Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1508868
AT THE CAPITOL 5 FALL 2023 | ADVOCATE "America's worst school official." at's what Ja'han Jones, a contributor for MSNBC, called Tom Horne in an opinion piece earlier this year. And as Arizona educators, we're inclined to agree. Since January, Tom Horne has served as our state's Superintendent of Public Instruction, a position previously held by speech-language pathologist (and former AEA member!) Kathy Hoffman. And in just a few short months, he's managed to: • Mismanage our state's ESA voucher program, to the point where even voucher proponents are complaining and calling for significant changes to how the program is run • Allow a massive data breach that exposed the private information of thousands of ESA voucher students and families • Make national headlines for launch- ing a "hotline" for complaints about educators • Get more than 30,000 prank calls on said hotline along with basically zero real complaints • Declare war on dual-language pro- grams beloved by students, families and educators alike, despite decades of research showing that these programs boost academic outcomes for all stu- dents, including English learners • Attack trans kids, and then attack trans kids some more • Do essentially nothing that actually helps educators, students, families or our public schools Horne comes to the job aer a long career marked by corruption, and mismanagement. An early start in finance was brought to an abrupt halt aer a SEC investigation found he'd filed false reports and engaged in fraud. Aer decades as a school board member in Paradise Valley, he served an initial term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction between 2003 and 2011. He pushed for a statewide ban on ethnic studies, until a federal judge ruled that the ban had "an He's Baaack: Tom Horne Takes the Reins Again as State Superintendent invidiously discriminatory purpose"; he fought against bilingual education, until the Justice Department blocked him. He then became Attorney General of Arizona and quickly came under investigation by multiple state and federal agencies for campaign finance crimes and other misconduct. One highlight? e time that two FBI investigators caught him on camera doing a hit and run while trying to cover up an affair. Today, Horne's in charge of a $950 million ESA voucher program with essentially no accountability, transparency or oversight. But what could go wrong, right? Source: Original photo Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America.