Contact: [email protected]

Horne releases response to Governor’s letter regarding ESA data

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has sent his response to Governor Katie Hobbs’ letter regarding ESA data. The letter is attached.

Horne disputes characterization of ESA program in governor’s memo
Issues reaction

PHOENIX - Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has released the following statement in reaction to a governor’s memo regarding the Empowerment Scholarship Program:

Horne stated, “The Arizona Department of Education submitted a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) on May 30th outlining our estimates for the number of students that will participate in the ESA program by the end of the 2024 Fiscal Year. On May 31st, John Ward and I held a news conference where all aspects of these estimates, including the methodology, were thoroughly discussed and scrutinized by members of the news media. This contradicts the contention that ADE was anything less than transparent in this process.

The projections we released are, ironically, almost exactly the same as those in the governor’s memo. There is a difference of only .008 percent between their numbers and ours. Questioning our methodology and our commitment to integrity in this process is unfair and unnecessary.

ADE is managing the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in accordance with the law. Under my Democrat predecessor, the law was not strictly followed, and ESA funds were used for non-educational purposes. One of my first acts when I took office was to hire John Ward from the Arizona Auditor General as the internal auditor for the Department of Education. He is now the director of the ESA program, and he is as committed as I am to making sure the law is strictly enforced and every penny is spent on valid educational purposes.”

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For immediate release: July 24, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne reacts to Attorney General Mayes statements regarding Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has issued the following statement in response to today’s remarks by Attorney General Kris Mayes concerning the universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.

Horne stated, “The Attorney General raised several issues, one of which centers on special education students. Under the ESA program, special education students receive the same funding as they would attending a public school.

In regards to the other concerns raised, under my Democrat predecessor as schools chief, the law was not strictly followed and ESA funds were used for non-educational purposes. One of my first acts when I took office was to hire from the Arizona Auditor General an internal auditor for the Department of Education. This person makes sure that every ESA transaction is conducted according to the law and all funding is used appropriately.

There have been significant protests against me from people who were used to the old lax system, but I am insisting that every law is strictly followed and that every penny of these funds is used for valid educational purposes.”

Horne statement on federal judge’s ruling on challenge to Arizona law prohibiting biological boys from participating in girls’ sports

PHOENIX - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, the lone defendant in the lawsuit challenging Arizona’s law prohibiting biological boys from competing on girls’ interscholastic sports teams, issued the following statement in response to today’s preliminary injunction ruling by a federal judge.

Horne stated, “We will appeal this ruling. This will ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court, and they will rule in our favor.

The Plaintiffs in this case claimed that this only involves pre-pubescent boys, but we presented peer-reviewed studies that show pre-pubescent boys have an advantage over girls in sports.

The only expert presented by the Plaintiffs was a medical doctor who makes his money doing sex transition treatments on children and who has exactly zero peer-reviewed studies to support his opinion.”

For immediate release: July 18, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne: AG Opinion on dual language is politically charged
Vows court challenge

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction and former Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne says the formal Opinion issued by current Attorney General Kris Mayes regarding the state’s Structured English Immersion law is ideologically driven.

Horne has reviewed the Opinion and is issuing the following detailed statement:

“It is surprising that the Attorney General evades the key issue, placing ideology over the law.

The Attorney General Opinion, in the second paragraph under background, recites that the voter passed, and voter protected initiative (Proposition 203) requires that English Language Learners be taught in English. A dual language program without waivers is an obvious violation of that to anybody who can read English. The Arizona Legislative Council reached that conclusion.

The Attorney General, for ideological reasons, wanted to rule in favor of the Democrat legislators who favor dual language. So, she refused to comment on whether a dual language program without waivers violates the voter protected initiative. She simply said that the State Board of Education has the power to adapt models under legislation. Neither the legislature nor the board has the power to overrule a voter approved initiative. Legislative Council found that dual language without a waiver does violate the initiative.

This will obviously be resolved in the courts. Until that happens, the State Board will not withhold funds. However, there are other remedies in the initiative for violation of its requirements. Any parent can sue a school or district that adopts dual language without waivers, and if the parent is successful, the school board, and the superintendent, and maybe the principal must leave office and cannot apply for their offices for five years. That will be a considerable incentive for school districts not to adopt dual language without waivers.”

For immediate release: July 13, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

English immersion opponents make false claims

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has issued the following statement in response to claims made by opponents of the state’s voter-approved English immersion law.

He states, “Presenting approximately 3,000 signatures opposing English immersion is not an impressive feat. In 2000, more than 925,000 Arizonans – 63 percent of voters – approved Proposition 203, making English immersion the law. I supported the proposition at the time and I am sworn to uphold that law now.

I want to emphasize that we have not eliminated the fourth alternative passed by the State Board. We are only requiring waivers that are required in the initiative that was passed by the voters, and that the State Board has never sought to eliminate. 

The statements about the benefits of dual language by the advocates are anecdotal and are clearly contradicted by the real-world data. 

I will give both historical and current data on this amount.

Before I took office the first time in 2003, when they had bilingual education, Lisa Graham Keegan reported to the legislature an English proficiency rate of 4%.  The English proficiency rates for structured English immersion, by contrast for the last four years when I was last Superintendent (2007-2010), were an average of 31% each for those years.  For current data, we looked up the English proficiency rates for dual language for the four schools we were able to locate who have had dual language for more than the last few years. 

Another key sentence from the voter passed initiative, A.R.S. §15-752 states, “All children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English and all children shall be placed in English language classrooms”.

All the attendees rated our first structured English class for teachers this summer as 5 on a scale of 1-5.

This is consistent with our experience between 2003 and 2011. Teachers arrived at the training hostile because of ideology they had been taught, but by the end of the course were giving the structured English immersion teachers a standing ovation, with consistently high evaluations.”

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Violation of voter-approved English immersion law

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne has announced that public schools that are not teaching English Language Learners in English as required by state law risk losing funds for this legal violation.

Horne stated, “Proposition 203, the voter protected initiative passed in 2000, specified that classes for English Language Learners must be taught in English: ‘all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English and all children shall be placed in English language classrooms.’ Dual language classes, typically taught for half of each day in Spanish, are an obvious violation of this initiative. A reduction in structured English immersion from four hours to two is okay, but the rest of the day must be spent in regular classrooms with the English-speaking students, not in classes taught in Spanish.”

While this conclusion is obvious based on the wording of the voter-passed initiative, Horne also cites a memorandum from the Arizona Legislative Council that concludes: “If the 50-50 dual language immersion model allows students to be taught subject matter in a language other than English as part of structured English immersion, the model likely violates Proposition 203.”

He added, “I want to emphasize that these rules only apply to students who have not yet attained proficiency in English. Once they attain English proficiency, we encourage dual language, or any other programs, that will cause them to be proficient in more than one language. I personally have studied six languages. Knowing multiple languages is beneficial and develops the brain in ways that help learn other subjects.”

He concluded, “State law (A.R.S. §15-756.08) provides a District found in violation by the state board loses its access to English Language Learners funds.  Another statute (A.R.S. §15-754) provides that any parent can sue any school board member or other elected office or administrator responsible for the violation and that person can be personally liable for damages and fees and cannot be indemnified by any third party.  Any official found liable shall be immediately removed from office and cannot hold a position for five years.”

The full letter from Horne and the Legislative Council Memo are attached.

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Valid concerns received from parents and teachers

PHOENIX – Complaints submitted to the Arizona Department of Education through the Empower Hotline have revealed potential violations to state law and demonstrate that elements of Critical Race Theory are present in the public school system.

Superintendent Tom Horne said, “Despite those in ideological groups and some in the media that propagate the urban myth that CRT is not a part of the school system, we have evidence from the empower hotline, that there is enough CRT in our schools to constitute a problem, though it is obviously not universal. We also have evidence that schools have put systems in place to hide or attempt to hide critical personal information from parents about their child. This is in direct violation of Arizona law, A.R.S. §1-602.”

He explained, “For example, Mesa is our largest district. A teacher reported through the hotline that the Mesa school district has a training program for teachers that clearly states that certain Americans are ‘living under a system of white supremacy.’ That is a divisive and bigoted statement that has no place in education. We are individuals, entitled to be judged by what we know, what we can do, our character, and not the color of our skin. To its credit, Mesa is in discussion with the Department about this.”

Other concerns raised include a spreadsheet distributed in the Catalina Foothills school district with a list of pronouns chosen by students. The email and attached file clearly show the school withholding information from parents contrary to A.R.S. §1-602.

In the Chandler Unified School District, a lunch time Gay-Straight Alliance Club was created to discuss gender issues but also included the distribution of emancipation paperwork, which a parent only knew ab out because parents found it in their students backpack. Both of the above are examples of activity contrary to Arizona law.

Since its launch in March, the Empower Hotline allows parents to report inappropriate content being taught that detract from teaching academic standards. These include those that focus on race or ethnicity, rather than individuals and merit, promoting gender ideology, social emotional learning, or inappropriate sexual content.

Horne added, “Since its inception earlier this year, ADE has been compiling information regarding inappropriate activity occurring in Arizona schools through the Empower Hotline. These complaints have come not just from concerned parents but also from teachers. When parents saw during COVID what students were being taught on their laptop, they were outraged by CRT content, and went to school board meetings, where some were treated rudely.  The Employer Hotline directs them to a method to communicate their concerns.

Horne added: “30,000 crank calls and emails do not intimidate us or keep us from doing our job.”

Raising academic outcomes for students in the public schools and empowering parents to ensure that the educational needs of their children are being appropriately met, are the priorities of Superintendent Horne. All legitimate complaints received through the Empower Hotline will continue to be accepted and investigated.

1,000 police reports at district schools in 2022-23

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne has directed Arizona Department of Education staff to directly award a total of just over $1.2 million for school safety grants to the Phoenix Union high schools that applied for funds to have on-campus law enforcement officers.

The schools are Cesar Chavez, Maryvale, Metro Tech, North, South Mountain and Trevor Browne high schools.

Horne explained, “The school safety grants were specifically requested by six high schools; therefore, they will receive those funds individually in accordance with those applications. Our first responsibility is to protect the safety and the lives of students and staff. The worst tragedy would be for a maniac to invade a school and kill students with no police officer there to protect them. In addition, the police officers are there all year, befriend the students, so students view them as friends rather than as the enemy, and the police officers also teach courses.”

Horne also noted that data collected from the Phoenix Police Department during the 2022-23 school year showed a total of approximately 1,000 calls for service at Phoenix Union campuses. These include multiple calls for shots fired, assault, persons with a gun, sexual abuse of a juvenile, stolen vehicles, and numerous other reports to police.

Horne added, “Having armed law enforcement officers on campuses is a necessity today. Just recently it was reported that a student at Phoenix Union’s Bostrom High School brought a fully loaded AR-15 rifle to campus. That student also possessed a device that would have made that firearm fully automatic. Fortunately, a tragedy was avoided, but this points out the fact that dangers exist on school campuses that can only be addressed by armed law enforcement.”

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88 percent less paperwork to get federal dollars / more rapid kindergarten assessments

PHOENIX – Cutting red tape and unnecessary administrative burdens on educators is one of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne’s primary goals so that they can spend more time on teaching academics to the students. Today Horne is announcing a major initiative in that effort.

Each year, federal law requires schools to file a Comprehensive Needs Assessment explaining the tools and strategies needed to improve academic performance in order to receive Title I money for low-income schools and other federal formula grants. Horne has directed that requirement to be reduced from a massive 168 questions to 20 questions.

Horne explained, “The previous Comprehensive Needs Assessment was weighed down with absurd measurements regarding Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which many teachers have complained is just a series of games that detract from teaching reading and math.”

He added, “The prior emphasis on SEL issues meant the report grew to an unmanageable 80 pages with 168 questions. Now there are 20 questions on six pages, all devoted to improving core academics.”

The department is also implementing a significantly updated tool for the yearly Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) pilot program. It reduces administration time by more than 80 percent, permitting rapid identification of critical student needs. Now teachers will be able to spend more time on classroom instruction.

These changes have been warmly received by many Arizona educators. Erik Francis, a consultant specializing in improving failing schools said, “For the last two administrations, the Arizona Department of Education has placed an unnecessary and unmerited burden of paperwork on schools. This has caused schools to be more focused on paperwork rather than implementing the goals, strategies, and action steps to serve schools. I am enthused to see the current administration is more assistive, open, and supportive than it has been in a decade.”

Mia Vega, the Superintendent of Legacy Traditional Schools, added, “Kudos to Superintendent Horne and AZED for streamlining forms and cutting red tape. Less time navigating bureaucracy means more time focusing on students for our educators.”