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About John
John Huppenthal is one of Arizona’s leading authorities on education issues. In addition to being the current Senate Education Chairman, Huppenthal has served for 17 consecutive years on the State House and State Senate education committees.
“Improving Arizona’s schools has been my life’s work,” said Huppenthal. “I’ve worked closely with teachers and parents on education issues for nearly two decades, so I’m very familiar with the challenges and opportunities Arizona schools face.”
Huppenthal’s reputation for making policy based on the best research available is well established. A September 2008 editorial in The Arizona Republic stated:
...Huppenthal is a veteran of the Legislature, having chaired five committees and being as knowledgeable about the bill-making process as any of his colleagues.
He's a pragmatic conservative who bases his positions on exhaustive research and works across party lines to get worthwhile bills passed. Huppenthal insists that
legislation be based on best practices from around the country, and he's prone to arcane dissertations based on stacks of studies he has compiled as he delves
into state and district problems. It's not sexy stuff but it's necessary to guide a legislative process too often led astray by raw politics and emotion.
(http://www.azcentral.com/members/blog/southeasteditorials/34599.)
A February 2008 article by reporter Luige del Puerto in the Arizona Capitol Times stated:
Don’t start Senator John Huppenthal with reports and studies. A staff member says he probably knows more about them than most, and that’s probably an
understatement. Indeed, when the Chandler lawmaker makes a point on the floor it is certain to be backed up by research, and not just any kind of research,
but the best research available. To converse with Huppenthal is to immerse in figures, percentages, growth rates and performance ratings. He treats studies
the way others probably regard meditation, a way to find peace amid the noise and haste.
Senator Huppenthal played a key role in helping create school choice for parents. In 1995, as Senate Education Chairman, Huppenthal took the caps off the number
of charter schools allowed in Arizona via groundbreaking legislation. This legislation moved Arizona to first in the nation in school choice (ALEC rankings).
In addition, Congressman Trent Franks named Senator Huppenthal one of three legislators most responsible for creating and expanding tuition tax credits in Arizona.
During Huppenthal’s legislative career he successfully authored and passed over 200 bills – more bills than any legislator in Arizona’s history. A substantial number
of those bills were related to education. Huppenthal’s efforts resulted in the creation of the Career Ladder Program for teachers, substantially improving measures of
academic progress and higher graduation standards. Huppenthal has also worked closely with the disabled community to improve opportunities for children with special
challenges, including creating a model summer school for children with autism, increasing academic resources for the blind and deaf, expanding textbook formats to
accommodate children with disabilities and reducing unfunded mandates on teachers.
Huppenthal leads the way in adopting performance pay in education. After reviewing over 700 studies and creating new concepts in performance pay, Arizona’s Career
Ladder Program has become the only performance pay system in the country showing statistically verifiable academic gains. His legislation resulted in enabling Arizona
to be the only state in the nation where every teacher has a significant portion of pay dependent upon performance measures (Prop 301 classroom site fund).
In 2010, Senator Huppenthal took improving education and holding schools accountable to the next level, sponsoring and passing substantial education reform legislation.
Known as the "Truth in Advertising" Bill, SB 1286 improves accountability by requiring the Arizona Department of Education to rate the performance of schools with
easy-to-understand letter grades (A, B, C, D or F), empowering parents with the knowledge of which schools are performing or underperforming. The grades will be based
upon overall performance and academic gains over time. The "Truth in Advertising" law is modeled after similar reforms in Florida which significantly improved academic
achievement in their public schools.
As a City Councilman in Chandler from 1984 to 1992, Huppenthal was committed to improving city government’s responsiveness to its citizens. He implemented a citizen’s
survey that rated the quality of services the city was providing. During his eight-year tenure, the percentage of citizens that rated city government performance as
"excellent" improved to over 30%, from 13%.
Huppenthal attended high school in Tucson. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Arizona University and a master's degree in Business
Administration from Arizona State University.
Huppenthal is a devoted husband and father. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two daughters, Brooke (18 years old) and Morgan (17 years old). John and Jennifer are highly
active in their children's education, and participate in numerous community and church groups.
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