence for the use of police and fire protection and other services. The city points out that the private schools’ property, valued at more than $1.7 billion, is tax-exempt.

Many college students are already involved in tutoring, arts education and mentoring for public school students. Providence College, for instance, offers student volunteers to staff after-school programs, and Brown is raising money for a $10 million endowment to help the city school system.

Even so, Cicilline said everyone should be expected to help the city through this economic crisis. He said he wants students to have a vested interest in their city instead of seeing themselves as visitors just passing through.

“It’s really about a shared commitment to the well-being of your community that you’re a part of,” the mayor said. “Everyone should be doing their part and coming to the table.”

Students at Rhode Island College, a state school in the city, and the Providence campus of the University of Rhode Island would be exempt.

A city head tax on students would need approval from both the City Council and state lawmakers. However, a similar measure failed in the state Legislature in 2005, and Rhode Island’s colleges are likely to fight this proposal, too.

University administrators also object, saying students and their families spend years saving for college and shouldn’t have to bear more costs. Tuition at Brown costs nearly $40,000 a year, with about 40 percent of undergraduates receiving financial aid.

TEMPE – The first of more than 9,000 Arizona State University graduates are beginning to file onto the field at Sun Devil Stadium as they prepare to hear a commencement address from President Barack Obama.

A sea of white chairs fills the football field for them, and it is so hot that many aren’t yet wearing their caps and gowns. They’re using fans handed out by volunteers.

The president isn’t expected to make his address to an expected crowd of more than 60,000 until nearly 8 p.m.

Obama to speak Wednesday

Michael Crow

TEMPE – The abortion flap over President Obama’s invitation to speak at Notre Dame’s graduation is getting all the attention.

But Arizona State – the mega-university where he’ll speak at commencement Wednesday – says a lot more about his education goals.

Obama has called for all Americans to pursue at least one year of higher education, and places such as ASU will be at the forefront of efforts to expand college access.

In recent years, the sprawling university has felt more like a booming company than a college. There is a new campus in downtown Phoenix and a newly expanded campus in nearby Mesa, along with dozens of new programs and hundreds of new faculty. As the state population has exploded, enrollment has surged by a third in eight years to 67,000 students, among the highest in the country. There are plans for 10,000 more within five years.

ASU’s president, Michael Crow, insists his university can be both great and big – with both world-class research and mass-scale teaching. He calls the experiment the “New American University” and it’s being closely watched nationwide.

“If there is a prototype school on track and designed to fulfill (Obama’s) mission, we are it,” said Crow, who became president in 2002. “We’re open, we’re accessible, we’re high quality – all those things that he talked about.”

But there are also cautionary tales in ASU’s experiences. Some aren’t persuaded high quality and rapid expansion are compatible. And after years of blistering growth, ASU has been hit hard by the economic downturn – a reminder that Obama’s target will be hopeless unless the economy starts growing again.

In his address to a joint session of Congress in February, Obama called for every American to pursue some form of education beyond high school. The United States has slipped to 10th in the world in its percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds with an associate degree or higher.

In Arizona, a board of regents study found the state must double its number of bachelor’s degrees in the next 12 years just to meet the national average. Meanwhile, Hispanics – one-third of the population – enroll in college at less than half the rate of whites in the state.

Those challenges intensified this year when the bust of Phoenix’s real estate-based economy curtailed tax collections and the state cut $88 million of ASU’s funding. The school had to cap enrollment, freeze building projects and lay off 900 administrators, support staff and part-time teachers. The student newspaper called Crow’s “New American University” the “Neutered American University.”

As the Legislature considered even bigger cuts for the upcoming year, Crow reluctantly raised the possibility of closing two campuses.

Such worst-case options now look unlikely, thanks partly to federal stimulus money and a tuition surcharge approved last month. Full-time professors have kept their jobs but are picking up extra classes and handling clerical tasks that used to fall to support staff. Enrollment is expected to rise slightly next fall. Crow calls the economy a “100-year storm” but insists it won’t derail his long-term goals.

Even before the downturn, Crow had critics who thought ASU was trying to do too much.

“At times, it seems like the university wants to be all things to all people,” said John Chance, an anthropology professor on the Tempe campus. “We want to admit as many students as we can, and we want a topflight research faculty. We want to do them all. I, for one, have personal doubts of whether that is possible.”

For students, ASU offers endless choices, including more than 250 programs and majors. But personal attention is a challenge. The latest federal figures show ASU’s six-year graduation rate is about 56 percent – about the national average.

Colin Miller, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, lives in Tempe but likes to take classes at a campus 25 miles away.

“I don’t mind driving this far for smaller classes,” he said. But this year he had trouble getting into the courses he needed because they filled up so quickly.

In conjunction with Obama’s visit, ASU is expanding a key financial aid program and renaming it for the president, who has also called for the United States to have the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. The level of family income needed to qualify for ASU’s program will go from $25,000 to $60,000, and the number of Arizona freshmen who will benefit next fall will more than triple.

Meanwhile, ASU has risen into the top tier (No. 121) in the U.S. News & World Report College Rankings. The school has lured dozens of big-name faculty and lavished resources on an honors college that has attracted 674 National Merit Scholars during the last four years.

Crow has also won over many faculty with his relentless defense of higher education as the Legislature considered budget cuts. In February, faculty senators from ASU’s four campuses approved a resolution supporting him 68-4.

“We are coming out with a serious problem,” sociology professor and faculty senate president Gary Grossman said, “but because of the actions of the administration, it has not been catastrophic.”

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ON THE WEB

Arizona State University: www.asu.edu