The Horne administration
Tom Horne returns to public office after a decade away from his scandal-ridden tenure as superintendent and attorney general.
Despite leading in most of the polls, it was a surprise to see Tom Horne win both of the primary and general elections in 2022. Nevertheless, he will be the Arizona Superintendent for the next four years and we can expect it to be far different than how Kathy Hoffman ran the department since 2019.
While Hoffman focused more on public schools (the role is the superintendent of public instruction, after all) and inclusivity, Horne will likely put more focus on private and charter schools with an emphasis on not inclusivity.
Horne campaigned on ending bilingual education… remind me how that went for him last time he held this post.
Horne also campaigned against Hoffman’s use of websites that helped LGBTQ+ students better understand what they are going through in a cruel world that isn’t as accepting of them as it should be. Horne was against it and accused Hoffman of aiding to predators.
Ironic considering Horne’s connections to David Stringer, a convicted child predator who had ties to Horne’s campaign until there was enough pressure for Horne to cut ties.
Horne also met with former CD2 congressional candidate and likely Q of Q-Anon fame, Ron Watkins, during the cycle.
So with this guy overseeing K-12 schools in the state, who is in his administration and how much will they earn from taxpayers?
I got a list of senior staff and their respective salaries and there are some notable names.
Superintendent: Tom Horne - $85,000
Deputy Superintendent: Margaret Garcia Dugan - $187,000; Dugan is a close ally of Horne’s working as his top staffer during his tenure as superintendent and also following him to the attorney general’s office. She played a crucial role in the banning of Mexican American studies and notably dropped “Garcia” from her name when she unsuccessfully sought to replace Horne as superintendent in 2010.
Chief Operations Officer: Art Harding - $165,000; Harding also served with Horne in the SPI and AG’s Office; was a lobbyist at Dept of Corrections, spent some time as Melania Trump’s director of policy and recently spent time on the Ninth Floor under Gov. Doug Ducey.
Assoc. Supt. For Accountability, Research and Evaluation: Joseph Guzman - $165,000
Assoc. Supt. For Arizona Educator Leadership: Sid Bailey- $137,500; Bailey worked for the Charter School Association between 2013 and 2020 and previously served as the Director of AZLEADS under both Horne and John Huppenthal in the SPI Office.
Assoc. Supt. For School Improvement: Michelle Udall- $137,500; Udall of course spent the past six years representing the East Valley in the Arizona House of Representatives. She was long considered a reasonable voice on most education issues, notably being a holdout on expanding the ESA program without any checks and balances. She eventually caved on that issue with other Republican holdouts and lost to Horne in the superintendent’s Republican primary last August. Several education sources I’ve spoken to had speculated Udall would work for Horne and each one of them offered their disappointment in her for doing so.
Assoc. Supt. For Exceptional Student Services/Child and Adult Programs: Colette Chapman - $137,500; Chapman was most recently at the AG’s Office as the Victims' Rights Enforcement Officer. She joined the office under Horne in 2011 and remained through Brnovich’s eight years. She also worked under Horne at ADE.
Assoc. Supt. For Academic Achievement: Catherine Barrett - $137,500; Barrett is known as a vocal opponent of most (if not all) teachers’ union issues in Arizona. She first started to grab headlines in 2018 when she helped the Red for Ed movement and quickly disassociated herself with them to join the opposition. She’s now more closely allied with the Purple for Parents group of obnoxious conspiracy theorists who pick battles with anybody who doesn’t agree with their point of view. She was a longtime teacher at Phoenix Union HS District
Executive Director for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts: Christine Accurso - $132,000; Accurso pretends to be a “regular ESA mom,” but hides behind her avid connections to East Valley Republicans like Warren Petersen and Eddie Farnsworth. Accurso got into a heated battle with Kathy Hoffman and ADE in 2019 over issues with the ESA program, but clearly just didn’t understand how the program operated. She eventually got all her questions answered by the agency, but never relented her criticism over the next several years. She now gets to oversee that same program after universal expansion.
Chief Strategy Officer: Edward Cota - $165,000
Communications Director: Doug Nick - $121,000, Nick is another Horne friendly who recently worked in communications at the Department of Transportation.
Deputy Operations Officer: Debbie Jackson- $137,500; Jackson is also a Horne loyalist.
One other Horne staffer making the news already is Mila Makal. 12 News reported that he has a proclivity for posting far-right content online. Makal apparently isn’t considered senior staff so he wasn’t included in this request.
Lastly, I’m already receiving some tips about potential controversies and scandals brewing in Horne’s office and it hasn’t even been a week. If so, it’s gonna be a long scandalous next four years.