Richard Mahoney (Independent, Clean Elections Candidate, http://www.mahoneyforgovernor.com/)
(about Richard Mahoney...)

Literacy, in its entirety begins with a solid foundation in education. While Arizona has top rated universities, primary and secondary schools are sorely lacking in investment dollars and educational programs. I have already outlined my plan to address this issue in the media and on my website.

• Above and beyond general education programs, technology specific education has proven highly successful with apprenticeship programs following higher learning, not unlike European workforce training models. As Governor, I would like to introduce such a program to better prepare tomorrow's workforce.
• I am a proponent of a distance-learning program targeting secondary school students who have yet to complete their high school diploma.
• To insure technology specific education, infrastructure development is a critical first step, and my administration will work to insure that Arizona has sufficient capability to meet those needs.

Janet Napolitano (Democrat, Clean Elections Candidate, http://www.governor.state.az.us/)
(about Janet Napolitano...)

In order to develop a technology literate workforce we must ensure that we have a world-class education system. Currently, we do not have such a system. Arizona routinely ranks at the bottom of nearly every educational benchmark. As Governor, my top priority will be to turn our education system around. We must ensure that every Arizona classroom is, at the very least, on par with the national averages for instructional spending. At present, only 58 cents of every dollar is spent on classroom instruction while the national average is approximately 62 cents. I will call on school districts to close this gap. I will work to ensure that we are recruiting and retaining qualified teachers, and will ensure that early literacy is the focal point of our teacher certification process. Studies show that children who read at an early age succeed at a higher rate than those who don't. They are also far less likely to drop out of school. Ensuring that our teachers are prepared to teach reading is the first step toward achieving broad educational success for our children. Early childhood development, moreover, is the first step toward ensuring that our children have the tools they need to become technology literate. As children progress, however, we must demand that technology training and computer literacy are central to their later education. As Governor, I will work with local school districts to assist them in procuring technology for the classroom and will strive to connect Arizona's rural classrooms to the information superhighway.

Matt Salmon (Republican, http://www.salmonforgovernor.com/)
(about Matt Salmon...)

Technological innovation in education will also be a priority for my administration. I believe that technology can lead to dramatic improvement in education quality by augmenting proven educational approaches, supporting distance learning for rural areas, and tracking student achievement. This will help Arizona develop the high-skilled workforce that attracts telecommunications and other high-technology jobs. As Governor, I will:

• Ensure a more educated workforce
• Identify and address the major drivers for corporate relocation.
• Challenge the state to be an attractive place for corporate headquarter relocation by:
• Focusing on specific industries and professionals
• Building out the technology infrastructure
• Creating portals and gateways to connect to business systems via the internet

In addition, I will encourage the installation of wireless networks for our colleges and universities. Wireless technologies hold the promise of becoming even more robust, while remaining relatively inexpensive. Moreover, such networks will create campus-wide communities and provide a key differentiator in attracting research grants, top-caliber professors, and students.