Horne: Closing schools tied to parents’ anger about woke ideology

Points to latest Scottsdale district promotion of transgender agenda

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne says promotion of woke ideology is a significant reason behind potential school closures in several school districts. He points to the latest effort by the Scottsdale Unified District to promote the transgender agenda among elementary and middle school students.

Horne said, “This happens because of the expenditure of a large amount of campaign funds to elect woke school board members who do not represent their communities. Parents have a choice, so they move their children. The school boards in these districts have no one to blame but themselves for allowing the classroom to be corrupted from a place of learning to a venue for indoctrination in woke principles. Districts can change this and renew their focus on the essential subjects of reading, math, science, history and the arts.”

He added, “The Scottsdale school district has yet again decided to push woke ideology on its students and their parents. The most recent example was discovered by a parent group that discovered the district is using its resources to promote ‘nonbinary youth, gender expansive’ children and girls to participate in a bicycling event; heterosexual males need not apply. This is a blatant effort to sexualize young children, which is an unconscionable and reckless use of taxpayer resources. It also normalizes the idea that biological boys are no different than girls. It is no wonder that parents are taking children out of Scottsdale schools and choosing education options that emphasize academics over the woke agenda.”

He concluded, “This scenario is playing out in other districts such as Kyrene Elementary, which has steadfastly refused to back away from such woke programs such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Social Emotional Learning that rob children of precious instructional time for academics. That district has lost so many students that schools have to be closed, as is true of the Paradise Valley district, which has also unfortunately embraced left-wing ideas at the expense of academics.”