Democrats seeking the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction joined Wednesday to decry the quality of public education in Arizona and blast incumbent Republican Tom Horn. But they saved their sharpest criticism for the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Jason Williams, a teacher who served as executive director of Teach for America in Phoenix, said 76% of Arizona fourth graders cannot read at grade level, and many of them will wind up in prison.

Penny Kotterman, a teacher who served as president of the Arizona Education Association, will compete with Williams in the Aug. 24, 2010 primary. She said 66% of children fail to graduate.

Both placed the blame for problems in state education on the Legislature, saying they would prepare an adequate budget for education and build public support to get it passed. Kotterman said Arizona schools should not fight over their share of the pie, but increase the resources available to education.

Their positions differed only slightly, leaving the audience at the Show Low Library to try to make judgments on which would be more effective in reversing direction on educational policy in Arizona.

Williams, the Democratic candidate in 2006, and Kotterman, both said they favored public education over charter schools. Though Williams said charter schools were good for certain groups, such as older students with legal troubles or teen-age mothers, that 90% of the poorest performing schools are charter schools. Both candidates advocated tighter supervision of charter schools, certification for teachers and an end to tax credits to support them.

Both were highly critical of the Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test, saying it limited the number of subjects taught and did not provide timely assessment information to assist teachers. They also criticized former President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative.

Kotterman and Williams pledged to improve the quality of food served at schools to help reduce obesity.

They decried the role of the current superintendent, saying he was an apologist for the Legislature who had bloated his department with high-paid aides while the quality of service to Arizona schools has declined.

Kotterman said the future economy of Arizona would depend on the resources put into education. Williams said, “Education should always be about striving for the best.”