Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and his opponent in the GOP primary, state Treasurer Kimberly Yee, are taking up all the oxygen in the race to be Arizona’s next schools chief.
Their spats over the school voucher program and DEI, alongside the larger power struggle within the Republican Party, have overshadowed the two Democrats running for a spot in the general election: Teresa Leyba Ruiz and Brett Newby.
So, the Agenda reached out to Ruiz and Newby to hear what they had to say. (By the way, we also reached out to Horne and Yee and … crickets.)
Here is a breakdown of our conversations with the two Democrats on the July 21 primary ballot — and some insight as to what this prominent position entails.
Teresa Leyba Ruiz and Brett Newby.
A bit about them, and the job
Ruiz and Newby have different backgrounds, no question.
Ruiz is the only certified educator on either the Democratic or Republican ballot. She retired as the president of Glendale Community College in 2023.
Newby is a board-certified behavior analyst. He has decades of experience working with kids who have autism and developmental disabilities.
Notably, both Ruiz and Newby are products of public schools.
Public schools have a lot stacked against them these days, including: the failure to renew Prop 123, legislation hobbling teacher’s unions, including the hotly debated HCR2040 (coming to a ballot near you!), and a mysterious group that tried to sabotage the Protect Education Act (until they had to give up).
The superintendent of public instruction is often right in the middle of those controversies, particularly when voters choose someone who likes to dip their toes into social issues and other miscellany that aren’t necessarily in their wheelhouse (or job description).
The state Legislature and federal government put strings on what the superintendent can do, but the superintendent still oversees Arizona’s Department of Education and the state’s public school system.
That means whoever wins in November will be in charge of administering public school funding, enforcing State Board of Education policies, certifying teachers and auditing school finances.
All of that revolves around a basic question: What is the point of public schools?
Let’s start there.
Newby: “Public schools are educating our future. We’re investing in that future to have contributing members to our communities and our society. We’re educating folks to be able to get a great job, to go to university, join our military — whatever they want to do.”
“Our schools are the lifelines and the bloodlines of our communities. You can see that in our rural communities when there’s a natural disaster — people go to the school to get information, to get resources.”
Ruiz: “The point of public schools is, well, public education. Education is economic development. Education is a public good — we all benefit. Lots of research shows that educated communities are safer, healthier, more productive. (Public education is) a foundation of our democracy.”
So, it’s your first day on the job. What would you do?
Ruiz: “We’re going to take down the teacher snitch line. It is an absolute waste of taxpayer resources.”
“We would stop the automatic approval of any voucher expense under $2,000. It’s absurd that in this time we don’t have an automated modern system that can process transactions quickly, and also flag inappropriate transactions.”
“The primary role (of the Superintendent of Public Instruction), in my opinion, should be the advocate-in-chief, traveling the state and understanding what the needs are and advocating for those things at the state capitol and building relationships, so that we are investing in Arizona’s future.”
Newby: “We’re going to audit the ESA (school voucher) program. We are going to take out all of the automated systems. Where are the funds going? Where are they coming from?”
“On the other side of it is reaching out to our educators across the state to figure out what is working, what is not working, what needs to be changed.”
“(We need to work) with school districts to create collaboration, bringing groups of people — our educators, our business leaders, our community members — to localize the Department of Education and (get) plans in place to get educators and students access to the things that they need.”
What about transparency?
Criticism of education-related transparency has been widespread in Arizona, including withholding records about the school voucher program and failing to create an accurate system to show parents how well their neighborhood school is doing.
Ruiz: “It’s to the point where (officials) are being sued under freedom of information requests to receive (certain) data. That data is public data, and so I will be very transparent. We’ll create a transparency portal — this goes back to being a good steward of public resources. My entire career has been built on integrity and being a good steward, and that’s what I’ll continue doing as superintendent, because voters have a right to know.”
Newby: “(Arizonans) deserve to know where their tax dollars are going. There needs to be easy access to information, so changing the website and putting out information so people know what’s happening, where their tax dollars are going to and detailing the plan of action.”
But the highest level of transparency for schools currently applies only to public and charter schools. If a journalist — or anyone — submitted a formal, perfectly crafted public records request to a private school, even if that school gets public dollars through the voucher system, that school can still say “nope.”
That’s perfectly legal within the voucher system, but it’s a policy Ruiz and Newby say needs to change.
Ruiz: “We should know who’s teaching our children, just like we do in public schools. We should know what our children are learning, just like in public schools, and we should be able to track academic progress, just like in public schools. Right now, none of that exists. Public dollars are going to private institutions with zero accountability.”
“Public schools get audited regularly; that information is available. None of that information is available (from) private schools. As to what information should be available, I think that’s a bigger conversation to have: What are the metrics we want to track?”
Newby: “I don’t know if we’ve ever really had (transparency). It’s highly important to be transparent. It’s nonpartisan that Arizonans work really hard for their tax dollars. (Transparency) should apply to anyone who uses ESAs. It should be across the board for anybody receiving state or federal dollars.”
Let’s talk money
Arguably, K-12 schools didn’t receive many significant cuts in the state’s approved budget (higher ed took the biggest hit), but shuffling funds — and the historic lack of existing funds, period — has affected many facets of education.
You have to scroll pretty far to find where Arizona lands on this ranking of school funding.
Ruiz: “We have not invested in education, and we’re seeing the consequences of that. We can see how academic progress will decline. It’s this combination of lack of respect, lack of pay, lack of support, lack of resources (for teachers).”
“When schools are underfunded — not having the programs in place, not having supplies, having to make shortcuts, having to make decisions between a counselor, a social worker, a family liaison person, or an SRO, those decisions are affecting schools and students.”
Newby: “Children need resources and tools and access to education, but also, the teachers need the tools and the resources and the support staff to be able to teach those kids.”
“How do we create equitable seats at the table and how do we fix school funding, so that we’re funding education appropriately, and for the long term, so school districts don’t need to keep going back to the ballot every two years to try to get access to funds that are already allocated to them?”
Too much tech?
The dependence on technology in the classroom is one remnant of the pandemic, and recently it’s been the focus of a national backlash.
School districts have tightened policies on cellphone use during class time. They’re part of a larger conversation about schools giving every student an iPad or Chromebook and how — or if — AI should be used in schools.
Ruiz: “The reality is students are using artificial intelligence all the time. The older they get — I can’t speak to the littles — they’re using AI all the time. Teachers are having to use things like AI detectors for writing assignments. I was talking to a professor (who) said that he’s going back to blue books. He said that if you make an assignment for out of class, who knows what you’re going to get.”
“There are conversations around how young is too young, some saying that pre-third grade students shouldn’t be on Chromebooks.”
Newby: “It’s all about how we handle it and teaching students how to use it appropriately, as well as teachers learning how to use it appropriately.”
“We don’t want to not teach kids how to use technology. They need to know it, and it’s only going to evolve … If we don’t teach them while they’re in school, it’s going to be like handing them a flash drive when they’ve been using VHS tapes.”
Social emotional what?
Simply put, social emotional learning teaches students how to strengthen their “soft skills.”
More commonly referred to as SEL, it’s one of the scary acronyms that have struck panic into the hearts of people who may or may not know what they are talking about.
Newby: “Social emotional learning is a way to ensure that we are teaching the whole child. It has become sort of a political arm … the way the current Arizona Department of Education administration and many other places across the United States (have made it).”
“Humans are social creatures. We’re also emotional creatures.”
“For example, (toddlers) have very big emotions. If we don’t teach them how to regulate their emotions and we don’t teach them how to be social, they’re not going to learn that on their own, and they’re going to learn the hard way.”
Ruiz: “(SEL) has been weaponized, looking like CRT.”
“(SEL is) helping students understand their emotions, helping students learn how to regulate. All of these culture wars are about distractions, so we don’t have to focus on the real needs of our students. When we’re talking about literacy rates, or their progress in math, that’s not a political issue. Literacy rates don’t have a political party.”
Next week, voters will decide whether Newby or Ruiz faces the GOP nominee in November.
Primary election ballots are already in the mail, or you can head to your polling place next Tuesday, July 21.
Not your cookie jar: Three of the state’s top elected officials have started running ads featuring their name and image just in time for this year’s elections, despite it being unlawful to use office funds for political gain, the Republic’s Ray Stern reports. State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne all launched advertisements for statewide initiatives associated with their offices. Horne’s office spent about $180,000 to send signed letters to parents of Arizona’s top students. Fontes went much bigger, spending $1 million to promote a ballot tracking landing page with his face plastered all over it.
Clean money doing the dirty work: Republican candidate for governor Scott Neely is using the $1.14 million in campaign money that he qualified for through the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission’s fund to go after his GOP competitors, specifically U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, in campaign advertisements, signs and text messages, Stacey Barchenger reports for the Republic.
He can’t stop talking about communists: Republican U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh’s visit to the Sun City West Republican Club had 70 attendees and, outside of the venue, 20 protesters speaking out against the congressman, Noah Flug reports for the Daily Independent. Hamadeh called the protesters “crazy” and said he’s “fighting communist Marxists.” During the event, he answered questions about campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which he said he didn’t know he received, and highlighted President Donald Trump’s leadership against communism.
“We are in the greatest country on the Earth, and it’s only great because of people like us who make it great. Not those protesters who seek the destruction,” Hamadeh said.
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A campaign half-truth: A Republican candidate in Legislative District 10, whose campaign boasted her military service, ended her time in the military with a court-martial, four months of confinement and a Bad Conduct Discharge, The State 48 News reports. Ciara Anderson says she was not involved in portraying herself as a veteran, a claim that appeared in voter guides and candidate profiles. Instead, she said she’s been open about the addiction problems that led to her discharge. She pushed the blame onto campaign volunteers and raised the possibility that an AI bot wrote the bio on her Ballotpedia page.
Calling all procrastinators: Today is the last day to put your primary ballot in the mail to make sure it arrives on time. If you can’t make it today, don’t panic. You can still return it at a drop box or voting location through 7 p.m. on Election Day. Here’s the list of Maricopa County’s voting locations.
Yesterday’s edition about Democratic Rep. Mariana Sandoval berating and belittling her administrative assistants had our text messages blowing up.
And in case you don’t know who former Democratic Rep. Leezah Sun is, here are a couple of fun archives.