In his upcoming term, Horne said he would reduce administrative costs that he believes stifle charter schools’ efforts to innovate.|| Arizona Capitol Times
By Yana Kunichoff || Arizona Republic
In 2010, the promise of a visit from Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction to Tucson amid the battle over the future of ethnic studies brought out hundreds of students protesters, part of a wave of organizing in the years-long battle over the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American studies curriculum.
More than a decade later, that public official, Republican Tom Horne, will soon return to office for this third term as Arizona’s schools chief. He previously served from 2003 to 2011.
Horne is returning to the Arizona Department of Education with several big-picture goals. He’s expressed a desire to raise test scores, make classrooms more disciplined, and keep English language learners from accessing bilingual education.
But the system that he will oversee faces existential challenges.
A newly minted school voucher program will steer millions of taxpayer dollars to lightly regulated private schools. A major staff shortage has left schools across the state scrambling for teachers, bus drivers and kitchen staff. Total public school spending has hit a limit that could force massive budget cuts if the Legislature doesn’t act.
With those obstacles in mind, some education advocates said they hope to see Horne the candidate — who focused on hot-button issues like critical race theory — turn into an administrator who keeps the needs of all the state’s students and educators in mind.
“It’s going to be important for superintendent-elect Horne to remember that he is elected to represent all Arizona students,” said Stephanie Parra, executive director of ALL In Education, an organization that aims to increase the number of Latino education leaders in Arizona. Forty-seven percent of Arizona’s public school student population is Latino, and 64% is not white.
“Not just his constituency or his core base of voters, but every single student,” she said.
