Who is running for Arizona superintendent? What to know about Kathy Hoffman and Tom Horne

The candidates for Arizona’s next superintendent of public instruction are Democrat Kathy Hoffman and Republican Tom Horne.

The state superintendent is the director of the state public school system and executes state and federal education laws. Other responsibilities of the position include oversight of the Arizona Department of Education and distribution of state education funds.

The superintendent serves on all state public education boards, including First Thing First AZ, the State Board of Education and the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees Arizona's public universities.

Here is more information on the candidates running for this position:

Previously: 5 takeaways from Arizona schools chief debate

Democratic candidate: Kathy Hoffman

Kathy Hoffman took office as superintendent of public instruction in 2019 and is seeking re-election.

Hoffman has focused a significant amount of her time in office on helping schools and students deal with the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoffman told The Arizona Republic that a second term would allow her to advocate for policies to address learning loss prompted by the pandemic's interruptions.

In announcing her run for re-election, Hoffman said that she wants to keep "building an Arizona where every student has a high-quality education."

If re-elected to be superintendent of public instruction, Hoffman said her priorities would be reducing class sizes, increasing teacher pay, allocating funds for addressing student mental health needs, and investing in students from rural areas to bridge the digital divide.

During the 2022 legislative session, Hoffman spoke out about the need for more education funding and opposed measures signed into law by the governor to restrict transgender youth access to some surgical procedures and their participation in sports.

Before holding the office, Hoffman worked as a preschool teacher and a speech therapist.

Republican candidate: Tom Horne

Tom Horne served as state school superintendent from 2003 to 2011, before he was Arizona's attorney general.

Horne's campaign website said that during his previous terms as superintendent he "was a crusader against mediocrity, laziness, and political indoctrination as a substitute for academic teaching."

If elected, Horne said he would work to restrict how teachers can talk about race, encourage more discipline of students, keep schools open in the event of future pandemics, and prioritize funding police in schools.

He also said he would champion English immersion learning for students whose first language is something other than English. In addition, echoing his previous stint as superintendent, Horne has said he will advocate for removing "ethnic studies" from classrooms. Horne successfully lobbied the Legislature to prohibit ethnic studies during his time as superintendent and defended the ban as attorney general from 2011 to 2015. In 2017, a federal judge determined the ban was unconstitutional and that it was motivated by racial discrimination.

Horne is also interested in offering state university scholarships to students who excel on state assessment tests.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ superintendent race: What to know about Kathy Hoffman, Tom Horne