For immediate release: December 11, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

2023 in review: Making Arizona Department of Education a service agency a Horne priority

First act in office frees up $22 million in delayed payments to schools, educators

PHOENIX – A commitment to service is among the success stories of 2023 as state schools superintendent Tom Horne wraps up his first year back in office.

Horne previously served as superintendent between 2003 to 2011 and returned in 2023 to encourage academic excellence, empower parents and commit the department to a culture of service.

Horne noted, “Before my first term as state superintendent, I spent 24 years as a school board member of what was then the third-largest district in the state, and I was board president for 10 of those years. I also chaired the academic accountability committee when I was a member of the legislature. Serving others to improve Arizona’s education system is integral to increasing academic outcomes. That’s why I have undertaken multiple service initiatives.”

On the first day upon returning to office, Horne removed a bureaucratic delay dating to the prior administration and approved payments to schools and tutors who were owed a total of $22,234,151.48 from the second fiscal quarter of 2022. Horne also approved nearly 25,000 overdue requests from parents in the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.

The department also paid more than 1,500 tutors who had gone months without a paycheck and paid a small school that had explored getting a bank loan to cover expenses because their state payments had been delayed.

With the legislative session underway, Horne repeatedly expressed his support for a bill that would give Arizona teachers a $10,000 raise, putting Arizona in the top 10 of states for starting salaries.

Horne noted with some dismay that the National Education Association issued a statement about the importance of raising teacher salaries but the Arizona teacher’s union and a number of Democrats in the legislature opposed the bill. Horne believes these kinds of questions should be bipartisan.

Summer means no school session, but the work of the department continues with efforts to get rid of red tape in schools.

For example, each year, federal law requires schools to file a Comprehensive Needs Assessment explaining the tools and strategies needed to improve academic performance. Horne has directed that requirement to be reduced from a massive 168 questions to 20 questions.

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.

This change aligns well with the department’s renewed emphasis on service by providing more on-site school improvement teams statewide.

Horne noted that prior to returning to office this year, the department merely judged the performance of schools, but did not send teams to the field to help schools get better. He immediately reinstated the School Improvement Teams. The department also delivers updated and practical training on leadership and discipline practices and offers technical assistance in multiple program areas.

With the Superintendent’s pledge to root out elements of Critical Race Theory, and serve educators who wish to spend valuable instruction time on academic as opposed to ideologies, Horne established the Empower Hotline.

This service discovered that a school district had a training program for teachers that clearly states that certain Americans are ‘living under a system of white supremacy.’ That program was eliminated.

Other concerns raised include a spreadsheet distributed in a district with a list of pronouns chosen by students. The email and attached file clearly show the school withholding information from parents.

In another district, a lunch time Gay-Straight Alliance Club included the distribution of emancipation paperwork, which a parent only knew about because parents found it in their student’s backpack. Both are examples of activity contrary to Arizona law.

In Tucson, the department restored in-person teacher certification assistance and work is underway to provide similar services in other Arizona counties.

Also in southern Arizona, Horne announced the completion of $3.6 million in broadband projects to bring Internet fiber connectivity to Santa Cruz County. The department has brought a total of approximately $160M in fiber construction projects to schools and libraries in rural areas through the federal E-Rate Program in the past six years.

Horne concluded, “Arizona’s educators and support staff do tremendous work to ensure excellence in the classroom. This department is ready to serve. I will always be committed to my promise to deliver excellent service.”

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For immediate release: December 4, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

2023 in review: Horne’s first year back in office shows renewed focus on academic outcomes

Classroom time must be dedicated to academics

PHOENIX – A renewed focus on academic excellence and eliminating ideological distractions that rob students and teachers of precious instruction time for core subjects are some of state schools chief Tom Horne’s academic successes in his first year back in office.

Horne explained, “When I took office, I began demolishing any program or initiative in this department that was related to ideologies such as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Critical Race Theory and excessive Social-Emotional Learning. Our focus will always be to ensure that teachers use precious classroom time to teach students academic subjects and not waste time on ideologies that don’t treat people as individuals but divide them through identity politics.”

Horne, who previously served as Superintendent from 2003 to 2011, immediately took on academic challenges upon returning in 2023, announcing in the spring that the department signed a $10 million contract with Project Momentum to ensure the program continues and expands to more Arizona schools after decision by the Governor’s Office to reevaluate its role in that program.

Project Momentum uses several basic principles for school improvement that include aligning classroom instruction with the teaching methods that get the best academic results.

Perhaps the most unique project undertaken in Horne’s first year is the creation of the Arizona Education Economic Commission where the department has joined forces with the private sector and representatives from the governments of Switzerland, Taiwan, and the Navajo Nation to create the Arizona Education Economic Commission, a collaboration between education and industry to encourage the development of workforce and economic opportunities for Arizona’s students.

The core mission of the Commission is to address the shortage of skilled workers in strategic industries and to give students and adults a pathway to valuable careers.

This year Horne also called on public schools that use “equitable,” or “standards-based” grading to abolish the practice.

In Arizona, several school districts use some form of equitable grading in which the baseline for a grade is not zero but begins at 50 percent. By that standard, what was a 20 percent grade on a 100-point scale would now be a 70 percent passing grade.

On the issue of using English in the classroom, Horne revealed a new data that conclusively demonstrates that structured English immersion is far superior for the academic success of students as opposed to dual language. The data compared five dual language schools with the best scores to the five structured English immersion schools with immersion showing far better results. He also warned that schools using the 50-50 language model are in violation of the law.

Noting that time is running out for states to fully utilize federal funding attached to COVID-related learning loss, in September Horne announced a $40 million tutoring program available to parents of elementary grade students to pay for free tutoring in reading, writing and math. The amount will pay for approximately 1.3 million hours of tutoring. As part of this project, participating public school teachers will earn added income as tutors. Private tutoring companies are also an option for parents.

Students in the Ganado Unified School District in the Navajo Nation received approximately 300 portable tablet devices at no cost as result of a public-private partnership between the on-profit organization My Life My Power and Smart Class Arizona founder Paola Tulliani Zen. The tablets are already loaded with the materials the students need to study reading and math without any need for an internet connection.

Horne concluded, “2023 has delivered many opportunities to focus on academic achievement. I am both grateful and impressed by the level of energy and commitment demonstrated by the 600 employees of this department, and the educators, administrators and support staff in Arizona’s public schools who are dedicated to academic excellence for our students.”

For more information; www.azed.gov

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For immediate release: November 28, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne fires back at Save Our Schools for pattern of lying about ESA purchases

Also pushes back on criticism of him for fighting antisemitism in area high school

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne is refuting a series of lies being spread by Save Our Schools, saying the organization is using deceptive tactics to lie about Empowerment Scholarship Account reimbursements and Horne’s support for Jewish public school students.

Horne stated, “Contrary to a falsified document tweeted by Save Our Schools, no ESA parent has been reimbursed $500 to buy Legos. To be clear, district, charter and ESA students are allowed to use Legos. The issue here is a pattern of lying. Save Our Schools admitted they fabricated a document to make it look like a parent made a $500 purchase when she did not. By doing so they have misled both the Governor and a prominent newspaper columnist, both of whom have retweeted this lie.”

A screenshot from an X (formerly Twitter) post is attached and shows the communications person for Save Our Schools acknowledging the post was fabricated.

He continued, “This is a longstanding pattern by Save Our Schools. They continue to say that outlandish purchases such as trips to Disney parks, personal vacations, food items, ocean cruises and the like are being approved as ESA expenses when they are not. The interesting thing is that Save Our Schools not only lied and fabricated but turned the actual facts on their head. Approvals like those came during the prior superintendent’s administration led by a friend of the leader of Save Our Schools, and one of my first acts in office was to put an end to it.”

Horne added, “Just days ago when the communications manager for Save Our Schools spoke before a legislative committee regarding ESAs, he failed to identify himself as a paid employee of that group. He is entitled to speak, but omitting the fact he is paid to espouse views opposing the ESA program is another deception.”

He proceeded, “As bad as this is, Save Our Schools has gone even further by retweeting a heavily biased news article that characterizes my opposition to antisemitic material being disseminated at a high school club as a ‘lie’. To call that a lie you must demolish the truth to push a pro-Hamas one-sided antisemitic agenda, which is what the New Times reporter did.

Jewish parents came to me and said their students had experienced hatred and were afraid to go to school because a one-sided pro-Hamas presentation created antisemitic attitudes among some impressionable students. To call me a liar for standing up for their point of view is to call those Jewish students and their parents liars - a reprehensible slur. These are public school students and Save Our Schools should be thoroughly ashamed for not standing against hatred and antisemitism, especially in the classroom.”

Horne concluded, “Parents have the fundamental right to choose the school that best fits the needs of their children. Options such as charter schools, open enrollment and the ESA program are practical expressions of the value of school choice. Since the vast majority of Arizona parents (including myself) select to send their children to a neighborhood public school, lies and deception are obviously not needed to show support for public schools. Yet Save Our Schools continues to resort to shameful tactics again and again.”

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For immediate release: November 20, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Department of Education announces student contest celebrating good character in citizenship

Part of Six Pillars of Character program

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne has announced a drawing, painting and poster contest celebrating Citizenship, which is one of the Six Pillars of Character, in the Character Counts program offered in many Arizona schools.

Horne said, “I am a strong proponent of the Six Pillars of Character which are, Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. I am very pleased to announce this contest promoting Citizenship, which emphasizes volunteering, cooperation, being informed and voting, knowing and obeying laws, choosing to protect the safety and rights of others and doing your share to make your home and community better.”

He added, “I believe every school in Arizona should be using the Six Pillars of Character program to help students understand these basic characteristics that, when followed, result in students having overall strong character and classrooms that have students who respect others. This is foundational for a healthy society.”

The contest has two levels, one for students in grades Kindergarten through 8 who can create a drawing, painting or poster that conveys the trait of Citizenship. The second level is for high school students to create a poster that supports character values on social media using the good Citizenship pillar. The competition is open to students enrolled in district, charter, private, and home schools. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2023.

The winners will be recognized at the Character Education Celebration Event to be held in January in Phoenix.

For more information and to apply: azed.gov/character-education Go to the “2023 Character Education Contest” Tab.

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Newsrooms: There is a correction to this release. The email is [email protected]. The previous release contained a typo.

For immediate release: November 14, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne announces Department of Education's Arts Supply Grant

Money available for “consumables” such as sheet music, paint, theatre props and more

PHOENIX - State schools Superintendent Tom Horne has announced a $10 million grant for public schools to purchase art supplies through the Arts Consumable Grant. These funds will provide successful district and charter school applicants with $1,000 per full time arts teacher to purchase arts consumables such as paints, brushes, sheet music, dance props, theatrical costumes, and much more. These materials will not only enhance the learning environment but also inspire students to explore their artistic talents and discover new passions.

Horne said, “I am a passionate supporter of arts education; it is an essential part of any successful school. There are studies that show learning how to play stringed instruments helps students do better in math, so there are both aesthetic and academic benefits to arts education. I am pleased to encourage schools to apply for these funds to support arts education throughout Arizona.”

All district and charter schools throughout Arizona are eligible to apply for this grant opportunity. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2023.

For more information: [email protected]

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For immediate release: November 9, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne warns schools to avoid antisemitic and anti-American UNICEF and Amnesty International materials

Organizations’ materials used at a recent Arizona high school student club event, making Jewish students feel unsafe

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has denounced antisemitic and anti-American materials provided by UNICEF and Amnesty International at a high school club event that made Jewish students feel unsafe.

Horne has also communicated to all district superintendents throughout Arizona urging them to “keep amnesty international and UNICEF, and their literature, off of your campuses. They generate antisemitism among impressionable young people.”

The Department of Education was recently contacted by several community members who had learned of antisemitic and anti-American materials being presented a lunchtime student club sponsored by those organizations last Thursday at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale.

Horne stated, “The materials presented to these students were profoundly antisemitic in particular and anti-American in general, in nature. Some of the material states that ‘Palestinians have been subject to killings, torture, rape, abuse, and more for over 75 years.’ This is a ‘blood libel’ similar to the blood libels used in the Middle Ages to get people to go out and kill random Jewish people.”

He added, “In none of this propaganda is there any reference to what happened on October 7. The fact that 1400 civilians were murdered does not begin to describe to horror of what Hamas did. They went house to house in the neighborhoods, machine gunning entire families, and sometimes killing fathers in front of their children and children in front of their fathers. They copied the Nazi technique of setting fire to houses so that people would burn to death, or if they came out of the fire house, killed them upon their exit. The actions of Hamas are a repetition of what happened during World War II. Yet the materials make no mention of October 7.”

Horne concluded, “Jewish students reported feeling unsafe because of the antisemitism among other students generated by these presentations. We all belong to a minority group of one kind or another. If Jewish people – and Americans in general -- can be targeted by UNICEF and Amnesty International, who is next?”

The full text of Horne’s email and copies of the materials presented at the meeting are attached.

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For immediate release: October 23, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Newsrooms: Charts with data are attached.

Horne debuts new data analysis at State Board of Education meeting proving English immersion is superior to dual language

Proficiency rates soar with immersion method

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne revealed a new data analysis at today’s State Board of Education meeting that conclusively demonstrates that structured English immersion is far superior for the academic success of students as opposed to dual language.

Horne stated, “In 2000, the voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative to require structured English immersion, not bilingual education for English Language Learners. When I took office in 2003, my predecessors had not enforced that initiative. I was the first one to do so. We just completed current analysis comparing the five dual language schools with the best scores to the five structured English immersion schools. Both historic and current data demonstrate that structured English immersion is far superior for the academic performance of students as compared to dual language.”

He continued, “Lisa Graham Keegan, who was schools chief from 1995 to 2001 had reported to the legislature that, under bilingual education, only 4 percent of students became proficient in English in one year. After I had an opportunity to implement structured English immersion and teachers were trained in its implementation, the rate of proficiency in one year soared to 31 percent for the three-year average room from 2008 to 2011. “

Horne added, “Chart two in this analysis compares the five top English immersion schools in blue with a five top dual language schools in orange. One compares the top structured English immersion school on the right side with the top dual language school on the right side of the orange bars, the second highest on the right, with the second highest in orange, and so on. Generally speaking, the structured English immersion schools perform approximately three times better than the dual language schools.”

He concluded: “For people whose focus is on the academic performance of students, and who studied the data, it is clear that structured English version is vastly superior to dual language. Those advocating dual language are focused an ideology, rather than what is academically best for students.”

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

Horne: Creative solution means school safety program can place officers on campuses despite pervasive officer shortage

Program brings in off-duty officers to schools in 11 counties

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne is unveiling a new program that will make it possible for every available campus law enforcement officer position to be filled, despite ongoing shortages of officers in many communities. As a result, more positions in the already-funded School Safety Program will be filled with armed law enforcement officers with no new funding required.

The department has contracted with Off Duty Management (ODM), a company that schedules off-duty officers to serve as campus School Safety Officers at multiple schools in 11 Arizona counties as part of Horne’s goal to make sure students, educators and staff are protected by armed and uniformed officers. The officers may come from participating police agencies outside of their normal service area. For example, a Peoria officer may be assigned a school located in Phoenix.

Horne said, “The problem of finding officers to fill these funded school safety positions has been solved and it is vital that schools have armed officers on campus to prevent a tragedy should a maniac try to shoot up a school. Since taking office in January of this year, I have overseen the funding for 301 officers under the School Safety Program. Today, pending the approval of districts, we can begin to fill those positions and bring as many as 138 School Safety Officers (SSO) to campuses in 11 Arizona counties because of our initiative to work with ODM, a company that specializes in finding off-duty officers and assigning them to campus safety duties.”

He added, “Using ODM means an off-duty officer from one jurisdiction can be assigned to a school that is within the jurisdiction of another law enforcement agency. With this innovation, an officer can be provided to a school even if the community where that school is located has a shortage of its own officers. Cross-jurisdictional sharing of resources makes perfect sense to use this strategy to protect children in schools.”

Among the components of this model are:

• The SSO model will be used in schools that do not have a dedicated School Resource Officer (SRO). The SSO shall perform the same duties as an SRO.
• The SSO shall work with school personnel to conduct site assessments of their respective schools and provide recommendations to reinforce a safe school environment.
• The SSO shall work with school staff and other appropriate personnel to ensure their assigned school has an updated Emergency Response Plan.
• Foster Partnerships with students, school staff, and parents to build meaningful relationships with law enforcement.
• ADE will provide 8 hours of asynchronous training within 60 days of joining the program. Work hours will be established by participating schools and it is expected that SSOs will be on campus for the entirety of their shift.

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For immediate release: October 12, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne announces creation of public-private Arizona Education Economic Commission

Group will address workforce development in critical areas including chip manufacturing, health care, law enforcement, many others

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has joined forces with the private sector and representatives from the governments of Switzerland, Taiwan, and the Navajo Nation to create the Arizona Education Economic Commission, a collaboration between education and industry to encourage the development of workforce and economic opportunities for Arizona’s students.

Developed by the Arizona Department of Education, the Commission is a public-private partnership led by the private sector and includes representation from multiple disciplines including computer and related technologies as typified by the TSMC facility under construction in north Phoenix, manufacturing, health care, law enforcement and fire sciences, mining, aerospace, and other private sector entities central to Arizona’s economy.

The core mission of the Commission is to address the shortage of skilled workers in strategic industries and to give students and adults a pathway to valuable careers. Ensuring students have the academic skills needed to perform in the economy is top priority of Superintendent Horne.

Horne stated, “My obsession is to make sure that Arizona’s public school students are academically prepared to succeed in our economy, and the Arizona Education Economic Commission is critical to achieving that goal. It is especially important that as students begin to develop their career aspirations that the education system encourages and nurtures those goals. The advantages for students are tremendous. For example, the starting salary for a high school graduate working at the TSMC operation after an apprenticeship will be $ 70,000.”

He added, “The private sector desperately needs more skilled workers across all industries and creating this Commission with its goal of producing skilled graduates, creating jobs and driving economic growth is essential to meet those needs.”

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Director General Amino C.Y. Chi said, “I extend my deep gratitude to esteemed Arizona State Government and your Commission for cherishing our partnership and friendship. We believe this Commission will bring a lot of benefits to your esteemed state whether in industry or education system and Taiwan Government and my office, the Education Division, will put efforts as much as possible to cooperate with your esteemed state government.”

He added, “As a Founding member for the Arizona Education Economic Commission, you may be aware that Taiwan is very well known for its innovation, technology and vocational education, thus I am confident that our two sides can launch many possibilities to mutually benefit each other in the near future.”

The Honorable Jacques Pitteloud - Swiss Ambassador to the United States said, “Dear friends in Arizona, what a great initiative to create the Arizona Education Economic Commission. Switzerland is honored to serve as a Founding Member to this worthy and ambitious Commission. An exemplary model in Arizona and hopefully an inspiration to many other U.S. states to prepare tomorrows workforce and ensure economic growth with vision. I congratulate you on the creation of the Arizona Education Economic Commission.”

The AEEC will build scalable work-based learning and apprenticeship frameworks that will build on the natural relationship between Career and Technical Education and the private sector. It will utilize a results-based process guided by proven global best practices and driven by an international team of educational leaders and key industry executives. Initiatives from this Commission will help create and keep jobs in both metro regions and greater Arizona.

For more information: azed.gov

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For immediate release: October 11, 2023
Contact: [email protected] (Horne)
[email protected] (Petersen)
[email protected] (Toma)
 

Superintendent Horne, Senate President Petersen and Speaker Toma issue response to Governor’s recent claims about Empowerment Scholarship Account costs

PHOENIX – Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, Senate President Warren Petersen and Speaker Ben Toma have issued the following joint statement in response to Governor Hobbs’ recent claims regarding the costs of the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.

Superintendent Horne stated, “The Governor’s calculation is in error. She is counting the $7,200 paid for each ESA student without offsetting the $13,000 paid per student that would otherwise be spent for that student to attend a public school. The overall numbers bear this out as the expenditures for all public school spending, including the ESA program are $72 million below budget.”

Senate President Petersen said, “Arizona families want choices for their children's education. ESAs are one of many choices the Legislature is prioritizing. The fact is, we budgeted for the 68,000 kids currently enrolled and have responsibly planned for incremental spending increases for this program in the years to come, as we do with a variety of other programs in our overall budget. We're always open to improving our state’s programs, but for the sake of Arizona families who want to choose the best educational settings to meet their children’s needs, ESAs are here to stay.”

He added, “Unfortunately, the immediate crisis negatively impacting our budget is the skyrocketing inflation caused by reckless policies being pushed by Democrats at the federal level. This is crushing Arizonans’ ability to have discretionary income. As a result, many of our citizens are struggling to pay for basic necessities, they’re spending much less, and now our state is limited in the tax revenues we’re able to generate. We will evaluate ways to cut spending to accommodate any budget shortfall, but our school choice program will not be on the chopping block.”

Speaker Toma stated, "Governor Hobbs continues to blast the ESA program as unsustainable and exceeding estimates. Neither are true. We remind the Governor that she leads the entire state of Arizona, and if she seeks changes to the ESA program, she ought to propose serious policies, not tweet vague threats. The State Legislature has yet to see any policy proposals from her office. Arizona will continue to responsibly fund students, not systems."

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