Horne, Yee clash over ESA oversight, literacy and teacher retention in Arizona debate

By Stacy Mantle
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Arizona’s Republican primary race for superintendent of public instruction revealed two sharply different visions Thursday night for how the state should manage school choice, improve academics and address growing frustration among teachers and parents.

Incumbent Superintendent Tom Horne and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee repeatedly clashed during the debate over ESA oversight, classroom discipline, DEI, teacher retention and whether Arizona schools are improving or falling behind.

The debate comes as Arizona’s education system faces mounting pressure from multiple directions, including continued teacher shortages, growing Empowerment Scholarship Account enrollment, declining enrollment in some public districts and persistent literacy concerns.

ESA oversight becomes central divide

Much of the debate centered on Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program, which now serves more than 100,000 students.

Horne defended the Department of Education’s handling of the rapidly expanding program, arguing that staffing levels were originally designed for far fewer students.

“We have an amount of staff that was calculated for 11,000 students, and we have over 100,000 students,” Horne said.

Horne also argued his administration has aggressively denied questionable purchases.

“I said every expenditure needs to be for a legitimate educational purpose at a reasonable cost,” Horne said, later referencing denied purchases including “a $5,000 Rolex watch” and a “$24,000 golf simulator.”

Yee pushed back repeatedly, arguing the department has created confusion and operational problems.

“The ESA audit did show that there is complete chaos in the Department of Education with respect to the management of the ESA program under Tom Horne,” Yee said.

However, several portions of the exchange reflected ongoing disagreements over interpretation of the Auditor General report and authority under current ESA law.

Yee argued the state needs a modernized purchasing and accountability system that can immediately flag non-educational purchases.

“We don’t have that in place with respect to the platform right now,” Yee said. “The flags are not there. They need to be there.”

Yee said she has begun preparing a request for information process through the Treasurer’s Office regarding future ESA marketplace systems.

The exchange highlighted one of the clearest philosophical differences between the two candidates: Horne argued the superintendent must actively intervene and make judgment calls on purchases immediately to protect the program from abuse, while Yee argued the superintendent should more narrowly administer laws created by the Legislature.

Under Arizona law, ESA funds may only be used for approved educational expenses, but disputes have emerged in recent years over how much discretion the Department of Education has in determining what qualifies as educationally necessary versus what should require additional legislative clarification.

Teacher retention emerges as major concern

The candidates found more common ground when discussing Arizona’s teacher shortage, though they proposed different solutions.

Horne repeatedly tied teacher retention to classroom discipline and administrator support.

“Too many administrators are too lax,” Horne said.

He also said he continues to advocate for higher teacher salaries through additional use of State Land Trust funding.

Yee connected the issue to both classroom funding and early career teacher support.

“This is personal to me, because I am the daughter of a public school teacher who taught for 38 years in our Arizona public schools,” Yee said.

Yee said teachers are frequently paying out of pocket for classroom supplies while also struggling with inflation and burnout.

“We absolutely should address teacher retention,” she said.

She also criticized what she described as the “status quo” approach to supporting early career teachers.

“What we don’t have in place are mentor teachers from the assistance of the Department of Education,” Yee said.

Horne responded that the department =provides instructional coaches and has advocated for expanded funding for those programs.

The debate also highlighted a limitation of the superintendent’s office itself. While the superintendent can advocate for funding and policy changes, the office does not directly control statewide teacher salaries or legislative education appropriations.

Reading scores and phonics spark lengthy exchange

One of the debate’s longest exchanges focused on literacy instruction and Arizona’s fourth-grade reading performance.

Yee argued Arizona must return more aggressively to “basics” and stronger phonics implementation. She pointed to phonics-based instruction as a solution and argued schools are not consistently implementing it at the classroom level.

“It’s obviously not being taught at a measure and standard that we need,” Yee said.

Horne strongly rejected that claim.

“Actually, it became the law that all instruction had to be phonics in 2008,” Horne said, repeatedly challenging Yee to identify schools not using phonics instruction.

Yee countered that while phonics laws exist on paper, classroom implementation remains inconsistent.

“I know for a fact that there are schools who might not be following the law,” Yee said.

The exchange reflected a broader national debate over literacy instruction, particularly around “science of reading” approaches and concerns over older balanced literacy or cueing methods.

School safety and classroom discipline remain major themes

Both candidates emphasized school safety and student behavior as growing concerns for Arizona educators.

Horne said the Department of Education has dramatically expanded the number of school resource officers during his administration.

“When I took office, there were 117,” Horne said. “Now we have close to 500 police officers in the schools.”

Yee also strongly supported expanded SRO programs, referencing legislation she sponsored while serving in the Arizona Legislature.

The candidates additionally focused heavily on classroom discipline.

Horne argued weak discipline policies are driving teachers out of the profession.

“One teacher wrote me and said she could name 40 teachers that left if the administrators didn’t support the teachers on discipline,” Horne said.

Yee said discipline problems affect entire classrooms, not just individual students.

“It may be one or two children who are in the classroom during that time,” Yee said, “but it affects the rest of the class and their academic year.”

She also argued schools need more parental involvement and communication.

“There are a lot of parents that no longer go to teacher conferences,” Yee said.

DEI and social emotional learning draw ideological contrasts

The debate also turned repeatedly toward DEI and social emotional learning with Horne discussing several lawsuits. 

“For example, I'm in court fighting to keep boys out of girls' sports. I am fighting hard against critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI. And if you can believe it, my opponent was on a committee, was a member of a committee that promoted DEI.” 

This claim was later challenged by Yee, who produced a letter from the National Association of State Treasurers.

“Well, first of all, he knows that he is lying because he was sent this letter from the National Association of State Treasurers, naming every single committee for which I have served on,” Yee said. “It's dated May 4, and this does not list any DEI committee for which I have served.”

Horne described DEI as “a terrible thing” caused by “left-wing craziness” and tied the issue to broader national political debates over merit, race and classroom priorities.

“If they win that philosophical fight, we will become a mediocre country,” Horne said.

Yee similarly criticized DEI programs, arguing schools should focus more heavily on academics, civics and workforce preparation.

“These types of policies are not effective,” Yee said.

On social emotional learning, Horne said teachers had complained to him that instructional time was being lost.

“My heroes are English teachers who love English, high school teachers who love history,” Horne said.

He added that teachers should be “teaching their subjects bell to bell.”

Workforce development draws support from both candidates

Career and technical education emerged as one of the few areas where both candidates expressed broad agreement. Yee called for expanding vocational education opportunities, including bringing back home economics and shop classes.

“These are life skills,” Yee said.

She also proposed creating alternative teaching pathways that would allow experienced industry professionals to help teach workforce skills.

Horne highlighted the department’s existing partnerships with Arizona employers.

“My goal is every student, without exception, graduates college or career ready,” Horne said.

Two competing visions for Arizona education

The debate revealed a race centered less on broad policy disagreements over school choice and more on competing arguments about management, implementation and leadership style.

Horne largely defended his current administration, citing tutoring programs, school turnaround efforts and expanded school safety initiatives.

Horne also defended the department’s enforcement efforts, saying the state has either recovered or is in the process of recovering approximately $1.2 million tied to questionable ESA purchases. He also argued Arizona’s error rate compares favorably to many government agencies. 

Yee argued Arizona schools need “fresh, new ideas” and repeatedly framed herself as a management-focused reform candidate.

During a post-debate media scrum, Yee further criticized Horne’s handling of ESA oversight, arguing the superintendent had exceeded legislative authority by allowing certain purchases without explicit statutory guidance.

She also emphasized that policy definitions should come from lawmakers and the State Board of Education rather than unilateral administrative decisions. 

“What we are doing well are so many wonderful things within our schools that we have to showcase,” Yee said.

The Republican primary for superintendent of public instruction is expected to continue focusing heavily on ESA oversight, literacy, school safety and the future direction of Arizona’s school choice system in the weeks ahead.

Have a story about education in Arizona? Contact smantle@iniusa.org.

Editor’s note: A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter

smantle@iniusa.org

Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.

Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.

Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!

Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.

Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.