Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced the extension of free services through the Achievement Tutoring Program until the end of the 2024-25 school year. Horne hopes the move will allow a greater number of Arizona students to take advantage of the highly successful program.
In a statement released Wednesday, Horne said, “Studies show tutoring to be the best method for academic growth. A year ago, I announced that we would repurpose about $40 million in COVID relief funds that had been allocated by the previous administration, and were not being used for academic purposes, to create the Achievement Tutoring Program. The results have been excellent as students who get this tutoring have shown significant academic growth. Because we have received an extension that allows remaining funds to continue to be used, this program will continue through at least the end of the current school year.”
The program’s website lays out that it consists of “Six-week tutoring blocks with 60 minute sessions up to four days per week.” The students will also complete pre-and post-tutoring testing to determine their needs and gauge advancement during each tutoring block.
Due to Federal rules in the extension of COVID relief (ESSER) funds, the program is no longer available at public schools but can still be accessed by students in need through private providers and the Arizona Department of Education.
According to the Department, the Achievement Tutoring Program provides tutoring for K-12 students in reading, writing, and mathematics and since its inception, has instructed 30,400 students over a seven session period. Enrollment grew from November 2023 with 4,200 students to over 6,800 students, and the current session is accepting new enrollments through October.
The highly successful Achievement Tutoring Program initiated last year by Superintendent Tom Horne is being extended through the end of the 2024-25 school year, allowing more students to take advantage of this free program. https://t.co/S8n6Zv5oORpic.twitter.com/WtlMSqRxpr
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) October 16, 2024
The release noted that in terms of academic achievement, the students enrolled “experienced at least a half-year’s worth of academic growth in six weeks, which is excellent progress in a short period of time.”
Several parents participating in the program with their children sent testimonials to the Arizona Deparment of Education, and Horne highlighted five:
Colleen, wrote to say, “I am incredibly grateful for the services and support provided by the program. I am confident that all three of my children will have increased confidence and improved report cards in the fall.”
Heather wrote, “As a single mom raising six young men, I could never afford to get tutoring like this to help them get caught up and build the confidence they need to have in life.”
From Jennifer, “The Achievement Tutoring program has helped tremendously to fill in the gaps in (my child’s) learning loss… He has improved immensely!”
Alexandra said, “My son has grown so much in reading… He finally has the confidence in reading that he has lacked for so long! I was so proud I actually cried.”
Catherine wrote, “My daughter had been struggling, but is now much more confident in her math skills… I truly hope the ATP program will continue, as it’s changing lives and helping so many. Especially some of us with limited financial resources.”
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued a statement of support for a lawsuit challenging Attorney General Kris Mayes’ restrictions on the state’s school choice program.
Horne said that he maintains concerns that Mayes will demand the return of Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) funds from families based on her interpretation of the laws governing allowable expenses.
In July, Mayes advised the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) that, per her interpretation of the law, parents should no longer be reimbursed for supplementary educational materials not expressly outlined in curriculum.
Though Mayes acknowledged that the statute on which she based her interpretation didn’t offer a definition of “supplemental materials,” she argued in her letter to Associate Superintendent John Ward that the State Board of Education’s definition of the term should apply: “relevant materials directly related to the course of study for which they are being used that introduce content and instructional strategies or that enhance, complement, enrich, extend or support the curriculum.”
Mayes’ application of this definition requires explicit mention of all supplies required within a curriculum: even things like pencils and erasers. The ADE handbook doesn’t require documentation of items “generally known to be educational” in their purpose, such as pencils and erasers.
The attorney general directed Ward to provide documentation of total supplementary material expenditure from 2019 to present, as well as funds spent on curriculum materials without curriculum documentation and approved textbooks lacking proof of requirement by a qualified school or eligible postsecondary institution.
In response to Mayes’ directive, the Goldwater Institute sued on behalf of ESA mothers Velia Aguirre and Rosemary McAtee. The two mothers homeschool their children: Aguirre homeschools all three of her children, while McAtee homeschools seven of her nine children.
In their argument, the Goldwater Institute argued that Mayes’ directive was not only in violation of the law, it was a jeopardy to the existing backlog of tens of thousands of purchase orders — an issue that would inherently impact the education of many children relying on those ESA funds.
The Goldwater Institute also pointed out in a press release that not even public and private school curriculums necessarily list supplementary items such as pencils and erasers.
In a statement, Horne expressed hope that the Goldwater Institute would prevail in its lawsuit.
“The Department of Education concedes the argument of the Goldwater Institute. When this issue first arose in July, my concern was that the Attorney General could force Empowerment Scholarship Account holders to return funds if they did not comply with her office’s interpretation of the law. This lawsuit will settle the issue in court and my sincere hope is that the arguments made by Goldwater will prevail.”
Horne had issued an anticipatory show of support for a hypothetical lawsuit from the Goldwater Institute in a response on the ADE page for ESAs immediately following Mayes’ letter. Horne clarified that a prior court decision bound ADE from having the standing to file lawsuits.
The superintendent said that he doesn’t agree with Mayes’ interpretation that supplementary materials are required to be tied to curriculum. However, Horne said that Mayes’ directive was one his department advised him that he couldn’t challenge and win.
As of Monday, over 78,600 students were enrolled in the ESA Program.
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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.”
Arizona’s Republican school’s chief is taking additional action to raise awareness for Holocaust education.
Earlier this week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne presented the Arizona Jewish Historical Society with a seven-million-dollar check for the purpose of creating the Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center.
The mission of the center, per its website, is that it will be “dedicated to exploring the lessons of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity. The Center educates and inspires visitors of diverse backgrounds through survivor stories, artifacts, immersive media experiences, community outreach, and public programs.” Its vision is to “inspire visitors to learn from the Holocaust, to become upstanders, and to work toward a world without hatred and bigotry.”
Horne stated, “In the past year, we have seen the unbelievable and tragic targeting of the Jewish community with the horrific acts committed on innocent men, women and children by Hamas in Israel, the ignorant and misguided protests against Jews on college campuses and the endorsement of antisemitic literature in some Arizona classrooms. This cannot go unchallenged, and educating people is one of the most powerful tools to face this scourge. Developing the Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center is a needed step toward bridging understanding between people of all ethnicities and belief systems and I am grateful to be a part of this important cause.”
Joining Horne at the presentation were State Representatives Alma Hernandez and David Marshall. Arizona business leader Steve Hilton also appeared alongside the state officials.
It was bipartisan legislation spearheaded by Hernandez and Marshall that made the check presentation from the Arizona Department of Education possible for the benefit of the Center.
According to the Center’s website, the explanation for why it is being created at this time is because “Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the United States, yet it is the largest U.S. city that does not have a Holocaust museum or education center. With anti-Semitic and hate crimes on the rise over the last five years in Arizona and the United States, now is the time to build a new center to raise awareness and educate the community so that we can help to address these critical issues that affect all groups of people that may be marginalized and made vulnerable to discrimination. When one group’s freedom is curtailed, all people are susceptible to prejudice and injustice.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona’s Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction is sounding the alarm about the state’s dwindling pool of teachers.
Earlier this month, Arizona’s school’s chief, Tom Horne, announced the results of a teacher retention survey “that shows alarming numbers pointing to a crisis in the teaching profession.”
According to the release from the Arizona Department of Education, “A survey of nearly 1,000 teachers who left the profession after 2023 shows large numbers of educators left because of lack of administrative support for classroom discipline and a desire for better pay. Teachers are leaving the profession within the first few years of teaching at an alarming rate, and there are more teachers leaving than are coming into the classroom. If this were to continue, we would ultimately end up with no teachers.”
Horne said, “This is a crisis, and it needs to be addressed immediately. In the most recent legislative session, I urged the passage of a bill that would require school leaders to support classroom teachers in discipline matters. Sadly, it did not get passed by the legislature and the crisis will not only persist but will just get worse.”
He added, “I have also consistently advocated for higher teacher pay, and yet legislative efforts have been rebuffed because of political disputes that do nothing to help improve the salaries of teachers. In short, just about any classroom teacher can tell you what they need to thrive as educators and lead students to academic excellence. Better pay and robust support from administrators on discipline are vital.”
The survey from the department collected responses from 945 Arizona teachers. Per the press release, “about 67 percent cited low pay. Nearly 64 percent agreed or strongly agreed that they left teaching because of student behavior and discipline problems. Almost 47 percent said they were dissatisfied with their administration and just over 45 percent were unhappy with working conditions.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
