By Matthew Holloway |

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued a press release Thursday alerting parents of the Osborn School District that callers to the Arizona Department of Education’s (ADE) Empower Hotline have reported the central Phoenix district is allowing race and gender politics into the classroom, supporting Black Lives Matters and other political signage. Horne condemned the decision stating that the district is allowing race and gender politics to distract from academics. However, he noted that Arizona is a local-control state, so he is unable to intervene, and Osborn District parents must act.

In a statement, Horne said, “As Superintendent of Public Instruction my primary focus is helping schools increase academic outcomes, and the Osborn school district is not doing well academically, in part because of needless and provocative distractions.”

“We received a notification on the department’s Empower Hotline from a member of the Osborn community, who is offended by what is going on at that school district. This person sent pictures of a classroom wall that instead of posting academic materials had a big Black Lives Matter poster. They also sent a picture of stickers given to the students with the Osborn logo, surrounded by the colors associated with gender politics. The district provides magnets to attach this to cars, and stickers to students and staff, according to the notification we received on the hotline. There are no posters of brown lives matter, blue lives matter. Where does one stop when one goes down this path?”

Citing test scores holding up Phoenix’s Osborn District alongside the demographically similar Avondale Elementary District, which has an even higher poverty rate according to the free and reduced lunch enrollment, the release from the ADE noted that Avondale scores “significantly higher in academics.”

“81 percent of Osborn students are not proficient in math, compared to 67 percent in Avondale. In reading, 76 percent of Osborn students are not proficient, while that figure for Avondale is 63 percent.”

Horne offered some advice to school districts.

“If districts eliminate the time spent on race and gender politics they will have more time for academics. This will produce higher test scores. I spoke to the Osborne superintendent about this. He said what I was complaining about was designed to make all students feel welcome. The way to do that properly is to teach students to treat each other as individuals without regard to race, sexual orientation, sexual identity, or any such characteristic. It is not to promote identity politics in our public schools. He responded that we would have to agree to disagree.”

The State Superintendent added, “Arizona is a local control state. I do not have authority to order this to stop. We must rely on the parents and taxpayers in the Osborn school district to bring proper values and focus on academics to that school district. I urge them to do this as I do parents throughout Arizona who may observe this kind of needless distraction being promoted by schools.”

Pre-empting criticism for his opposition to the racial politics at play, Horne recalled his history of support for civil rights saying, “I have been a passionate supporter of civil rights since childhood. I attended the march on Washington in 1963 in which Martin Luther King gave his famous speech arguing that we should be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. That has been my philosophy my whole life.”

However, he made his recommendation clear: “Race and gender politics in schools are contrary to this philosophy which should be taught to all students.”

Matthew Holloway is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.