State schools chief Tom Horne is canceling millions of dollars in contracts funded by COVID-19 aid that his Democratic predecessor awarded to Arizona education programs in order to funnel the money into a new tutoring program for struggling students. But the tutoring will help only about 10% of the students who are falling behind academically.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona received three federally funded grants to bolster public schools and improve student outcomes. Former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman awarded money from the third grant package to , a particular focus of her administration. Recipients included the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley and Playworks Arizona, which serves low-income schools and teaches inclusivity and conflict resolution via play.

On Sept. 6, Horne, a Republican who has vowed to raise academic achievement, announced that his office has eliminated and reduced ESSER-funded contracts by as much as $70 million. Of that, $40 million will be earmarked for a new tutoring program aimed at students in first grade through eighth who failed to meet a proficiency benchmark on state assessments.

鈥淲e have to make up for the deficiencies of our predecessors and make sure that the students learn more and we have better academic progress,鈥� Horne said at a Tuesday news conference.

Students who qualify will be able to take advantage of extra help four times a week for six weeks. Teachers who choose to tutor can teach a maximum of three students per six-week session, earning $30 an hour. And $200 bonuses would be awarded for every student who shows a one-half year academic gain between the pre-test administered at the start of the tutoring session and the post-test at its end.

It鈥檚 unlikely, however, that the funding will pay for tutoring sessions for more than a fraction of students who failed to meet state standards. There are at least 525,000 students who tested below proficiency in at least one subject, and the $40 million would cover tutoring sessions for only about 54,000 of them.

But Horne dismissed that criticism, saying any help is valuable.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 solve the whole problem,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 generate money out of thin air and we have to deal with the money we have, but a 40 million dollar program 鈥� for 1.3 million hours of tutoring 鈥� is very major.鈥�

Neither will the program target the populations most affected by pandemic-related learning loss. High poverty schools , and the inequality that already existed was . Instead, the program will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis, with applications set to launch on the department of education鈥檚 website on Sept. 15.

鈥淩ace has nothing to do with it, I鈥檓 looking purely at academic performance,鈥� said Horne.

If the program is successful, Horne anticipates taking the idea to the state legislature to continue it beyond the ESSER funding鈥檚 September 2024 deadline.

Organizations left in the lurch

As many as 27 contracts were eliminated entirely or reduced. On Aug. 18, the Arizona Department of Education, which Horne oversees, contacted organizations awarded grants under Hoffman and gave them five days to prove their work was improving students鈥� academic achievement. If an organization could present tangible data showing the benefits of its programs, but wasn鈥檛 spending enough to use up its award by 2024, the contract was simply readjusted to cover the rest of the grant period. Any leftover money will be returned to the federal government.

Among those cut off completely was Playworks Arizona, which focuses on creating a welcoming environment during recess to improve student鈥檚 well-being. Last year, more than 22,000 Arizona students experienced the structured play offered by the organization. In an emailed statement, spokesperson Beth Eisen said Playworks was still in discussions with the department of education about restoring its grant.

鈥淟ast school year, 94% of educators in Playworks Arizona partner schools agreed that Playworks helps to create a supportive learning environment in their schools,鈥� Eisen said. 鈥淲e remain steadfast in our belief that every child in Arizona should benefit from safe and healthy play every day.鈥�

Horne on Tuesday noted that, despite the five-day deadline, organizations still have the opportunity to prove they deserve to keep their funding. While $70 million was pulled back, only $40 million is currently set aside for the tutoring grants. The rest is a buffer in case an organization earns back its funding and will also be used to pay for the development of the tests used during the tutoring sessions to show improvement levels.

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, the state鈥檚 largest teacher鈥檚 union, was unimpressed by Horne鈥檚 decision to rescind contracts.

鈥淥nce again, Tom Horne is giving us a side show,鈥� she said, in an emailed statement. 鈥淗e is throwing unneeded chaos into the work of programs serving kids and reneging on promises made to families so that he can get a cheap headline.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on and .

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne doesn鈥檛 have the power to punish schools for using dual language instructional models, according to Attorney General Kris Mayes.

But this won鈥檛 be the end of the matter, as Horne is preparing to sue schools teaching students in two languages.

Last month, Horne, a Republican and long-time foe of bilingual education, from schools using the 50-50 dual language model. The model is one of four instructional strategies approved by the Arizona State Board of Education in 2020 to teach students not yet proficient in English. Under it, students are taught in English for half of the school day and in their native language for the other half.

As many as across the state, including , employ the 50-50 model and were poised to lose critical funds if they didn鈥檛 retire the teaching method. With the start of classes just weeks away, school officials and public education advocates over the uncertainty sowed by Horne鈥檚 statements.

But on Monday, Mayes dismissed the threat to schools, saying Horne doesn鈥檛 have the legal authority to withhold state dollars or make any decisions about the model鈥檚 validity.

鈥淭he Superintendent鈥檚 and the (Arizona Department of Education鈥檚) role鈥s limited to monitoring and referring school districts and charter schools to the Board,鈥� Mayes in a formal opinion issued in response to a request from Democratic legislators.

Mayes, a Democrat who was elected in 2022, concluded that Horne is responsible for overseeing and reporting on the implementation of English learner programs in Arizona, but no state law gives him the authority to take action against schools or decide the fate of certain programs.

The most a state superintendent can do, under , is compile reports on noncompliant schools and refer them to the State Board of Education. Only the State Board of Education has the power to modify or invalidate a teaching method. And until the board decides to eliminate the dual language model, Mayes said, it remains an option for schools seeking a way to teach their English language learner students.

At the heart of Horne鈥檚 criticism of dual language programs is that they violate the English-only standard set up in Proposition 203, a law overwhelmingly passed by Arizona voters in 2000. It prohibits teaching English learners in any language other than English until they鈥檝e achieved proficiency. The only exception is for students whose parents fill out a yearly waiver allowing them to be taught in a bilingual program.

But four years ago, state lawmakers, alarmed over the dismal academic outlook of English learners, that gave the State Board of Education permission to branch out into new, research-backed teaching models. One of those was the dual language model that鈥檚 increasingly popular today.

Mayes points to the laws which govern English language learner programs as evidence that only the State Board of Education has the power, given by the legislature, to do away with a teaching model.

鈥淭he Board has sole statutory authority to delete or modify an SEI (Structured English Immersion) model,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淣either the Department nor the Superintendent has statutory authority to reject an SEI model approved by the Board or to declare its illegality. Nor does the Superintendent or the Department have authority to withhold monies from school districts or otherwise impose consequences on schools for utilizing the Dual Language Model.鈥�

Mayes declined, however, to rule on the question of whether a conflict exists with the provisions of Prop. 203, writing that such a 鈥渇act-dependent analysis鈥� is outside the scope of interpreting Arizona law in a formal opinion.

鈥淭his Office declines to attempt such a fact-dependent analysis in the context of an official request for an Opinion, which does not involve public hearings or other taking of evidence,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭he Board has approved the Dual Language Model as a model of SEI instruction, and school districts and charter schools remain entitled to rely on that approval.鈥�

Doug Nick, a spokesman for the Department of Education, which Horne leads, said the next step is likely to take place in court.

鈥淲e are in the process of reviewing the opinion and we expect to deliver a court challenge,鈥� he told the Mirror.

Shortly after Mayes issued her opinion, the State Board of Education affirmed that it would neither modify the teaching models currently in use across the state nor punish schools for implementing the 50/50 dual language method. Making any changes to currently approved teaching models or even eliminating them requires a majority vote of the board鈥檚 11 members, which includes Horne.

鈥淭he Board will not be taking action to change the approved models,鈥� Executive Director Sean Ross said in an emailed statement. 鈥淭he Board will also not take action against schools for using the approved models.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on and .

Arizona students now use an education savings account, or ESA, which provides about $7,000 per child annually for a huge array of school services. But with households in greater charge of curricular choices, some purchases are raising eyebrows, among them items like kayaks and trampolines, cowboy roping lessons and tickets to entertainment venues like SeaWorld. 

The apparent permissiveness is one reason Beth Lewis, a former teacher and director of Save Our Schools Arizona, opposes the program. 鈥淭hese are all the things that we scrape the couch cushions for to fund for our kids,鈥� said Lewis, whose group enough signatures to put Ducey鈥檚 expansion of the program up for a referendum.聽

The debate in Arizona is being closely watched by GOP governors hoping to emulate the state鈥檚 approach. With passage of a new program just , there are now nine states with ESAs and at least six more considering them. As in Arizona, the Iowa program will be open to any family that wants to participate. A Florida would do the same.

The juggernaut is part of a wider Republican push to win over parents disaffected by what they see as the public school system鈥檚 halting response to the pandemic and alienated by culture war clashes in the classroom. Experts say parents鈥� frustration over extended school closures contributed to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin鈥檚 . And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely seen as a 2024 presidential contender, has made parent choice a central focus of his administration and restricted about race and gender.

What Republicans see as a boon for family empowerment, however, many Democrats view as a Trojan horse for the dismantling of public education. In Arizona, the seemingly endless variety of options available to homeschoolers makes it difficult for state officials to regulate them 鈥� and that may be the point. The goal, school choice proponents say, is to break free of school bureaucracy and put parents in control.

鈥淟ots of kids have different needs that public schools are not a good fit for,鈥� said Marilyn Fitzpatrick, a Gilbert, Arizona, mom and former social studies teacher. She turned to ESAs to homeschool her oldest son Oliver after pulling him out of elementary school during the pandemic. She called remote learning with a kindergartner a 鈥渟pecial kind of hell,鈥� and said when he was placed in the lowest reading group, teachers told her not to worry. 鈥淚t was concerning to be told, 鈥業t鈥檚 probably fine.鈥�”

Others see the program as a springboard for innovation. Lura Capalongan, who is homeschooling her kindergartner Lexi, said Arizona鈥檚 ESA has allowed her to more than double what she spends on curriculum and materials 鈥� items like a small robot that teaches coding and a kit to build a simple scooter.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like I’ve stretched the boundaries much,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to build a curriculum around her skills and her interests.鈥�

But newly elected Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has less faith that the purchases parents are making are academically sound. Her first includes a plan to roll back the program to a limited group of families. lawmakers the program 鈥渓acks accountability and will likely bankrupt this state.鈥� 

Under the law, participating families agree to provide instruction in the same as public schools. In addition to more traditional lesson plans, parents report that they meet 鈥� or attempt to meet 鈥� those requirements through activities like ice skating and sword casting classes, according to posts in a Facebook group for ESA users and vendors marketing their services.  

One parent in the group said she uses the Disney+ streaming service to 鈥渆xtend our learning鈥� and asked if the state would approve the cost of a subscription. Others said they鈥檝e received approvals for trampolines and horseback riding lessons.

Former state superintendent Kathy Hoffman, a Democrat who lost in November鈥檚 election to Republican Tom Horne, said she opposed the expansion because the rules are 鈥渋ncredibly permissive.鈥�

鈥淎s long as an item can be tied to a curriculum 鈥� with curriculum being ill-defined and open to interpretation 鈥� that meets the definition of an allowable expense,鈥� she said. 鈥淪triking the right balance between allowing parental choice and being good stewards of public tax dollars was a continual challenge faced by my administration.鈥� 

According to the education department鈥檚 , some materials, like board games, puzzles and Legos, don鈥檛 require parents to submit a curriculum. But less-obvious items like dolls and stickers do. To justify buying a chicken coop for a science lesson, one parent posted a . Another suggested a workout from to support the purchase of a trampoline for physical education.

Teachers for core subjects need to have at least a bachelor鈥檚 degree, but for specific classes like art, drama or dance, a two-year degree or a credential is acceptable. Vendors in the Facebook group often list what students would learn from their programs. The sword casting instructor, for example, said he would teach students 鈥渁rchaeology, physics, history and metallurgy.鈥�

But Lewis, who also helped organize 2018鈥檚 鈥淩ed for Ed鈥� protests for higher teacher pay, accuses the state of not holding families and private schools accountable. She thinks standardized testing should be required for students who receive ESAs.

鈥淲e don’t know what the kids are learning or whether they鈥檙e learning,鈥� she said.

鈥楾ailored to the individual student鈥�

Craig Hulse, executive director of , a national organization that advocates for ESAs, thinks such criticisms are misguided. He said the public likely wouldn鈥檛 object to a school taking students on a field trip to SeaWorld or allowing ice skating to count toward a gym credit.

With an ESA, he said, it鈥檚 expected that parents鈥� choices would be 鈥渟pecifically tailored to the individual student.鈥� 

Becky Greene, a Mesa parent, has five children, ages 7 to 17, using ESAs. For physical education, they all take taekwondo. She was able to afford a $200 Time-Life series on aviation for her oldest son, a 鈥渕ilitary history buff,鈥� and a book on the chemical reactions involved in cooking for another son interested in culinary arts.

She once wondered how a parent in the Facebook group got approved for a kayak. But as someone 鈥渦sed to stepping out of the box,鈥� she doesn鈥檛 question how others educate their children. 

Capalongan said she hopes to use ESA funds to help pay for the care of her daughter Lexi鈥檚 rabbit 鈥� items like a hutch, a litter box and nail clippers. Lexi joined an animal club similar to 4-H and is studying the rabbit鈥檚 anatomy and nutrition.

鈥淚t鈥檚 covering science and biology, but at a level that a kindergartner can understand,鈥� she said.

鈥楢ny reasonable鈥� expense 

Prior to the former governor鈥檚 expansion of the program, it was limited to specific groups of students, including those with disabilities, in foster care or in military families. 

Dave Wells, research director at the Grand Canyon Institute, a center-left think tank, said Hobbs took a 鈥減retty important rhetorical step鈥� by calling for a change in course. But with a Republican-controlled legislature, she might have to settle for tighter regulations to improve accountability, he said. 

Now, the program鈥檚 enrollment has nearly quadrupled and the state is working to speed up turnaround time for approvals and reimbursement.

鈥淚 walked into a backlog of 171, 575 orders,鈥� Christine Sawhill Accurso, the program鈥檚 new executive director, wrote in a January email to participants. 鈥淲e are making our way through that backlog as quickly as possible while still receiving thousands of new requests each day.”

Accurso, a former ESA parent, confirmed that the state has approved chicken coops, ice skating and cowboy roping lessons among a broad variety of ESA purchases. She has updated the to more closely match state law, but has also written in memos to ESA families that the department would approve 鈥渁ny reasonable education-related expense.鈥� 

School choice advocates in other states are watching Arizona as officials try to define what鈥檚 reasonable.

Texas Republican Sen. Mayes Middleton has introduced a $10,000-per-student that would allow 鈥渆very type of education鈥� to qualify. Under his plan, the state comptroller would run the program instead of the education agency to avoid debates over curriculum.  

鈥淭he money is going to be spent,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淒o you want only the government to decide [what to teach], or do you want parents to decide?鈥�

In New Hampshire, by contrast,  the state applies some 鈥淵ankee frugality鈥� to its program and for purchases that could be used by multiple family members, like a kayak or trampoline, said Kate Baker Demers, executive director of the Children鈥檚 Scholarship Fund.

鈥淩ight out of the gate, we said, 鈥楾his is narrower than you think,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淲e want to run it in a way that everyone can be supportive of it.鈥�

Republican Tom Horne, a 77-year-old Harvard-educated attorney, is returning to the job he held from 2003 to 2011, before completing a four-year stint as state attorney general. His critics worry he will reverse progress made under Democratic incumbent Kathy Hoffman, whom he narrowly beat, and will relax standards around the state’s newly expanded and long fought-over voucher program. 

His re-emergence alarms those who remember how he proudly dismantled bilingual education in the state earlier in his career and pushed to ban an ethnic studies program credited for better engaging Hispanic students by teaching them about their own history. Now, Horne is fixated on another topic, a new iteration of one of his older concerns: critical race theory. 

The catch-all term used by conservatives to describe the teaching of systemic racism is, in Horne鈥檚 view, an extension of the problem surrounding ethnic studies, in which children, he argues, are taught to view each other through the lens of race.

鈥淲hat matters is what we know, what we do,鈥� Horne told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淩ace is entirely irrelevant. My opponents say race is primary. I don鈥檛 want to teach kids that race is primary, but that they have to treat each other as individuals.鈥�

A court ruled in 2017 that the ethnic studies ban he lobbied for against the Tucson Unified School District was and But Horne disagrees, maintaining the same position more than a decade later. 

Horne, who calls himself 鈥渢he opposite of a racist,鈥� said he supports teaching history in totality, including “the horrors of slavery, Jim Crow鈥and] what happened in Oklahoma,鈥� a reference to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. He advocates for a curriculum that teaches every student about the contribution of all groups, he said.

A former state legislator who also served on the board of Phoenix鈥檚 Paradise Valley School District from 1978 to 2002, Horne has made numerous other pledges which he believes will bolster student performance and make campuses safer. 

He vowed to renew the state鈥檚 focus on testing, turn away from social-emotional learning, push for more guns on campus, impose stricter school discipline 鈥� and amp up newly expanded universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, signed into law by outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey in July. The program gives families approximately $6,500 a year per student to spend on private school tuition or other educational costs, like tutoring. It was initially offered to only a limited number of students, including those who attended failing schools or were in foster care, but is now available to all.

Critics say the new program will benefit the rich, not the poor as Horne has previously stated. But parents across the country, frustrated by school closures and disastrous distance learning efforts, are pushing for greater flexibility in their children鈥檚 education: A ballot measure to kill the voucher expansion in Arizona failed to gain enough signatures this election cycle.

Beth Lewis, co-founder and executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, which formed in 2017 to oppose universal vouchers, has worked in education in the state for 12 years, with half of that time spent as a teacher in a Tempe elementary school. She said Horne鈥檚 plan will exacerbate inequality. 

“I鈥檝e always taught in extremely low-income schools,鈥� she said. “I see the impact of defunding public education 鈥� to not have counselors, aides, books and computers 鈥� and to have that money go [instead] to families already sending their kids to elite private schools 鈥� and who make millions 鈥� is painful,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 outright lying.鈥�

Prior to the expansion, just 12,127 children participated in the ESA program, state education officials said. The figure shot up to 42,842 by early December: Approximately 67% of the applicants did not have a prior record of public school enrollment. It鈥檚 unclear how many were already enrolled in private school or who were being taught at home. 

But the voucher program is not Lewis鈥檚 only concern: She worries Horne鈥檚 election will mark a major regression in other, critical ways. 

“There is a fear we will take 10 or 20 steps backward,鈥� she said. “He has an antiquated belief system. It鈥檚 not just that he鈥檚 conservative but an extremist, authoritarian. He鈥檚 all about forcing guns on campus. It鈥檚 all about the tests, this grind culture, punishment 鈥� a punitive nature around school. As a teacher, I just don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 what our kids need or deserve.鈥�

Nicky Indicavitch, a parent and volunteer in her local school district, said Horne鈥檚 vow to dismantle social-emotional learning 鈥� he calls it 鈥渁 front for CRT鈥� 鈥� will take away a critical tool teachers use to help students manage their stress, bolster their performance and improve the classroom environment. 

鈥淚 have seen firsthand what happens when young people are not given the skills they need to manage complex social settings and how disruptive their behavior can become,鈥� said Indicavitch, who has experience in social work. 鈥淭om Horne vowing to remove this valuable piece of education will only cause our children, their classmates and educators to struggle more.鈥� 

Controversial record perhaps forgotten

Bill Scheel, a long-time political consultant, said Horne has always been a divisive candidate centering on race-based issues. 

鈥淗e really has not changed his stripes or tactics in 20 years,鈥� he said.

Horne was wise to stay away from the public spotlight since he last held office in 2014, Scheel said. Prior to that, he was investigated by numerous entities, including the FBI, for . 

He paid a $10,000 fine and no criminal charges were filed: Horne said he was .

鈥淯nder the First Amendment, if you run for public office, people can lie about you without any consequence,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is a lot of lying that goes on.鈥�

Horne also was criticized for hiring an assistant attorney general, Carmen Chenal, despite her : He said recently that she was amply qualified and did an excellent job, particularly by utilizing her skills as a Spanish speaker. 

Horne also was alleged to have left the scene of a in 2012, an incident that led to yet another scandal: Chenal was with Horne when the accident occurred in a parking lot near her apartment. The two married in 2020. 

As for the damages done to the other vehicle, Horne said at least some of it can be attributed to the vehicle  

All of these incidents come decades after the released damning findings about Horne鈥檚 previous business, allegations he dismissed in a recent email because they happened in the 1970s.

“He kept himself under the radar and I guess, to his credit, he did not attach himself to the Trump ticket,鈥� Scheel said. “That kept some of that fire away from him.鈥�

Trump-backed candidates across the country, including in Arizona, suffered : Kari Lake, a MAGA Republican who narrowly lost the race for governor of the state, has . Attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, another Trump pick, is just hundreds of votes behind his Democratic opponent and is .

Raised and spent over a $1M 

Horne stuck with CRT longer than others, but it鈥檚 not clear if his desire to limit classroom discussions of race 鈥� along with his opposition to bilingual education 鈥� were persuasive in a year when Arizona voters also approved a measure .

Beyond the low profile nature of the race, Scheel noted Horne far outspent Hoffman. The former preschool teacher and speech language pathologist was not a career politician, he said: She was elected amid a swarm of similar victories for . 

“He raised and spent over $1 million,鈥� Scheel said. 鈥淪he had $300,000.”

Hoffman鈥檚 nearly non-existent campaign allowed her challenger to be largely unharmed by a revelation that might have leveled another candidate. Horne was found to be in close ties with disgraced former state Rep. David Stringer, who was accused, in 1983, of with him. 

Stringer rather than disclose documents related to the case. 

Most recently, . Horne initially Stringer but later stepped away from him, telling 蜜桃影视 he paid Stringer cash to return his in-kind contribution to the campaign. 

The issue never really gained traction with voters. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where more money could have elevated that current scandal and really damaged him,鈥� Scheel said. 

Douglas Cole, chief operating officer of HighGround, a Republican-leaning political consulting firm, said Horne has long remained focused on the issues. 

鈥淗e鈥檚 a policy wonk,鈥� Cole said. 鈥淗e always has been. He was that way as a [state] legislator, in the House of Representatives. He takes on controversial issues he believes in and fights for them. He gets pretty passionate about where he thinks things should go.鈥�

No matter his ambitions for schools, his is a supervisory and regulatory position: Scheel isn鈥檛 sure how far Horne will get with a Democratic governor and, likely, attorney general. Cole agreed. 

“If he wants to make sweeping changes, he would have to convince 16 senators, 31 members of the House and a governor of the opposite party,鈥� Cole said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 operating in a different paradigm. He鈥檚 not a lawmaker.”

Despite this, Horne, a lifelong pianist who plays with local orchestras and supports funding for the arts, is determined to make change. 

He promises to investigate and quash any ethnic studies programs that have cropped up since he last held the post, saying the situation is much worse now than it was a decade ago: The teachings, he said, are more widespread.

“I have been fighting CRT since 2010, for 12 years, and for a long time felt like a voice in the wilderness,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until the last couple of years that the rest of the world caught up.”