Tom Horne, GOP candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction is running on an anti-bilingual education and anti-critical race theory platform
Tom Horne speaking at a breakfast fundraiser in 2014, for Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky at the Scottsdale Silverado Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
August 1, 2022
Republican, Tom Horne, a former eight year Superintendent of Public Instruction is running again…this time on an unapologetic platform against bilingual education and critical race theory.
Some may recall that in 2010 Horne crafted a law which led to the elimination of the Mexican-American studies program at Tucson Unified School district.
The law was eventually struck down by a federal judge and the ruling made clear that the state showed “discriminatory intent” when it essentially shut down a Mexican-American studies program at Tucson Unified School District.
“Both enactment and enforcement were motivated by racial animus,” federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima said in the ruling.
Horne reportedly claimed that the judge was a “liberal 9th circuit judge” and felt confident that the now, “conservative (U.S.) Supreme Court” would rule in his favor.
In a 14-page packet reportedly given to reporters at his press conference last year, Horne detailed his positions, including returning to an English immersion over bilingual education, using the state to take over failing schools and “killing ethnic studies” as well as ensuring that schools do not use The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which reframes the U.S. history around the date when enslaved people were first brought to America.
Horne served as Arizona’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2015 but has personally come under investigation several times.
In 2014, Horne was investigated for campaign finance abuse over the allegations that he used the AG’s office to run his re-election campaign against another Republican.
In 2017, former Gilbert Town Attorney, Michael Hamblin and Daniel Barker a retired Court of Appeals judge concluded that Horne broke the law but recommended no criminal charges.
Horne was reportedly followed by the FBI under a separate investigation for campaign finance violations where it is alleged that he was witnessed leaving the scene of an accident to hide and extramarital affair, according to the FBI.
Current Superintendent, Kathy Hoffman, a Democrat, is seeking her second term.
Horne is one of two Republicans who have entered the race. Michael Trevillion a school administrator is also running for GOP nomination.
