10 Aug 29th-Sept 4th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Missing Deadlines, Picking Fights ‘Weirdo’ Tom Horne attacks schools advocate in press release. BY TJ L’HEUREUX T he 79-year-old man in charge of Arizona’s schools missed a key deadline to allocate $29 million in funds from the federal government, but he sure has plenty of time to pick dumb, public fights with reporters and public school advocates. On Aug. 15, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued an email missive crafted for the expressed purpose of attacking Beth Lewis, the director of the public education advocacy group Save Our Schools. In the release — aptly titled “Horne blasts ‘Save Our Schools’ leader” — Horne upbraided Lewis for a pair of week-old critical tweets. In the tweets — screenshots of which Horne attached to the emailed release, as if Lewis might delete them — Lewis took shots at Horne after the Arizona Department of Education posted a photo of him meeting with three “grandmas” about changes to Title IX regulations that make schools safer and more comfortable for transgender kids. “Why do Tom Horne and these Grandmas care who my kids are sharing a bathroom with???” Lewis responded to the photo in a quote-tweet. That sparked a social media back-and-forth between Horne and Lewis, with the public schools chief asking Lewis in stilted English if her members “agree with that it’s okay for boys to be showering in girls’ locker rooms.” After a week passed, Horne took his heroic campaign to stop boys from show- ering with girls a step further, issuing the Aug. 15 department press release — breath- lessly subtitled “Social media post reveals stance” — to go after Lewis in a more formal setting. “These changes to Title IX regulations are outrageous since they allow biological boys to expose themselves to girls in bath- rooms and locker rooms and invade the girls’ privacy,” Horne said in the release. Lewis responded in turn by tweeting that Horne is “a weirdo who is publicly obsessing over kids’ genitals.” In an email, Phoenix New Times asked Horne if the three grandmas he met with have grandchildren in Arizona schools. New Times also asked how many complaints his office had received about boys in girls’ locker rooms. Horne has not responded, though he said in his release that there were “countless parents and grandparents who are justifiably concerned about this.” In an interview with New Times, Lewis said Horne has no idea what he’s talking about. “I know Superintendent Horne hasn’t been in schools for some time, and he doesn’t seem to be touring public schools to see what issues students are actually facing,” Lewis said. “But if he did, he might realize that this is a nothingburger. Like, kids aren’t even showering. Even athletes don’t really shower on campus. It’s just not a thing.” Dropping the ball While Horne has been busy fighting the good fight against Lewis and co-ed show- ering — which doesn’t seem to be happening much, if at all, in Arizona schools — his office has been dropping the ball on things that actually matter. In September 2023, Horne’s depart- ment missed a crucial deadline to allocate $29 million in Title I funding for Arizona schools, causing the funds to revert to the federal government. Additionally, the Arizona Republic reported, the depart- ment neglected to inform schools planning on that money that it was no longer available. Horne blamed the screw-up on his predecessor, Democrat Kathy Hoffman, even though he took office eight months before the deadline passed. After the Republic’s report on the fiasco, Horne issued another intemperate press release, lying about missing a deadline, demanding a retraction and calling the paper’s reporter “dishonest.” The department later admitted it missed the deadline, and Horne will appear before a legislative audit committee looking into the mishandled grant money next month. Since the missed deadline was revealed, the U.S. Department of Education has told Horne’s agency it will still consider their late application for funding, according to the Republic. Considering that, Lewis wondered how Horne has the time to pick a fight with her. “Superintendent Horne obviously should have his hands full of real work considering he just lost $29 million for Arizona public schools through inaction of his department,” she said. “But he’s choosing to double down on culture war issues that literally don’t impact Arizona students.” That Horne would walk himself into controversy is hardly surprising. The long- time state official — Horne previously served as schools superintendent from 2003 to 2011 and later as attorney general — has a well-documented history of lying and trapping himself in scandals of his own making. Horne is known for championing the ESA voucher program that subsidizes private school education and has blown a hole in the state’s budget, costing Arizona at least $332 million. Though the program does help some rural students who lack good educational options, ESA vouchers mostly have proven to be little more than a handout to wealthy families who already send their kids to private schools. Lewis said even some of the parents who participate in the voucher program have voiced frustrations with her about Horne. “We also have ESA voucher parents who are saying they can’t even get ahold of his office. Like, they can’t even get an answer, and there are all these accounts that are underfunded,” Lewis said. “He’s not doing his actual job, which is supporting public schools. He’s not even helping voucher parents. He’s just spouting off on Twitter.” Lewis said that a priority for Save Our Schools is to stymie Horne from doing further damage to Arizona’s public school system to subject his office to harsher accountability by flipping the Arizona Legislature to Democrats. In order to give Gov. Katie Hobbs such a “pro-public education” legislature, Lewis said the orga- nization is knocking on thousands of doors in swing districts and making as many phone calls. Save Our Schools wants lawmakers and school board members who “aren’t trying to ban books or talking about children’s genitals but focused on actual learning,” Lewis said. They’d love that in a schools superin- tendent, too, but you can’t have everything. Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (top) decided a good way to spend Aug. 15 was to issue a press release reviving a week-old Twitter argument. Save Our Schools Director Beth Lewis (right) said Horne is “not doing his actual job” as the head of the state Department of Education. (Photos by TJ L’Heureux and Gage Skidmore/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0) | NEWS |
