When he did pay attention to education, it was to champion his pro-choice views--first by trying to hypnotize Arizonans into liking vouchers--then, after that failed repeatedly, by supporting the creation of charter schools. Those he happily funded.
State Senator Mary Hartley, a Glendale Democrat and longtime observer of public education, is outraged by what she says are funding inequities between public and charter schools.
She notes the difference between transportation reimbursement for charter schools and public schools. Charter schools receive $174 per pupil for transportation. Public-school students who choose the state-provided open enrollment option and often live some distance from school get no state transportation help.
"This is so unfair, I think it's a class-action suit waiting to happen," Hartley says. "What they're creating is a caste system. They say we have open enrollment in this state, yet they have given no resources to allow for open enrollment. . . . Then they allow [state] transportation money to go to charter schools, but none to go to standard public schools."
As significant as Symington's poor policy decisions was his lack of leadership, his critics say.
Mike Smith, a lobbyist for Arizona School Administrators, asks, "How do you judge whether public schools are good or bad? We've been having the debate for six years, and we are no closer to an answer than we were six years ago."
In fact, Smith says, the situation has worsened during Symington's reign. School administrators don't even know which achievement tests they should be giving to their students.
Symington's inability to take the lead in education is partly because of his own unwillingness to play nicely with others.
In 1994, then-state legislator Lisa Graham reversed her long-standing position and supported vouchers at Symington's behest, in exchange for his endorsing her candidacy for state superintendent of public instruction. She won, and almost immediately the two were at odds--due in part to the fact that Graham dated and eventually married former state representative John Keegan, a Symington political foe.
The rift contributed to the state's inability to solve its capital funding problem--even though the state Supreme Court had mandated change. And some argue that Graham Keegan's agency was targeted for budget cuts because of the feud, as well.
Whatever the reason, despite Symington's frequent pronouncements that public education was receiving more and more funding, funding levels actually dipped during his administration. The maintenance and operation allowance--which accounts for general operating costs such as utility bills and teacher salaries, excluding construction and capital funding--was $2,374.52 per student in Fiscal Year 1991, in the last budget approved by Governor Rose Mofford.
Technically, the figure rose to $2,499.53 in Fiscal Year 1998 (Symington's last budget), but that doesn't even meet cost-of-living increases. To keep up with inflation, the number should have been $2,819.68 per student. So in reality, the maintenance and operating funding level was cut by more than 10 percent.
The National Education Association statistics cited Arizona as 49th among the nation's states for per-pupil spending, down five notches from 1991. Arizona teachers dropped from 26th to 33rd in national salary rankings and the state's class size remained among the largest in the country.
The bottom line, says Mary Hartley, is the bottom line. "The problem with education is that Symington put it on a starvation diet," says Hartley.
"I mean, it's just like a car. If you don't put gas in it--it's not broken, but it ain't gonna run. And that's what Symington did. He cut off the gas."
Governor Jane Dee Hull is taking the state of the state seriously, but she appears calm. Above all, though, she's circumspect.
She acknowledges the chaos that she's inherited, and she says she intends to implement widespread changes, but she remains vague on the details.
For example, on the topic of the $500 million-plus surplus: "Obviously, we've got some concerns about what I call the competing interests for the surplus. Some people that are talking to me want to spend it all on programs. Some people want it returned to the taxpayers."
Final figures regarding just how much the surplus is--after previous commitments from the last legislative session are met--will be available later this month, she says.
As for funding public education and child welfare services, Hull agrees some money will have to be made available.
"Then again," she adds, "I think the agencies are working real hard to convince all of us that they just weren't funded at all, and I don't think that's true."
She's taking a wait-and-see approach on school-finance reform, while the state appeals a lower-court decision on the latest funding option. She wants to create a regional health authority to address problems at AHCCCS and DHS, and says DES needs to be completely revamped.
Special sessions will likely be held to address long-term care, children's issues and clean air.
No, Hull says calmly, the state's not in crisis. But "there are some hot spots that we knew would be hot," she continues.
"All of those things were identified, frankly, before we came in. There weren't any secrets."
Hull insists she intends to follow Fife Symington's path of cutting taxes and keeping down spending, but unlike her predecessor, she says she intends to focus on the boring--but vital--state agencies.
"If we're going to have government," she says, "it's going to run well.
