Yee challenges Horne in GOP primary for state superintendent
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State Treasurer Kimberly Yee announced yesterday that she's challenging incumbent Tom Horne in the GOP primary for superintendent of public instruction. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
State Treasurer Kimberly Yee is taking on state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne in the Republican primary, challenging him from the right over Arizona's school choice system.
State of play: Yee, who is termed out, will attempt to wrest the GOP nomination from Horne as he seeks reelection.
- She announced her candidacy from the state Capitol Wednesday, touting her career-long dedication to education issues and pledging to "build a stronger and higher-achieving school system."
- Yee criticized Horne for what she called "government overreach" in his administration of the voucher-style Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program and argued that he's exceeded his legal authority in imposing restrictions on it.
- She also dismissed the types of excesses by some ESA parents that critics focus on as a minute fraction of a percentage of the total program.
Background: Yee chaired the Senate Education Committee and focused on education issues during her 2010-2018 legislative career, as a legislative staffer and as an aide to former California Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson.
The intrigue: State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who leads the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, told reporters last month he wanted to find a GOP primary challenger for Horne, whom he called "the single greatest threat" to the ESA program.
- Hoffman is backing a slate of candidates for statewide offices and introduced Yee at Wednesday's press conference.
- Yee said parents in the school choice community had been asking her to run for superintendent well before Hoffman's recruitment efforts.
Between the lines: The superintendent proposes changes to the handbook that governs the ESA program.
- Horne's Arizona Department of Education in March proposed changes to require a curriculum for supplemental materials; impose spending caps for expenses like computers, musical instruments and home economics appliances; and ban expenses like smartwatches, multi-person kayaks, Amazon Prime fees and certain appliances like espresso machines and freeze-dryers.
- The State Board of Education postponed a vote on the new handbook after about three dozen ESA parents spoke out against the changes. Horne last month asked the board to again push back the vote, saying he wanted to meet with state lawmakers who had voiced concerns to him.
The other side: Horne, a longtime school choice advocate who served as superintendent from 2003 to 2011, said in a press statement Wednesday that the state education department is strongly in favor of parental choice and ESAs.
- But he rejected the notion that the program should be unrestricted, pointing to expenditures he's rejected like a $5,000 Rolex watch, a $24,000 golf simulator and a vasectomy testing kit.
- If the department approved such expenditures, it would provoke a negative public reaction and threaten the program's survivability, he said.
- Horne added he has a duty to responsibly manage taxpayer funds, which includes limiting ESA expenses to reasonable educational purposes.
Flashback: Before she was appointed to the state House in 2010, Yee was an aide to then-state Treasurer Dean Martin, who once defeated Horne in a state Senate primary.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Horne served as superintendent from 2003 (not 2008) to 2011.