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Horne Goes On Attack
Under Trump’s DEI Crusade
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🙄 Tom Horne, DEI Cop: Last week, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne attacked the Kyrene elementary school district [[link removed]] in Tempe, threatening to withhold more than $1.5 million in federal funds because of a policy affirming Staff Social-Emotional Wellness [[link removed]] . Horne blew his “DEI” (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) whistle and warned “all Arizona districts and charters are on notice to take this matter seriously.” [[link removed]]
This McCarthy-like persecution was triggered by recent guidance from Trump’s U.S. Dept. of Education [[link removed]] that says schools promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion will forfeit federal dollars — without defining the scope of “DEI” — and accusing public schools of ”smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”
👉⭐Scroll to starred items for actions you can take!⭐ 👈
🔥 Kyrene Strong! Kyrene, to its tremendous credit, immediately stood up to this ridiculous, unlawful attack against our kids. Governing Board president Kevin Walsh [[link removed]] said that the district is being inclusive and making everyone feel welcome, and there’s nothing in their policies or proposals that violates state or federal laws: “We firmly believe that our policies advance the Civil Rights Act and talk about not making any discriminatory practices based on race. That’s what entire policies and practices are about, the opposite of discriminatory language. We strive to be inclusive in every aspect.”
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💪 AG Mayes Enters the Chat: Attorney General Kris Mayes said Horne’s threat to withhold federal funding over the possible adoption of a DEI policy has “no legal basis,” [[link removed]] and claimed Horne has no “legitimate role whatsoever in blocking the distribution of these federal funds.”
Mayes said [[link removed]] , “While schools should follow state and federal laws, they should ignore "baseless, politicized threats," and characterized Kyrene’s proposed staff wellness policy as showing a commitment to creating a "kind, empathetic and respectful workplace." "Rather than do his job and ensure that funds appropriated by Congress and the Legislature reach Arizona schools — as the law requires — Superintendent Horne is choosing to engage in ideological nonsense at the expense of students and teachers.”
😡 Horne Claps Back: On Thursday, Horne fired back a press release [[link removed]] accusing AG Mayes of being wrong and risking $770 million in federal funding for Arizona schools.
Now, Horne has asked every Arizona district and charter to sign on to a letter [[link removed]] certifying their compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, adding that any violations — including “the use of DEI programs to advantage one’s race over another” — is impermissible.
Our take: We aren’t lawyers, but last we checked, safe, welcoming, and inclusive policies have nothing to do with the law cited in this battle (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act), which says that discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal. We’ve got our bets on Kyrene and AG Mayes and hope to see more Arizona districts stand strong against this authoritarian, destructive, and anti-democratic attack by a government that is attempting to drag our country back hundreds of years, teach whitewashed history, and implement fascism.
⭐Let Supt. Horne know you disagree with his brazen attacks on Arizona public schools:
📧 Email his office now [[link removed]] !⭐
READ THE FULL WEEKLY EDUCATION REPORT HERE [[link removed]]
LEA EL SEMANARIO EN ESPAÑOL [[link removed]]
K-12 Roundup
🏫🎒🧑‍🏫 All the school news you need to know from this week in one quick read:
All Students are Welcome in Public Schools: Mesa community members spoke up en masse in support of trans students [[link removed]] at this week’s Mesa Public Schools board meeting. The Board held a first reading of a proposed “gender dysphoria policy,” which would require school staff to notify parents if their kids ask to go by a different pronoun or name, as well as force them to use bathrooms and play on teams that match their sex as assigned at birth. The vast majority of the 80 people who spoke criticized the policy, saying it would make students feel “unsafe, unwelcome and unsupported.”
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Yuma Teacher Fired for Supporting Student: Last week, the Yuma Union High School District terminated a cheerleading coach who allowed a male student to change in an empty girls’ locker room. [[link removed]] The coach says she was trying to ensure the student’s safety and protect him from being bullied for his sexual orientation. She acknowledges she allowed a boy on her cheer team to change in her office, which is located in the girls' locker room. However, he wasn’t allowed in until after the girls were done changing. The student testified about the bullying he’s experienced: “I’ve filled out at least five different incident reports. They would say how I am gay and that I should kill myself and I don’t need that, for someone to tell me to kill myself, that’s not what I need.”
⭐Please sign 👉 Coach Plaza’s cheer team is rallying to bring her back. They’ve launched an online petition [[link removed]] , which gathered over 1,000 signatures overnight and is now over 26,000 signatures !⭐
Take Action!
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Email Gov. Hobbs & your lawmakers to urge them to do their constitutional duty and invest in Arizona’s public schools! Our easy-to-use, one-click email tool [[link removed]] is preloaded with SOSAZ’s legislative priorities, but we also encourage you to customize your email for maximum impact. [link removed] [[link removed]]
CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL NOW! [[link removed]]
JOIN US. Flood Congress with calls and emails NOW.
Contact your US Senators & Representatives to demand that they aggressively and forcefully protect the US Department of Education and the 50 MILLION+ students who rely on the protections and funding it provides.
📧 EMAIL: Use our one-click email tool: bit.ly/SaveUSEdDept [[link removed]]
☎️ CALL: Use this easy click-through calling tool: bit.ly/SaveDeptEd [[link removed]]
What's Happening at the AZ Leg?
A quick rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly at the Arizona State Legislature:
🎉 Gov. Hobbs Vetoes School Privatization Bill: This week, the Arizona legislature sent a dangerous bill (HB2640 [[link removed]] , passed by only Republican votes) to the governor’s desk. The bill was designed to incentivize districts to sell school campuses to charter and private school operators [[link removed]] , a primary tool of lobbyists around the country who push vouchers and school privatization. Thank you, Gov. Hobbs!!!
💸 Budget season: The Finance Advisory Committee [[link removed]] , a panel of state economists and other experts, presented their findings this week amid speculation that their updates would allow lawmakers to begin in earnest the serious work of negotiating a state budget. As expected, their news wasn't great. The economists warned that Arizona faces significant economic uncertainty due to the federal chaos of tariffs, tax cuts, funding terminations, and budget reductions. Anticipating a "possible moderate recession," they reduced the state's revenue growth forecast, meaning lawmakers will have even less money to work with than expected. They also advised lawmakers that the expected federal cuts to AHCCCS (Medicaid) alone will completely drain Arizona's $1.6 billion Rainy Day Fund. The takeaway: This meeting provides yet another indication that lawmakers must act with caution, investing only in the areas that will directly help Arizona residents and refusing the further tax handouts (such as the Diamondbacks billionaire giveaway [[link removed]] and automatic tax cuts [[link removed]] ) that would cause significant harm.
NOW is the time to reach out to your state senator [[link removed]] and representatives [[link removed]] . Tell them you want to see last year's cuts to education restored, and that this is no time to waste our hard-earned tax dollars on tax giveaways. If you've already done this, please do it again!
🚂 All Aboard the Veto Express: As the Legislature picks up the pace on sending harmful legislation to Gov. Hobbs' desk (nearly always along party lines), the number of vetoes is rising too. This past week, the governor vetoed many bills SOSAZ is tracking, and we expect to see more vetoes in the days to come.
VETOED: SB1164 [[link removed]] , forcing public schools in Arizona to open their doors to ICE agents
VETOED: SB1441 [[link removed]] , making school board elections partisan
VETOED: SB1584 [[link removed]] , banning public schools from implementing hiring policies based on factors other than "merit" as part of the MAGA attack on diversity, equity and inclusion
VETOED: HB2062 [[link removed]] , removing any reference to gender in Arizona law and replacing it with a narrow, inflexible and unscientific [[link removed]] definition of biological sex
VETOED: HB2375 , requiring school districts to begin special education evaluations within 15 days of written request, burdening schools that are already overwhelmed with the volume of expensive requests and hurting students with existing IEP and 504 plans
VETOED: HB2640 [[link removed]] , incentivizing local public schools to sell their campuses to private schools, accelerating school privatization and hurting neighborhood schools
VETOED: HB2920 , requiring county treasurers to include school district property tax rates on bills and statements without proper explanation or context of the costs that fall to counties and localities when the legislature fails to adequately fund public schools
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🙅‍♀️Speaking of vetoes… The battle over Republicans' shameful refusal to properly fund the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) escalated further this week. Led by Rep. David Livingston (R-28) and Sen John Kavanagh, lawmakers in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees advanced a pair of bills [[link removed]] to slash the Parents as Paid Caregivers program, which would lead to children being ripped from their families and institutionalized. He even stacked the deck against parents by adding three more Republicans to his committee [[link removed]] to make sure his version got passed. The bills now await a vote of the full House and Senate, where Republicans have promised further amendments. Thankfully, Gov. Hobbs responded to their "nonstarter" proposal by promising to veto every bill Republicans send her [[link removed]] until the legislature passes a “reasonable, negotiated” bill to fund DDD. (This type of bill-signing moratorium has happened before; former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey did it in 2021 [[link removed]] .) The program is slated to run out of money at the end of the month, leaving vulnerable families high and dry.
⏱️Hurry Up and Wait: We've reached the point in session where things either move very fast, or not at all. With committee hearings finished for the year until the introduction of budget bills, lawmakers' time is largely occupied with floor calendars (votes of the full House or Senate on various bills) and behind-the-scenes budget negotiations. Once a deal is reached, it will be swiftly presented and voted on, sometimes with bills we are tracking wrapped in as the price of certain lawmakers' votes. This makes our continued engagement even more critical. Stay in contact with your state senator [[link removed]] and representatives [[link removed]] , as well as the governor's office ( [email protected] [[email protected]] or 602-542-4331), to be sure they are aware of the public's expectations.
✅ Stay in the know: The SOSAZ 2025 Bill Tracker [[link removed]] contains full information about all bills SOSAZ supports or opposes in 2025 and gives you up-to-the-minute information on where these bills stand.
Join Us!
Webinar Wednesday! Join Save Our Schools Arizona Network for a virtual presentation on "The War on Public Education: The Agenda to Dismantle Public Schools from AZ to DC." Learn how and why national interests have attacked public schools in Arizona and throughout the nation, where we are in the fight currently and what you can do to stand up for public schools! [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
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Volunteers Needed! Ever wanted to help give one of the most impactful presentations in Arizona? Now you can be a volunteer presenter for the 2025 Education Roadshow! Join us for our next virtual training date on Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30pm. We walk you through the information and the process for becoming a volunteer presenter to help make a difference in your community! [link removed] [[link removed]]
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Contact Us
[email protected]
Save Our Schools Arizona
PO Box 28370
Tempe, AZ 85285
United States
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