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One education issue鈥攈igh school graduation requirements鈥攎ay best illustrate the successes of and the obstacles that this high-powered panel faces in trying to bridge the gap between the state鈥檚 precollegiate and higher education systems.

Faced with a disappointing graduation rate and calls from the business community for schools to do a better job of preparing students for college and the workplace, the potentially unwieldy group of 39 of Arizona鈥檚 most powerful political, business, and community leaders set out in summer 2006 to stiffen the requirements for earning a diploma.

It took nearly two years, but the P-20 council managed to do just that. Beginning with the high school freshmen of 2009, students will need four years of math and three years of science to graduate. Just two years of each are required now.

And the council choreographed that change without any explicit policy-setting authority under state law鈥攎anaging to do so over the initial objections of Tom Horne, the outspoken state superintendent of public instruction and a member of the council.

Fresh from that success, members of the panel that Gov. Janet Napolitano formed in 2005 are asking themselves: What next?

That鈥檚 the question facing an ambitious, bipartisan group that鈥攄espite a broadly defined mission and no formal regulatory power鈥攈as found ways to turn what might have been a mere advisory board into an influential policymaking body.

鈥淪ince 2005, it has grown enormously into, really, the driving force behind education policy in the state,鈥� says Darcy R. Renfro, the governor鈥檚 policy adviser for higher education, tourism, and the economy.

Susie DePrez, an assistant superintendent in the 74,000-student Mesa public schools, who joined the council this year, says 鈥渘othing would be happening鈥� if there were no council.

Systemic Problems

Yet the panel continues to struggle with its identity and the implementation of its mission, amid the competing agendas brought by members representing the K-12 community, higher education, and the private sector.

As Intel Corp.鈥檚 Carlos Contreras sees it, the P-20 council needs to focus. 鈥淲hat is the priority, and who owns it?鈥� asks Contreras, the company鈥檚 Arizona education manager, who is new to the council this year.

The P-20 council鈥檚 creation can be traced to the concerns of former Mesa schools Superintendent Jim Zaharis, who joined the Greater Phoenix Leadership Council in 2002 and recognized the systemic problems with the state鈥檚 education system.

Like most states, Arizona is striving to improve its education system, specifically zeroing in on graduation rates and better preparation of students for college and the workforce.

In 2006, only two states spent fewer dollars on each student than Arizona, where the level of support came to $6,472 per pupil, . By comparison, the national average for per-pupil spending was $9,138 that year鈥攕ome 40 percent more. The state鈥檚 2004-05 graduation rate, according to the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, was 73.3 percent.

Zaharis came to believe that it wasn鈥檛 simply that too many students were dropping out of school. The overarching problem was that 鈥渙ur system existed in silos,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e competed for resources. The loser in that was the student and family.鈥�

He brought the concept of a more unified P-20 system鈥攕panning preschool through graduate school鈥攁nd an advisory council to deal with those issues to the candidates for governor and state superintendent in 2002. It was Janet Napolitano, then running for her first term as governor, 鈥渨ho picked up the idea and ran with it,鈥� Zaharis says.

As a result, Napolitano is a guiding force on the council, which she uses as her team of education advisers. Besides setting aside staff members and devoting money from her office budget to the endeavor, she helps the panel set priorities.

The council鈥檚 work has been guided by the outcome of a summer 2006 meeting in Tucson, which produced 32 recommendations. One by one, starting with the graduation requirements, the council is working to carry out .

And that gets tricky.

Because the council has no formal authority, it must find those who have such power if its recommendations are to become reality.

In the case of the graduation requirements, the council turned to member Karen Nicodemus, who is the president of Cochise College, a community college in rural southern Arizona. More important for advancing the effort, she also is a member of the policymaking state board of education. Nicodemus steered the initiative through to approval by the state board in December 2007.

The very structure of Arizona鈥檚 P-20 council has proved to be a challenge. It is unusually large for such a panel; its 39 members include university presidents, leaders of multimillion-dollar philanthropic organizations, and top officials at large companies such as Intel.

Members come from both major political parties, practically a necessity, given that Republicans control the state legislature and that the governor is a Democrat.

The council functions like a legislative body. Work such as the vetting of proposals, discussion, and debates happens in one of seven standing committees. Ideas or proposals then go to a steering committee, which comprises the leaders of those committees. Finally, the idea goes before the entire council.

Council members receive more than symbolic backup from the governor鈥檚 office. Napolitano has hired a full-time executive director for the council, plus another staff member who devotes a majority of her time to it. In addition, Napolitano鈥檚 two chief education policy advisers staff the committees. The level of staffing is highly unusual for a P-20 panel.

In the legislative arena, the council itself doesn鈥檛 lobby鈥攎embers see that activity as outside the council鈥檚 mission. Instead, individual members empower their own lobbyists to represent their particular interests, such as those who typically represent universities.

And the council likely won鈥檛 get involved in politically polarizing issues in the legislature, such as illegal immigration, even if they affect education, members say.

In part, that caution is a bow to practical politics in dealing with the legislature, which holds the state purse strings for K-12 education generally, and for individual schools and universities.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to tick anybody off,鈥� says Rufus Glasper, the chancellor of Maricopa Community Colleges, who co-chairs the P-20 council.

Although legislators occupy two nonvoting seats on the council, they rarely attend meetings.

K-12 Takes Back Seat

Though the council鈥檚 biggest achievement so far came with the boosting of high school graduation requirements, the K-12 system has been noticeably lacking in influence over the council鈥檚 work.

That deficiency in clout is partly rooted in partisan disagreements between two separately elected officials: Horne, the Republican state schools chief, and Napolitano, the Democratic governor.

Horne and Napolitano have squared off on such issues as funding for the state鈥檚 growing population of English-language learners. And when it came time for the full council to vote on requiring an additional year of math and science, Horne, who was concerned that the new mandate could lead to more dropouts, was the lone 鈥渘o鈥� vote.

Horne did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

But council members say that while Horne might be expected to be the chief architect of the state鈥檚 education vision, he鈥檚 not. Instead, the P-20 council has taken on that role as a board of directors for the public education agenda, says philanthropist Don Budinger, who is the chairman of the Scottsdale-based Rodel Foundation of Arizona.

And even if a precollegiate issue has the council鈥檚 backing, that doesn鈥檛 mean Horne will support it in the legislature. In addition to opposing the graduation requirements, the schools chief lobbied against a P-20 council initiative that would track teacher performance in the classroom to better judge how teacher education schools are doing in preparing them for their jobs.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 see how [K-12] can be a driver when there鈥檚 a conflict between the state superintendent and the governor,鈥� says John Haegar, the president of Northern Arizona University and a member of the panel.

Still, members say that Horne鈥檚 involvement on the council is critical.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what gives this council credibility,鈥� says Paul J. Luna, a council member and the president of the Phoenix-based Helios Foundation, which focuses on education reform.

Governor鈥檚 Role

The tensions have done nothing to lessen Napolitano鈥檚 central role in guiding the P-20 council鈥檚 agenda.

For example, motivated in part by the governor鈥檚 desire to double the number of college degrees awarded in the state, an ad hoc committee of the council is scheduled to present recommendations in June of this year on how to transform the higher education system. Its proposals may include the idea of a governing board to oversee the state鈥檚 disjointed network of community colleges.

And Napolitano has asked governing bodies that represent the universities, early-childhood education, and the K-12 system to make regular reports to the council.

鈥淭he role of the governor was critical in creating a positive movement. Any strategic activity that actually has an impact requires leadership,鈥� says Luna. 鈥淎ny new governor could say, 鈥� 鈥業t鈥檚 not my thing.鈥� 鈥�

Indeed, when such a council is so closely identified with one particular governor, the risk is that it could disappear with the election of a new governor. Napolitano, now in her second term, can鈥檛 run for re-election in 2010.

Like most states, meanwhile, Arizona is grappling with a budget deficit, so most of the council members agree that now is not the time to establish the panel by statute as a permanent agency. Nor do members necessarily think that would be a good idea.

鈥淚f it had the authority of a state agency, it would be looked at with less respect,鈥� argues Glasper, who says that the council鈥檚 clout is rooted in the amalgamation of powerful community leaders.

One option the governor is considering is spinning the council off into a separate nonprofit organization, similar to what the state did with some economic-development duties by creating the Arizona Economic Resource Organization.

To help focus its mission, the P-20 council has turned to local philanthropies for money鈥攁nd Napolitano is particularly effective at extracting money from foundations. Since 2005, the council has garnered $2.5 million in grants, including from the state鈥檚 Commerce and Economic Development Commission, a quasi-government entity鈥攎oney that has helped pay for, among other activities, research into best practices in educational management and academic reform.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 wait any longer for the state of Arizona to help,鈥� says Glasper, the council鈥檚 co-chairman.

Glasper says another big challenge for the council, especially given the size of its membership, is focusing the work and getting business and education advocates in local communities engaged.

To help do that, the council is launching a public relations campaign dubbed 鈥淓xpect More Arizona,鈥� which seeks to persuade state residents that education is a birth-through-adulthood process, and encourage them to get involved in improving public education.

Luna, of the Helios Foundation, who is leading the communications committee, says that separate public-awareness campaigns on higher education and prekindergarten threatened to compete with each other. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 afford the public to disengage,鈥� he says. The council鈥檚 communications committee got $50,000 each from four foundations to launch the public relations campaign, which could start in earnest this summer.

The campaign is setting as its goal nothing less than a cultural shift. In a fiscally conservative state, says Budinger of the Rodel Foundation, some legislators interpret rankings that place the state near the bottom in per-pupil spending as getting a good 鈥渂ang for your buck.鈥�

Changing the public will is probably one of the council鈥檚 biggest tasks, he says.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a very complex and difficult thing to do,鈥� Budinger says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 [about] an ugly word called t-a-x.鈥�