The Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction is one of five statewide elected executive officers named in the Arizona Constitution. The Superintendent runs the Arizona Department of Education, apportions state school funding, and carries out the policies of the State Board of Education. The office is elected every four years alongside the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and Attorney General.
What the Superintendent Does
The office’s core responsibilities come from A.R.S. § 15-251. The Superintendent superintends Arizona’s public schools, apportions state funding to each county under formulas set in law and under State Board supervision, executes the policies and rules the Board adopts, and directs all executive, administrative, and day-to-day functions of the Department of Education and its employees. The Superintendent can also ask the Auditor General to investigate how any state, county, or district officer is handling school money.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-251 – Powers and Duties
A neighboring statute, § 15-252, handles the more practical work of getting rules and materials into schools. The Superintendent prints and distributes pamphlets containing school laws, prepares blank forms and school registers with instructions for teachers and administrators, distributes the courses of study the State Board prescribes, prepares blank forms for teacher certificates, and publishes pamphlets on subjects the Board directs, including school architecture and school sanitation.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 15 Education 15-252
One duty is easy to misread. Under § 15-253, the Superintendent distributes copies of Attorney General opinions on school matters to county attorneys, county school superintendents, and anyone else who asks. The Superintendent does not issue independent legal opinions interpreting school law; the office is a distribution channel for the Attorney General’s analysis.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-253 – Legal Opinions Relating to School Matters
How the Job Divides with the State Board of Education
The Arizona Constitution makes the Superintendent a member and secretary of the State Board of Education, and an ex-officio member of any other state board that controls public instruction.4Justia. Arizona Constitution Article 11 Section 4 – State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Board Membership; Powers and Duties
The Board is the policy-making and rulemaking body. It exercises general supervision over the public school system, adopts rules, prescribes courses of study, and handles teacher certification. A.R.S. § 15-203 directs the Board to delegate execution of those policies and rules to the Superintendent,5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 15 Education 15-203 and § 15-251 requires the Superintendent to execute Board policies “under the direction of the state board.”1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-251 – Powers and Duties The Board decides what the rules are. The Superintendent makes them happen.
Running the Department of Education
The Arizona Department of Education, created in 1970, operates under the Superintendent’s direct management, with statutory authority over all executive, administrative, and day-to-day functions of the agency and its employees.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-251 – Powers and Duties Divisions can be established as needed, so a new Superintendent can reorganize the agency around new priorities.6Arizona State Library. Arizona Department of Education The work runs from collecting student achievement data and managing federal grant programs to providing technical assistance for local school districts.
As the head of Arizona’s state educational agency, the Superintendent’s office also carries federal obligations under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The department submits state plans to the U.S. Department of Education, publishes annual report cards with disaggregated student achievement data, identifies schools needing comprehensive or targeted support, and reports per-pupil expenditures by funding source for every school. It monitors how local districts spend federal grant money and provides compliance assistance.
Who Can Run for the Office
Article 5 of the Arizona Constitution applies the same eligibility rules to all five executive officers. A candidate must be at least twenty-five years old at the time of election, must have been a United States citizen for at least ten years before the election, and must have been an Arizona citizen for at least five years before the election.7Justia. Arizona Constitution Article 5 Section 2 – Eligibility to State Offices
Arizona does not require the Superintendent to hold a teaching certificate, an education degree, or any other professional credential. The office is a political one, and voters, not a licensure board, judge fitness.
Elections, Terms, and Pay
The Superintendent is elected at the statewide general election in midterm years, on the same ballot as the Governor and other executive officers. The winner takes office on the first Monday in January following the election.8Justia. Arizona Constitution Article 5 Section 1 – Executive Department; State Officers; Terms; Election; Residence and Office at Seat of Government; Duties
Service is capped at two consecutive four-year terms for all executive officers, a limit that took effect for terms beginning on or after January 1, 1993. Any partial term counts toward the cap, and after two consecutive terms a former Superintendent must sit out at least one full term before running again.8Justia. Arizona Constitution Article 5 Section 1 – Executive Department; State Officers; Terms; Election; Residence and Office at Seat of Government; Duties
As of 2023, the Superintendent’s annual salary was $85,000, according to the Council of State Governments.
Vacancies, Succession, and Recall
If the office becomes vacant mid-term through resignation, death, or removal, the Governor fills the seat by appointment under Article 5, Section 8 of the Arizona Constitution. The appointee serves until the next regular election produces a successor.
The Superintendent also sits in Arizona’s line of gubernatorial succession. If the Governor dies, resigns, is removed, or becomes permanently unable to serve, the order is Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, and then Superintendent of Public Instruction. Each officer in the chain qualifies only if they hold the position by election rather than appointment.9Justia. Arizona Constitution Article 5 Section 6 – Death, Resignation, Removal or Disability of Governor; Succession to Office; Impeachment; Absence from State or Temporary Disability
The Superintendent is subject to recall like every elected official in Arizona. Voters seeking a recall must gather petition signatures equal to 25% of the total votes cast for all candidates for that office in the last general election. If the petition qualifies, a recall election is held.10Arizona Secretary of State. Recall No Arizona Superintendent has been successfully recalled.