Constitutional Commemoration Committee

Speakers Present

Steve Moortel, Majority Assistant Research Analyst

Chairman Norton announced that Lois Pfau has resigned from the Committee and he solicited recommendations from the members for names to submit to the Governor to fill the vacant position. Ms. Fink suggested a previous appointee named Zimmerman.

Approval of Minutes

Chairman Norton asked if there were any corrections to the Minutes of January 13, 2006. Ms. Fink pointed out that Superintendent Horne’s name was misspelled in three instances, as was “Chaplain” in two instances.

Chairman Norton moved that the Minutes of January 13, 2006, as above amended, be approved by the Committee. The motion carried.

Discussion of Constitution Week Events

Ms. Fink reported that she is contacting the various committees and also the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). She has received information back from Payson, which will be participating in Constitution Week, as well as Avondale, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Paradise Valley. She will be gathering more information from Mesa, Gilbert, and Peoria DAR. She is working with the Phoenix group and hopefully will get more cities to participate.

Regarding Constitution Day activities, Ms. Fink has collected information from the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education and will distribute it. She referred to a Constitution Pocket Guide and a DVD that was used last year.

Chairman Norton stated that he has been working with the National Center for Constitution Studies (NCCS) to get the DVD into all the schools in the entire country. NCCS has created an interactive teachers’ guide as well. He stated that NCCS might not have enough funding to provide the DVDs as well as the teachers’ guide. The guide might be something that could be distributed via the internet and printed for Arizona schools, one or two per school.

Ms. Fink asked if perhaps the Department of Education could get involved; Chairman Norton replied that the pricing was $0.17 each for 100,000 (there are 100,000 schools in the country) and $0.35 each for 2,500. Ms. Fink inquired about possible requests for more DVDs; Chairman Norton replied that there might have to be a charge for those, perhaps $3.00 each from NCCS, but that the order must be placed soon. Chairman Norton said that he will email the teachers’ guide to each person on the committee for their review; he commented that the guide is adaptable for K-12.

Ms. Fink then updated the committee on the State Law Youth Assistantship Conference on September 4, 2006 at the Black Canyon Conference Center – they have asked for someone from the committee to speak at the next National Civics Committee Meeting. She suggested Representative Garcia.

Chairman Norton asked Mr. Cordes about Prescott; he replied that he would have more information by September.

Chairman Norton relayed information about his recent telephone interview with the DAR magazine about what the committee does to help promote Constitutional events. He noted that the Mesa chapter is the second oldest in the country, with the oldest being Lewisville, Ohio, established in 1956. Mr. Langkilde commented that Mesa is moving on the project, although there are budgetary issues.

Report on History Texts

Chairman Norton asked Ms. Fink to report on the texts. She asked for comments; Chairman Norton replied that he had been able to scan the texts and thought that they looked good. He asked if the purpose is to give schools some options to meet state standards that current texts may not provide. Ms. Fink replied in the affirmative. She went on to say that her review showed the texts to be on target in regards to the standards of the community.

Chairman Norton discussed some recent publications that he was aware of, and stated that some schools are not able to teach to standard because textbooks are not adequate. He suggested that the schools could teach from the source documents, that they don’t have to teach from the textbooks. He inquired where to go from here: perhaps to compile and distribute a list of recommended textbooks.

Mr. Cordes said that he would be in favor of developing and publishing a list of resources and texts for every grade level; if on a website, the list would be available not only to schools. He suggested that the Education Subcommittee should meet, and he cited some examples of texts and source documents to be included on the list, including Miracle in Philadelphia. He said a list could be developed for adults as well.

Mr. Langkilde suggested that sources such as the Federalist papers and Blackstone’s Commentary should be re-identified and placed on the list.

Chairman Norton stated that Mr. Cordes will be the clearing house for the list, as he is head of the Education Subcommittee; Mr. Cordes said that he will compile a list and distribute it before the next meeting.

Ms. Fink asked if the members should continue to review or just wait until the next meeting; Chairman Norton said to continue the review.

Report on Education Issues

Chairman Norton relayed the content of a meeting he had the previous day with Superintendent Horne, Representative Biggs, Senator Verschoor, and Mr. Langkilde. He stated his belief that continued meetings to discuss the concerns and issues of this Committee will yield results.

Mr. Langkilde stated that some of the points discussed were:

1. Expanding the teaching of the Constitution out to a full credit year to comply with state law – the School Board is not ready to do that; Superintendent Horne seemed more interested in teaching history.

2. Aligning the district assessment to the state standards – Superintendent Horne stated that the science AIMS test could be implemented by 2008.

3. Aligning the teachers’ content exam with state standards – not making headway there.

4. Inquiring about the status of the letter from Superintendent Horne to all school districts regarding their responsibilities for teaching all aspects of the Constitution – apparently that has not yet been done.

Regarding point number 4 above, Chairman Norton commented that the letter was intended to remind the school districts of the legal responsibility that they have to teach the Constitution and that the teachers and staff can be dismissed from their jobs if they are not teaching it.

Mr. Langkilde reminded the committee that the wording in the law is that the “State Superintendent shall see that this is carried out.” Chairman Norton said that it is as if the Superintendent is acting as if the wording is may see rather than shall see; they also discussed the practicality of the law, understanding that the Superintendent need not fire people, just remind them of their responsibilities under the law.

Mr. Langkilde stated that no district in the state is following the law and teaching the Constitution for one year. Mr. Cordes will discuss this with Mrs. Joanne Kelting of Prescott, a member of the State Board of Education. Chairman Norton reminded the committee that both the content and the length of study time should be addressed.

Mr. Cordes said that most high schools require 3½ credits of Social Studies be taught. He cited Arizona Revised Statutes 15-710, Instruction in state and federal constitutions, American institutions and history of Arizona: “All schools shall give instruction in the essentials, sources and history of the Constitutions of the United States and Arizona and instruction in American institutions and ideals and in the history of Arizona, including the history of Native Americans in Arizona. The instruction shall be given in accordance with the state course of study for at least one year of the common school grades and high school grades respectively.”

Mr. Cordes asked Mr. Harding about the Superintendent’s letter; Mr. Harding replied that he thought it had gone out, but that he would check.

Mr. Cordes discussed how the Arizona Department of Education holds school districts accountable to the State standards by using assessment, particularly the AIMS tests.

Chairman Norton asked what the timeline was for getting the sciences and civics on the AIMS testing; Mr. Harding replied that the science programs have been ongoing for 1-2 years - they are funded federally, are being field-tested 2006-2007 and should be in effect for school year 2007-2008. The social studies part of the AIMS testing must be funded by the State Legislature, however.

Chairman Norton expressed concern that if AIMS is a true assessment, then it must be at a high level, and that it seems that it now is at a lower level. Mr. Harding explained that originally AIMS was testing trigonometry and calculus, which the State does not require and which resulted in poor student performance. So the Department of Education rolled the test back to cover only what the students do study, algebra and geometry, as state standards require. He further explained that there have been no changes to reading and writing, which do focus on the state standards.

Mr. Cordes commented that there is no concern with reading and writing, or with social studies, but that science and math continue to be concerns.

Other Issues

Chairman Norton gave an update on the Liberty Bell, which is being repaired. There are now plans to renovate the entire Capitol Mall area and to include a sunken area with a gazebo to house the Bell. These plans will be completed probably next year.

Mr. Langkilde then inquired about the committee’s presence on the State website where it once had its own webpage; he wondered where that webpage was and its current status. Chairman Norton commented that a group at ASU had committed to do it but never got it done. Mr. Moortel explained that the Legislative website does post the Agendas and Minutes of each committee meeting on the Interim Committee webpage, but not as a separate website. Chairman Norton explained that this is part of the public notice requirements.

Ms. Fink commented that she has had requests for a website. Chairman Norton asked if anyone knew of a way to setup an independent website; he will check with NCCS to see if they would host an Arizona site on their main website.

Chairman Norton asked the members to schedule the next meeting date, keeping in mind their desire to send materials out to the schools. Start dates of the various school districts were identified. Friday, July 21, 2006, at 1:00 p.m. was selected as the next meeting time.

Chairman Norton asked Mr. Harding if the Department of Education could pay postage for distribution of last year’s DVD and teachers’ guide – this distribution would help the schools satisfy Federal Laws for Constitutional Week. Mr. Harding said he would look into it, and requested a draft of the guide and other materials for review and to determine the weight for mailing.

Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 2:52 p.m.

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Jane Dooley, Committee Secretary

June 15, 2006

(Original minutes, attachments, and tape are on file in the Office of the Chief Clerk.)

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CONSTITUTIONAL COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE

June 13, 2006

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