by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Apr 11, 2026 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
For more than a decade, the teachers’ unions and their allies at Save Our Schools (SOS) have made their mission clear: stop school choice in Arizona. They fought the expansion of our state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program at every turn. And after the program was made universal in 2022, they have endlessly pushed to repeal the expansion—including a failed ballot initiative where their signature count was off by more than 50,000. (Yes. These are the people pushing public education.)
With another election around the corner, SOS and the teachers’ unions have once again launched a ballot initiative designed to cripple ESAs. But a funny thing has happened in their efforts to get on the ballot. SOS and the teachers’ unions are suddenly claiming that the initiative isn’t about “eliminating the program.” And they’re pushing a talking point that their only concern is that the program isn’t “functioning properly.”
It’s a remarkable rewrite of history—and Arizona voters shouldn’t buy it…
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by Staff Reporter | Mar 18, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Gov. Katie Hobbs fired an Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) member following pressure from a public school activist group, email records revealed.
The emails obtained and published by FOIAzona revealed that Hobbs heeded a demand from Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) to fire former ASBE member Jenny Clark due to her general support for school choice.
SOSAZ led a ballot initiative in 2022 in an attempt to overturn the legislation that universalized Arizona’s school choice within the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program. The effort was unsuccessful after SOSAZ far overestimated their signature numbers when they turned in their signature sheets.
SOSAZ lobbyist Beth Lewis emailed Hobbs chief of staff Chad Campbell and deputy chief of staff Lourdes Pena in January of last year with the demand to fire Clark and another board member, Katherine Haley. Lewis alleged the pair were “anti-public school” due to their school choice affiliations.
Lewis recommended Hobbs replace Clark with an ESA parent of a special needs student, suggesting Kathy Boltz, a member of the SOSAZ board. Haley’s recommended replacement was Alison Bruening-Hamati, an administrator with the Tempe Elementary School District.
Three days after that initial email, Lewis sent a follow-up email to stress the urgency of both Clark and Haley’s removals, citing an upcoming (at the time) ASBE meeting to update the ESA Parent handbook.
Pena responded that they had “a plan in place to replace Clark,” and that they were holding “more ongoing convos” about Haley. Not much later, the former would be given the boot. For unknown reasons, the latter was permitted to remain on the board.
A little over three weeks later, Clark announced on social media that Hobbs’ office ignored her refusal to resign and notified her of a forthcoming letter confirming the end of her term. When that letter hadn’t arrived six days later, Clark again posted online to notify of the absence of the letter. Within hours, the governor’s office sent a letter notifying Clark that she had been replaced since her term had expired.
Several other members of the board were serving on expired terms when Hobbs ousted Clark. However, in a letter last March announcing the appointment of Lupita Hightower to replace former ASBE board member Anna Tovar, Hobbs’ office claimed no other ASBE members were serving expired terms. However, that was not true.
Haley, now the president, had her term expire last January. Both vice president Scott Hagerman and Jason Catanese had their terms expire in January 2024.
At the time of Hobbs’ letter last March, Karla Phillips-Krivickas and Jacqui Clay had unexpired terms. However, both of their terms expired this January.
Hightower did not replace Clark. Kathleen Wiebke, whose term was set to expire in 2029, replaced Clark last March but passed away in December.
ASBE also has two vacancies at present, one seat for a public member and one seat for a charter school administrator.
In all, five of the 11 board members are serving on expired terms and two are vacant.
Lewis, the author of the emails, responded that the publishing of her emails was “hilariously stupid” and accused the women she sought to remove from ASBE as “working to destroy public education.”
“[Y]all are just pearl clutching — take luck!” said Lewis.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 17, 2025 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
As another legislative session begins in Arizona, Republicans and Democrats are again bringing the all-important issue of school choice to the forefront of the public debate.
On Monday, Governor Katie Hobbs ushered in the start of the 57th Regular Session of the Arizona Legislature with her State of the State address, where she took time to criticize the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program. In her speech, Hobbs said, “The current program is unchecked, flawed, and rife with exploitation. Three years ago, it went far beyond its original purpose, which was to support kids with special needs and military families. Today, it has ballooned into a billion-dollar boondoggle increasingly scamming Arizonans. Other entitlements funded by taxpayers have strict oversight and income requirements. Yet the ESA program has the privilege of virtually no safeguards.”
Hobbs proposed changes to the ESA program for a “balanced solution that supports families and finally brings real and effective guardrails to ESAs.” Her solution was to “institute responsible income caps, ensure taxpayers know where their money is going, and create real accountability for taxpayer dollars.”
The governor’s remarks were met with immediate criticism from Republicans and others who support the expanded ESA program. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said, “Under my leadership, the department has done a full-court press against waste and fraud. I hired both a program auditor and an investigator, which had not been done before. I require that every expenditure be for a valid educational purpose and have been attacked for doing that. The Governor needs to pay more attention to what is going on. She gets an ‘F’.”
Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope added, “We will also protect parental choice, so that every child in the state has the ability to succeed in the classroom, no matter their zip code or financial status.”
Common Sense Institute Arizona wrote, “In her State of the State address, Governor Hobbs asked lawmakers to compare Arizona’s ESA program to other government entitlement programs with respect to accountability and transparency. Luckily, we already did! And it turns out that improper payment rates in the Arizona ESA program are a fraction of those in other government programs like Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, and SNAP.”
Jason Bedrick said, “The voters made their will clear by re-electing those who supported ESAs and expanding their legislative majority. The legislature should reject Gov. Hobbs’ attempts to undermine ESA families.”
On the flip side, Governor Hobbs’ comments received support from her allies, who have long attempted to shrink, regulate, or eliminate the historic ESA expansion program in Arizona. Save Our Schools Arizona Executive Director Beth Lewis responded, “It is time to end the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the universal ESA voucher program. We commend Governor Hobbs for championing public education and pushing for much-needed voucher reform. We sincerely hope legislators like Senate President Petersen who name ‘fiscal responsibility’ their top priority will bring long-overdue guardrails to this irresponsible program, which now costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion annually.”
Hobbs and legislative Republicans will continue to bicker about the future of school choice in Arizona, but not much – if anything – will be done this year (and likely the next) to regulate ESAs per the governor’s insatiable desire. Over the past two years, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen successfully fended off ferocious political attacks that targeted ESAs and other school choice opportunities for Arizonans. He will again be counted upon, along with his Republican colleagues in the Arizona House and Senate, to protect one of the top states in the country for school choice.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Oct 28, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick responded to a formal complaint against him to the Commission on Judicial Conduct from Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) regarding comments he’s made while campaigning for retention in the 2024 Election. Justice Bolick summarized his response in three words before addressing it more fully: “Bring it on.”
In a press release, SOSAZ claimed that Justice Bolick’s comments at a campaign event covered by Politico violate “several provisions of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct.” The group suggested that his speech at a Pentecostal Church in Sun City stating he would continue “fighting for conservative principles,” while standing near a cardboard cutout of President Donald Trump, breached public confidence in his “independence, impartiality, integrity, and competence.”
The activist group wrote, “SOSAZ’s written complaint asserts that Justice Bolick’s active campaigning at a Republican Party event violates several provisions of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct, which states that judges ‘should aspire at all times to conduct that ensures the greatest possible public confidence in their independence, impartiality, integrity, and competence.’ Justice Bolick’s appearance and comments at this Republican Party meeting certainly do not meet this standard, and we should expect better of our judges, especially those sitting on the state’s highest court.”
Speaking with KJZZ, SOSAZ Executive Director Beth Lewis told the outlet, “It’s not impartial and judges really do need to act with impartiality at all times.”
“Bolick has politicized the courts. It’s also been shown in his decisions, which are directly related to our work at Save Our Schools Arizona,” Lewis claimed. “His ideologically-based decisions have directly impacted our ability to fund our schools for many years.”
SOSAZ is running an extensive “do not retain” campaign against retaining Justice Bolick and fellow Justice Kathryn King. Bolick and King are the only two Supreme Court Justices facing retention votes this year. According to the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review, both Bolick and King received extremely high marks to meet the standards on the merits of their decisions.
In an email statement obtained by AZ Free News, Bolick responded to SOSAZ’s complaint:
“A political organization that is opposed to my retention as an Arizona Supreme Court justice has reportedly filed a judicial ethics complaint against me. My response: Bring it on.
I have spent much of my career as a lawyer and judge defending and protecting free-speech rights. I am glad to have the chance to stand up for my own and other judges’ free-speech rights.
Judges necessarily enjoy fewer free-speech rights than others. But we have the right to forcefully defend ourselves against an unprecedented campaign to replace judges solely for political reasons.
In doing so, I adhere meticulously to judicial ethics rules. Judges cannot endorse candidates for office, and I do not (not even my wife). Judges cannot ask for money to support their campaigns, and I do not. Judges may not talk about pending cases or issues that may come before the Court, and I do not. In short, we are forced to ‘campaign’ with one arm tied behind our backs. Our opponents have no such restraints.
The rules do allow us to speak at partisan events, although we cannot serve as party officers and cannot endorse candidates. That is no problem for me, as I have been a registered independent for more than two decades and am the only independent to ever serve on the Court. Since the campaign to remove Justice Kathryn King and me from the Court, I have spoken at both partisan and nonpartisan events.
During the retention campaign, I feel like I spend half my time defending against liberal critics over judicial opinions they do not like, and the other half against conservative critics of opinions they do not like. My colleagues and I were ‘censured’ by the Maricopa County Republican Party executive committee for voting against their wishes in election cases. As a judge committed to the rule of law, I see criticisms from both sides as a badge of honor.
The group’s news release makes clear this is about politics, not judicial ethics. Its executive director, Beth Lewis, tweeted that her vote against me was ‘personal,’ ‘gleeful anger,’ and ‘revenge.’ Filing a judicial ethics complaint for ‘revenge’ is an abuse of process.
But I hope they will pursue it even after the election because we need a clear precedent protecting the free-speech rights of judges to defend themselves, and I will be proud to have my name in the caption.
-Clint Bolick
One minor factual correction in the complaint: I was the last justice appointed to a five-member Court, which later was expanded to seven.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Aug 19, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne demanded an explanation from a prominent anti-school choice leader after her remarks defending males in female bathrooms and locker rooms.
Save Our Schools Arizona Director Beth Lewis criticized three of Horne’s guests for opposing males in female spaces. Lewis questioned why gender mattered in terms of intimate and traditionally gendered public spaces.
“Why do Tom Horne and these Grandmas care who my kids are sharing a bathroom with?” posted Lewis. “My kids and their peers accept each other — gay, straight, lesbian, trans, bi, they don’t care!”
Horne released a statement on Thursday challenging Lewis over her remarks. The superintendent said Lewis’ position was reckless and jeopardized the safety of children.
“These changes to Title IX regulations are outrageous since they allow biological boys to expose themselves to girls in bathrooms and locker rooms and invade the girls’ privacy,” stated Horne. “They will also cause unbelievable management challenges for campus administrators, teachers and coaches that will make their jobs much more difficult.”
The Biden administration modified Title IX regulations to redefine the term “sex” to include “gender identity” back in April. The change impacts access to gendered programs, activities, or spaces, which extends not only to bathrooms and locker rooms but sports teams as well.
Louisiana has challenged this change by the Department of Education in court. Last month, the Fifth Circuit and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals rejected the Biden administration’s requests to undo separate injunctions against their Title IX changes, stemming from challenges by the states of Kentucky and Louisiana. On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the injunctions.
Horne reflected on findings within the courts, specifically in the Louisiana case which presented evidence of a pattern of males attacking females in public restrooms.
“The courts see the tragedies that have already occurred because of policies such as the new Title IX regulations,” said Horne. “Beth Lewis and SOS have no excuse for not understanding that as well.”
Lewis responded to the statement by characterizing opposition to males in female bathrooms as “hateful rhetoric,” and deriding Horne as “a weirdo who is publicly obsessing over kids’ genitals.”
Prior to directing Save Our Schools Arizona, Lewis taught elementary and middle school students for over a decade.
Save Our Schools Arizona is a public schools advocacy organization with much of its focus on opposing the state’s school choice program. As the fight over gender ideology ramped up in recent years, their organization also took on advocacy in favor of LGBTQ+-friendly legislation.
In this past session, the organization opposed a requirement for students and adults to restrict access to school bathrooms, changing facilities, and any sleeping quarters in accordance with biological gender, as opposed to gender identity (the mental belief behind transgenderism).
Save Our Schools Arizona also regularly backs Democratic candidates, most recently applauding the naming of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
