Tom Horne announces he is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction. /Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy /Arizona Mirror
By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy| Arizona Mirror
Tom Horne, who held the position of superintendent of public instruction for eight years, announced Thursday he’s running for the office again, on a platform against bilingual education and critical race theory.
“Since I left office, much of my work has been undone,” said Horne, who was accompanied by Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, and Rep. Judy Burges, R-Sun City.
Horne, a Republican, was behind a ban on ethnic studies in the state during his tenure and had to defend the ban in court even after his time in office was over.
The ban was found to be unconstitutional but Horne said Thursday that if elected, he’d appeal the ruling from a “liberal 9th circuit judge” and that with a now “conservative (U.S.) Supreme Court” he feels an appeal would rule in his favor.
Horne handed reporters present at his press conference a 14-page packet detailing his positions, which include a return to English immersion over bilingual education, using the state to take over failing schools, “killing ethnic studies” and ensuring schools do not use The New York Times’1619 Project, which reframes U.S. history around the date when enslaved people were first brought to America.
Horne served most recently as Arizona’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2015.
