Diane Douglas gives first State of Education address

State Superintendent of Public Education Diane Douglas was elusive during the election. Some groups have already formed calling for her a recall effort.

On Wednesday she gave her first State of Education address to the House Education Committee, and it is the first time we have really heard from her.

Douglas reiterated what she said in her campaign: repeal common core. She also talked about Arizona's National Education Ranking, which is 47th in the country. The superintendent also touched on ethnic studies saying she does not support ethnic specific studies. In many of the issues she talked about she did not give specifics on how she would change them.

When it came to common core, she said she wanted Arizona specific standards that could be addressed through public meetings. "The constant roller coaster of dramatic changes that has taken the focus off of educating children and placed it on change for the sake of change... once again our precious children are being used as guinea pigs to advance an education agenda. I call on this legislature and the Governor to stop the madness and start putting our children first," said Diane Douglas.

One of the Democrats in the committee says repealing common core would be hurtful to students. "These are national standards that truly raise the bar, our schools have put in millions of dollars into this. Ironically she has mentioned continually changing. We've been working on this for years, to change now would cost our schools and the school districts millions... millions," said Rep. Lisa Otondo.

And one of the issues that Douglas did not touch upon is the current education funding lawsuit in the state. Currently a judge has asked that state lawmakers and education officials solve the issue.