Tom Horne has a record of success in education.

I. Academics: Tom Horne was Superintendent from 2003 to 2011. He focused on academics and as a result, when he left office, Arizona students performed proficiently at the following rates of proficiency: math at 60%, reading and writing at over 70%.

Under Kathy Hoffman, the focus has been on collateral issues, not academics. Test scores have plummeted, even before covid. Prior to covid, under Ms. Hoffman, already a MAJORITY of Arizona students were not proficient in reading or math. 2019 before covid: 42% pass reading, 42% pass math.





II. Restore Discipline: Students cannot learn if classrooms are not orderly.  Many teachers have complained to Tom that under the current regime, support for discipline has evaporated, and classrooms have become anarchic.  Tom spent 24 years on the school board for Arizona’s then third-largest district.  He told fellow board members that, as parent advocates, they should support the great majority of parents, who want discipline so their children can learn, not the parent of a student who misbehaved, to object to discipline, and complain that “my little darling can do no wrong.”  As a result, Tom’s school board did not reverse a teacher on an issue of discipline one time, not one time in 24 years.  As a result, their district became known as the toughest district around, their learning increased, and test scores went up.

Kathy Hoffman has done nothing to support discipline.  On the contrary, her emphasis on “social and emotional learning” has compounded the problem, because teachers are discouraged from disciplining misbehaving students because discipline hurts their feelings.

Teachers leaving the profession are surveyed.  The number one reason they give for leaving is not being supported by administrators on issues of discipline.  The students can defy teachers, swear at them, or ignore them, and there are no consequences.  They cannot take the resulting anarchy, nor should they be disrespected.

III. Teaching accurate history. Patriotism.

Hoffman offered $5,000 to each history teacher who would teach the 1619 project. The 1619 project is a fabricated history designed to make students hate America. Here are some examples, and Horne’s historical rebuttal:

  1. Hoffman’s curriculum: The revolutionary war was not fought for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but to protect southern slaveowners from British interference in slavery.

Horne’s truth: Historians have researched this and there is not one scrap of paper from the time to support it. We can still believe in the Declaration of Independence, that the revolution was fought for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

2. Hoffman’s curriculum: Lincoln was a racist.





Horne’s truth: Lincoln had stated in 1854: “if the Negro is a man, why does my ancient faith  teaches me that all men are created equal; and that there can be no moral right in  connection with one man’s making a slave of another.“ In 1863 he issued, by himself, based on his own individual power, the emancipation proclamation, which freed the slaves in the South. In 1865, he put all of his political power behind passing the 13th  amendment. This included almost unlimited giving away of patronage jobs, and even rumors of bribery, to get Congress to vote for the 13th amendment. Once ratified, it freed all slaves throughout the country. In doing these things, Lincoln did more for humanity than any other individual in the entire history of the United States. To teach impressionable children that Lincoln was a villain is outrageous.

3. Hoffman’s curriculum: Plantation slavery was the foundation of American capitalism, and the cruelty of American capitalism stems from the cruelty of the plantation.

Horne’s truth:   Proponents of this claim that in the early 19th century, cotton was  50% of the American economy and converted a small, poor group of colonies into a world economic power. Historians and economists who studied the subject say it was more like 5%, so the 1619 project is only off by one zero. Interestingly, the 1619  project shares this view with the Confederates, who thought the North could not exist  without “king cotton.” They thought the North’s factories would collapse. In fact,  the North did fine without cotton and the North won the war.

Only a fanatic Marxist would claim that the essence of capitalism is “cruelty”.  In fact, capitalism has produced more prosperity for more people than any other system. Germany and Korea were divided in half after World War II. One can compare the two systems within the context of the same people, same culture, etc.  South Korea’s prosperity per person is an almost unbelievable 100 times greater than that of North Korea, and West Germany had a similar advantage over East Germany.

Capitalism is not “cruelty”. It brings prosperity.

4. Hoffman’s curriculum

The nation’s history is best understood as a struggle by American blacks against white oppression.

Horne’s truth: This is a form of neo-Marxism. Marx taught that class struggle was the only explanation of history. This is a distortion that makes it impossible to understand historical events. Neo-Marxism is the same theory, but substituting race struggle for class struggle. This is according to the developers of ethnic studies, themselves. Obviously, the struggle against racial oppression should be studied. But it is not the whole picture of the history of this great country by a long shot.

IV. Students belong in school, not at home.

During Covid, when the governor followed CDC guidelines, and left decisions about closing schools to local conditions, up to districts, there was a big headline in the Arizona Republic. Katherine Hoffman was DEMANDING that he close all schools statewide, regardless of local conditions. One doesn't know whose interests she was reflecting, but it wasn't students or their parents, many of whom had to leave jobs to stay home with their children. Many private and charter schools stayed open throughout the pandemic, without notable negative effects on health, because young people are much more resistant. The negative effects on students of the closure of schools are enormous, not just academic, but emotional. Teenage suicide rates increased, as did misbehavior when the cooped-up children returned to school. Tom Horne's view is: KEEP THE SCHOOLS OPEN.

V. School Safety.

Tom Horne has been an advocate for funding a policeman (School Resource Officer) in every school. This not only provides protection in case a maniac attacks, as in Texas. It also promotes friendship between students and police, so students learn to trust police rather than viewing them as “pigs” or enemies. There was a bill this year to double the funding for School Resource Officers. Hoffman sent out a tweet opposing it. She quoted an ACLU study claiming disparate discipline results according to race (which doesn’t mean a thing unless one can show disparate discipline for the same offenses). Then she said she opposed it because “prejudice doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse door.” This was utterly illogical. School discipline doesn’t have anything to do with police officers there to protect students and teachers from mass murder. And her tweet reveals that she generalizes that all police are racists, which is an outrageous generalization. For those who advocate “gun-free schools”, what they are really saying to the world is: “here we are, defenseless. Come attack us.”

VI. Current Superintendent's Implementing Queer Chat on Official Department Website.

Tom Horne's opponent, state Superintendent of Schools Kathy Hoffman, has implemented on the official department website, a chat room directed to young children called q-chat, meaning queer chat. It encourages children to chat with unlicensed adults about hypersexual topics. They use topics like Pokemon, marvel comics, and star wars, to attract young children. The Marvel Comic chat room is next to the chat room for "sex and relationships." To join, the children must answer questions about their sexual orientation and gender identity. They must put in personal information like email, date of birth, etc.. If hacked this could be sold on the dark web to sexual predators. They chat with Q-Chatters, volunteers from around the country who are unlicensed. They could also be predators. The q-chat/queer chat room has an escape button so if a parent comes close, the child clicks the escape button and the screen goes to google. That way the parent does not know what the child has been looking at. In doing this, Kathy Hoffman has been violating a state statute, ARS section 1-602(c), which prohibits government employees and agencies from encouraging children to keep information from their parents.


























 







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Why I’m Running

for Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction

When I was superintendent of public instruction, my focus was on academic achievement; I was a crusader against mediocrity, laziness, and political indoctrination as a substitute for academic teaching.

Since I left office, much of my work has been undone. Political agendas have taken the place of a focus on academics, and this is damaging to the students. I feel compelled to bring the focus back to academic achievement.