Arizona Educational Foundation Inc

The Arizona Educational Foundation was founded in 1983 by key leaders in business and education, including then Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Carolyn Warner; then President of the grocery store chain Bashas’ Eddie Basha; and then Director of Community Relations for the Arizona Republic William Shover. They believed that recognizing excellence in and improving public education was too great a task for school districts to do alone. While much of the public and media attention on education is negative in nature, AEF focuses on exemplary students, teachers, administrators and schools in Arizona. 

AEF offers six programs in support of its mission: Arizona Teacher of the Year, Arizona Spelling Bee, A+ Schools for Excellence™, Principals' Leadership Academy, Polly Rosenbaum Writing Contest and UnitED.