by Staff Reporter | Sep 18, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Department of Education (ED) announced a significant new investment in school choice.
On Monday, ED pledged “historic” investments into charter schools, American history and civics programs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs).
The department repurposed funding from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs to fund these investments.
ED Secretary Linda McMahon said the funds were reserved for programs “which support student success.”
“The Department has carefully scrutinized our federal grants, ensuring that taxpayers are not funding racially discriminatory programs but those programs which promote merit and excellence in education,” said McMahon. “The Trump Administration will use every available tool to meaningfully advance educational outcomes and ensure every American has the opportunity to succeed in life.”
ED also pledged over $160 million to the American History and Civics Education National Activities — Seminars for America’s Semiquincentennial program. 2026 will mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.
ED will award American history and civics grants for seminars that “directly commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Founding of the United States.” Eligible seminar programming must make a feature study of American political tradition: the ideas, institutions, and texts instrumental to this nation’s constitutional government and history. The seminars must also be based on “the first principles of American founding.” Eligible seminars must include the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
$500 million in grants will be distributed to charter schools for the 2025 fiscal year. Another total of nearly $500 million collectively will be sent as one-time investments to HBCUs and TCCUs.
As justification for the reallocation of millions in government grants, ED cited the poor student outcomes exhibited by the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores released earlier this month. Student NAEP scores reached “historic lows” throughout K-12.
Nationally, average NAEP scores were lower across all three assessments: science at grade 8, mathematics at grade 12, and reading at grade 12.
Arizona students scored lower across the various subjects than the average national scores for both fourth and eighth graders. Fourth grade math scores averaged 232, compared to the national average of 237; fourth grade reading scores averaged 208, compared to the national average of 214; and fourth grade science scores averaged 149, compared to the national average of 153.
Eighth grade math scores averaged 270, compared to the national average of 272; eighth grade reading scores averaged 254, compared to the national average of 257; and eighth grade science scores averaged 148, compared to the national average of 153.
McMahon called the NAEP results “devastating,” and indicative of a trend of generations unprepared for adult life. McMahon questioned the spending of billions annually with such dismal results, and pledged to claw back some of those funds to invest in individual states and educational choice.
“At a critical juncture when students are about to graduate and enter the workforce, military, or higher education, nearly half of America’s high school seniors are testing at below basic levels in math and reading. Despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs, the achievement gap is widening, and more high school seniors are performing below the basic benchmark in math and reading than ever before,” said McMahon. “If America is going to remain globally competitive, students must be able to read proficiently, think critically, and graduate equipped to solve complex problems. We owe it to them to do better.”
In May, ED pledged to increase charter school funding by $60 million for a program budget total of $500 million.
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by Tamra Farah | Jun 10, 2025 | Opinion
By Tamra Farah |
Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee (51) has announced her candidacy for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, challenging incumbent Tom Horne (80) in the 2026 primary election. Both candidates are Republicans. Both are statewide elected officials. Yee is term-limited as Arizona Treasurer. Voters will decide which candidate is best equipped to lead the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and address the state’s K-12 educational challenges. Here are some notes on the job itself and the candidate’s positions.
The Role of the Superintendent
It is a big job. The superintendent oversees the ADE, manages education policy, administers state and federal funds, and ensures compliance with standards for approximately 1.1 million students across more than 200 districts, 400 charter school holders, and over 550 charter school campuses. The primary responsibilities fall into three categories: choice, policies, and academics.
The Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) is the banner issue on choice. Current policy issues include merit-based programs such as school report cards and cultural hot buttons such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Academics consist of all scholastic initiatives. The role demands collaboration with the State Board of Education, engagement with parents and administrators, and a focus on student well-being, school safety, and parental choice.
CHOICE: Empowerment Scholarship Accounts
Educational choice has long been an Arizona value. In fact, the Arizona legislature expanded the ESA program in 2022 to include all Arizona K-12 students. It has grown during Horne’s term, from 12,000 to approximately 85,000 students between January 2023 and mid-2024, or from 1.1% to 7.7% of Arizona’s 1.1 million K-12 students. However, the program faces scrutiny. A 2024 Heritage Foundation survey reported that 65% of parents struggle to contact ADE staff, and 63% have difficulty getting answers about ESA issues.
The survey revealed that nearly half (49%) of the respondents in the Heritage Foundation’s December 2024 survey experienced curriculum request denials due to insufficient curriculum documentation, attributed to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ (Democrat) July 2024 directive requiring ESA purchases to be tied to a specific curriculum. Superintendent Tom Horne criticized these requirements, stating, “We are supporting the Goldwater Institute in challenging it in court, and we’re hoping to get that overturned so that we won’t have that silly rule anymore,” referring to the September 2024 lawsuit (Aguirre v. State of Arizona), which argues that Mayes’ restrictions violate state law and the ESA handbook, which does not mandate such documentation for supplementary materials. Horne is not a plaintiff in the case.
In general, the poll found that 66% of ESA parents indicated dissatisfaction with the department’s “program administration” and found it cumbersome or difficult to tap into the benefits of the ESA. For example, reimbursement delays were frustrating parents and, in some cases, caused economic hardship. The 2023 transition from debit cards to ClassWallet and staffing shortages led to manual review backlogs. The Heritage survey found that 88% of respondents said they would prefer access to a debit card to make purchases using their child’s ESA funds rather than ClassWallet’s online payment system, or to pay out of pocket and submit a claim for reimbursement. In addition, 77% of parents experienced long wait times for approvals, and 86% for reimbursements.
In my interview with Horne, he addressed these issues, stating, “The complaint related to delays in reimbursements is valid, and I took it very seriously. Most of the requests are under $2,000. Requests over $2,000 get checked out before they’re paid. Requests under $2,000 are paid without checking them out, subject to later risk auditing. In addition, our parent user group sets amounts for specific requests that would be approved without question. Those two things solved the problem. The amounts have become controversial. The parent user group are fearful that if we lose, those delays will occur again.” I asked Horne how many or what percentage of the parent user group might allegedly fear delays under a new superintendent. His assertion, without data to back it up, is questionable.
In my interview with Yee, she positions herself as a longtime supporter of school choice, including as an Arizona State Senator. She states that she understands the intent of the ESA to provide parents with an easy-to-use mechanism for choosing the best education for their kids, explaining, “As a former member of the Arizona legislature, I sponsored and supported the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts to expand the school choice options for families in Arizona. Arizona has long been a national leader in parental rights and giving families various options for school choice that best fits their child’s unique educational needs.”
Yee added, “As the future superintendent and a longtime school choice advocate with a proven conservative track record, I will protect and preserve school choice in Arizona and ensure the ESA program is run efficiently and effectively and will work with the legislature to provide fiscal accountability at all levels of our education system that the taxpayers deserve.”
Yee believes that Horne has created unnecessary burdens for ESA families, stating, “Empowerment Scholarship Accounts were created by the legislature, and it is important that the functions of administering ESAs are strictly and only determined by the law—not by a rogue superintendent who continues to overreach his authority by creating arbitrary policies out of the Department of Education by unelected bureaucrats.”
POLICIES: Addressing DEI
Though policies include teacher certification, school safety programs, and a host of compliance issues, the hot button issue is DEI. Both candidates have addressed DEI policies in schools, particularly considering the federal mandate under President Trump requiring districts to eliminate DEI practices or risk losing funding. Horne said, “I’m working very hard to implement President Trump’s education action. I’ve told the schools if they don’t sign a statement that they’re not doing DEI, their funds will be cut off.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes publicly opposed Horne’s enforcement of the Trump administration’s April 3, 2025, U.S. Department of Education mandate requiring schools to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing approximately 11% of federal funding. Mayes argues that Trump lacks legal authority to withhold funds, as stated in her April 17, 2025, response to the Kyrene School District case. The mandate, rooted in a directive, cites Title VI, and the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling was blocked by federal judges, supporting Horne’s reference here to a district court ruling: “I’m very satisfied as a former attorney general that [it] will be [confirmed] overall on appeal and while other superintendents in other states have objected to it, I have enthusiastically supported President Trump’s program.”
Horne relies on a parent hotline for DEI compliance monitoring, explaining, “I have a hotline that parents can contact me and let me know when schools that said they weren’t doing DEI are doing DEI. It’s not a formal follow-up or proof they’ve done it. It’s just random parents who may or may not call the hotline…and we do report when we get a message on the hotline; we report to the federal government so that they can take it into account and cut funds.” When later asked, Horne said the hotline call data indicated “572 [districts and charter schools] have signed and 23 have refused. Some of those who have signed are probably not honest about it, so we’ll be watching for that.”
Asking Yee what she would do as it relates to DEI, she highlighted her efforts against DEI as State Treasurer, stating, “I have a solid record on fighting back against radical DEI policies as the State Treasurer of Arizona. This legislative session, my office moved forward an anti-DEI bill in the legislature to ensure that DEI is not used in the hiring, promotion, or training of state employees in Arizona agencies. As the head of the Arizona Treasury, I hire based on a person’s individual skills, experience, and merit.” She pledged effective action as superintendent, adding, “I support President Trump’s requirement to remove federal funding from schools that continue to promote DEI in school administration and inside the classroom. As superintendent, my administration will not only clean up woke DEI policies from day one, but we will ensure funding is removed immediately from any schools that ignore this federal mandate because we must get back to the basics of focusing on reading, math, and student success in our classrooms.”
ACADEMICS: Scholastic Proficiency
Arizona has not performed with distinction academically since its public school systems were included in the National Rankings. Under Horne, academic proficiency has not improved; rather, it declined. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Arizona’s 4th-grade reading scores dropped from 215 (Basic) in 2022 to 208 in 2024, below the national average of 214 (a proficient score is 238). Data for 2023-2024 is not yet available on the ADE website, but further details can be found at nationsreportcard.gov.
Horne outlined his efforts, stating, “I have 15 initiatives [to help] the schools improve academic results. I’m personally involved in every one of those 15, so I’m quite busy, and I’ll give you a couple of examples. We have solutions teams to go out to the schools; these are highly qualified teachers and principals who go out to schools to help them.” He highlighted a program targeting the bottom 5% of schools, noting, “One of the projects they made was the bottom 5% of schools—90 some schools—and after they worked with them, 70% of those schools are no longer in the bottom 90% and that demonstrated in part that poor kids can learn as well as rich kids as long as they are properly taught. We adopted a school in a very poor area, and we sent people out every week from my department to work on fifth grade…showing the teachers how to teach them and doing some teaching themselves, and we increased their math courses by 27%.” Horne was unsure if the information he provided related to his “15 initiatives” is available for stakeholders to review on the ADE website, and at this writing, it cannot be confirmed through a search of other available sources.
Yee focused on foundational skills, drawing on her experience, saying, “My policy background in education began in the 1990s, where I helped develop academic content standards in reading and mathematics. It was important, even back then, to fight the woke educators who wanted to teach whole language reading with pictures only, because they thought that phonics would be too emotionally challenging for these young children. The result was illiterate children who were inappropriately being moved onto the next grade level, struggling with severe achievement issues because they never received basic, traditional skills in the classroom. We need to get back to the basics of reading and math in order for children to succeed.”
Candidates for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction
Yee’s and Horne’s campaign websites and other public sources provide background information about past experiences related to offices held and department leadership.
As Treasurer of Arizona since 2018, Kimberly Yee has increased total investment earnings to over $4.5 billion. She led the Treasury’s historic, record-high performance for earnings under the state land endowment, distributing over $2.43 billion to Arizona schools. In 2022, she was elected to her second term as State Treasurer of Arizona, garnering more votes than any other statewide elected official.
Bringing years of experience to public budgeting and executive agency management, Yee is a longtime financial education advocate and sponsored legislation to add financial literacy to the K-12 academic standards in schools. She has been the administrator of the statewide AZ529 Education Savings Plan for higher education since October 2020. In just 54 months, Arizona 529 accounts have increased by 54,178 new accounts, with $2.46 billion in assets under management, helping families save for higher education and workforce development.
In her early career, Yee focused on public policy in K-12 and higher education, emphasizing school choice as a senior research analyst for the Arizona Senate Education Committee. Also in the 1990s, she helped draft laws expanding open enrollment, charter schools, and homeschool protections. During two gubernatorial appointments under Republican governors, she worked on childcare, K-12 academic standards, and vocational education for career and college readiness. Elected to the Arizona Legislature in 2010, she was unanimously chosen as Senate Majority Leader, the second woman in that role after Sandra Day O’Connor. Congressional Quarterly’s Roll Call recognized her as one of the “25 Most Influential Women in State Politics.”
As the former Chairwoman of the Arizona Senate Education Committee, Yee sponsored legislation recognizing traditional district and charter schools and expanded eligibility for Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, particularly for low-income students. She has also earned numerous awards and recognitions, including as the recipient of the Friend of the Taxpayer Award, the Friend of the Family Award, the Golden Apple Award, and multiple School Choice Champion Awards. She was honored as one of the 48 Most Intriguing Women in Arizona in a book sponsored by the Arizona Centennial Legacy Project.
Tom Horne first served as Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011 and was re-elected in 2022. As Superintendent, he implemented Structured English Immersion, increasing English proficiency rates for English Language Learners from 4% to 31% in one year, stating, “At 31% in one year, within three or four years everyone becomes proficient.” Historical reports from Horne’s earlier tenure support similar improvements. No specific 2023–2025 ADE data confirms this exact figure. Horne states he was a key advocate for banning ethnic studies through Senate Bill 1069 (2010), arguing that public schools should “develop the student’s identity as Americans and as strong individuals” rather than “promote ethnic chauvinism.”
Horne implemented social studies standards annually, ensuring students “learn lessons in five areas, including American history, world history, geography, civics and government, and economics” from kindergarten through high school. Horne replaced bilingual education with Structured English Immersion, increasing English proficiency rates for English Language Learners from 4% to 31% in one year. He also worked with the State Board to require reading proficiency before third graders advance to fourth grade.
Horne’s campaign website currently refers to “appointing Christine Accurso to manage ‘educational choice to help shape and mold the futures of their precious children.’” However, Mrs. Accurso resigned from her position directing ESAs after seven months in 2023. Strangely, Horne’s campaign website has not been updated. Horne’s site also emphasizes accountability, which appears to be lacking in his performance, stating, “There are two kinds of accountability. There’s academic accountability; you want to see results for putting in more resources. And then there’s financial accountability; the money goes toward teachers’ salaries rather than administration because a school can be no better than the teachers in the classroom.”
Horne served on a school district board for 24 years and served as Arizona Attorney General from 2011 to 2015. During a campaign finance investigation in March 2012, the FBI observed a hit-and-run in a Phoenix parking garage. The FBI concluded Horne left the scene to hide an affair with Carmen Chenal, a subordinate earning $108,000 as an assistant attorney general. Horne was not criminally charged.
In his reeletion bid in 2014, Horne lost to Mark Brnovich in the Repbulican primary for Arizona Attorney General. Brnovich’s campaign highlighted ethical issues and scandals surrounding Horne, including the FBI investigation into alleged campaign finance violations from Horne’s 2010 campaign and the extramarital affair. Brnovich also brought attention to a whistleblower claim by former staffer Sarah Beattie that Horne used his Attorney General’s office staff for campaign work, violating state law.
Horne’s legal background includes graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College and with honors from Harvard Law School and serving as a Special Assistant Attorney General and Judge Pro-Tem.
Looking Ahead for the Arizona Department of Education
The 2026 primary election for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, set for Tuesday, August 4, followed by the general election on November 3, will shape the future of the state’s education system.
As our state looks forward to the 2026 election, Arizonans should carefully research each candidate. If the ESA program can be administered effectively and efficiently, more families will likely benefit from it. It would be wise to ensure that the next superintendent can operate in a fiscally responsible manner while prioritizing improvements in student academic achievement. Arizona’s 1.1 million students and the state’s future deserve strong leadership at the Department of Education.
Tamra Farah leads AmericanStrategies.org, bringing twenty years of experience in public policy and politics as a journalist while focusing on protecting individual liberty and promoting limited government. She has engaged with ten local, state, and federal candidates and organizations, such as Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, Moms for America, and Arizona Women of Action. Farah frequently appears on conservative radio, television, and in print media.
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 22, 2025 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne released a statement this week regarding the Primavera Online charter school, Arizona’s largest charter school operator. Primavera is facing revocation of its charter from the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools due to low academic results.
Responding to calls for him to intervene, Horne, who holds a seat on the board, stated, “I have no power or influence over that.” In his statement responding to calls to stop the revocation from Attorney Jesse Binnall, who represents Primavera, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, Horne explained that the role of regulating charter schools is divided in Arizona between the Arizona Department of Education and the Board for Charter Schools.
Horne stated, “The legislature chose to divide jurisdiction regarding charter schools between the Arizona Department of Education and the Charter Board. The current issue is within the jurisdiction of the Charter Board. I have no power or influence over that. If I were to try to influence it, the Charter Board would resent the trespass on their turf, and it would do more harm than good. There is likely to be an appeal to an administrative law judge, and the school needs to marshal its evidence to present to the administrative law judge. If I am asked for any data or other information that the department has, I will of course immediately provide it regardless of which side requests it.”
Speaking at a press conference in front of the Capitol, Binnall, who formerly worked on President Donald Trump’s legal team, compared the potential closure of Primavera to lawfare designed to stifle school choice. He said, “The voters of this country have spoken loud and clear … that President Trump’s agenda, which includes school choice, is highly favored by the voters. Instead of getting on board with this policy, you have some people that are trying to use various versions of lawfare … in order to get in the way of school choice.”
“We have to be confident that these people who serve … the people of Arizona are going to do the right thing for the children of Arizona,” he continued. “The right thing for the children of Arizona … is to help organizations like Primavera be more successful, not try to take away school choice.”
Primavera holds a designation as an alternative school owing to its focus on providing an education to at-risk students. In a board meeting on March 4th, Primavera Online founder and CEO Damian Creamer said that the school was incorrectly designated while he was on leave caring for his ailing wife and was graded as if it were a traditional school. Officials from Primavera argued that the school would’ve received a passing “C” grade if it had been properly designated.
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 Daniel Stefanski | Feb 17, 2025 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A bill to help improve students’ focus at schools around Arizona passed a legislative committee.
Last week, the Arizona House Committee on Science & Technology passed HB 2484 “to require school districts and charter schools to adopt policies that regulate student access to the internet and limit the use of wireless communication devices during the school day.” State Representative Beverly Pingerelli is the sponsor of the legislation.
In a statement that accompanied the announcement of the bill’s progress, Representative Pingerelli said, “The excessive use of cell phones in schools is a growing crisis that is harming our children’s education and well-being. It’s time to restore order in the classroom. My bill ensures that schools establish common-sense policies to keep students focused on learning rather than scrolling through social media and texting during class. The goal is simple: devices should be ‘away for the day’ so kids can engage in their education, free from constant digital distractions.”
Pingerelli added, “Education should be about equipping our children with knowledge and skills, not competing with TikTok and Snapchat for their attention. This bill restores a learning environment where teachers can teach, and students can succeed.”
Additional information about the bill revealed that it would “require school districts and charter schools to adopt policies that restrict student access to social media on school-provided internet and limit personal device use during instructional time, allow teachers to grant access to social media only when necessary for educational purposes, [and] ensure that students can use their devices in emergencies or when directed by a teacher for academic work.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from Stand for Children, AZ School Administrators, and Arizona School Boards Association signed in to support the proposal; while a representative from the Arizona Education Association signed in as neutral.
State Representatives Biasiucci, Gress, Hendrix, and Márquez joined as co-sponsors of the bill.
In committee, all nine members of the panel voted to send the bill to the full House, giving this proposal an overwhelmingly bipartisan win ahead of its next step in the legislative journey.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 11, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona’s charter schools are about to receive a fresh infusion of taxpayer dollars in a federal grant from the United States Department of Education. The grant is expected to fund the establishment of two dozen new charter schools and bolster another 23 already in operation.
As reported by The Center Square, the state of Arizona has received approximately 24% of the $143 million awarded across the nation by the Expanding Opportunities Through Quality Charter Schools Program, a total of about $34.8 million. The outlet noted that although the funding originates from fiscal 2024 it will be distributed in annual disbursements through 2029.
In a press release from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said, “I am extremely pleased that we have received this federal grant that will create 24 new high-quality charter schools and help another 23 existing schools with models and practices that result in academic growth. I want to commend the department staff who competed for this funding. Their work has resulted in the state receiving the largest recipient of this grant, per capita, in the country.”
Horne added, “Arizona is the leader in the country on school choice and charters are a major component of that. These dollars will serve a vital purpose in making sure that an estimated 10,000 students in traditionally underserved areas will have a chance to select a high-quality charter school. Every student in every part of our state, urban or rural, rich or poor, deserves this opportunity and I am very pleased to be a part of this effort.”
Speaking with AZ Capitol Times, Horne explained Arizona’s long-term history of fostering charter schools saying, “The charter schools in Arizona go back to the 1990s.” Then, he noted that as a state legislator, he championed charter schools and their purpose. “Even a good district school may not necessarily meet the needs of all the students,” Horne told the outlet. “And so the parents should have the ability to find a school that does meet those needs.”
In the release, ADE stated that it has already begun work on the upcoming project “which aims to increase the number of high-quality charter schools focusing on educationally disadvantaged students.” It added that such students are identified by their economic disadvantage, disability status, as non-English speakers, and as “other demographic groups.”
The statement outlined the grant’s purpose stating:
“The grant also seeks to close achievement gaps in academic scores, provide technical assistance to educators to improve teaching and learning and encourage dual or concurrent enrollment in college level courses. The expectation is that students will experience at least one year of academic growth on state tests for math, reading and language arts with a long-term measurement of cumulative three-year growth.”
At present, approximately 560 charter schools are in operation throughout Arizona serving about 231,000 students. The Center Square report cited the Arizona Charter Schools Association. Under Arizona law, all charter schools are open enrollment and as a result enjoy wide adoption. The outlet reported that the California Department of Education, Colorado League of Charter Schools, New York State Education Department, Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, and Rhode Island Department of Education also received 2024 grant funding as well.
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.
