“Chock-full of lies and misinformation” - Miranda, Mendez respond to Superintendent Tom Horne’s lacking leadership and willingness to misrepresent key facts at recent Joint Legislative
Arizona Senate Democrats
Oct 3, 20242 min read
Arizona State Senate
1700 W. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85007 Press Release
PHOENIX – This week, the U.S. Department of Education revived $29 million in Title I funds granting a waiver for the state after the Arizona Department of Education (ADOE) failed to meetcritical deadlines. The restoration comes after a recent Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) where State Superintendent of Public Education, Tom Horne, was caught lying to legislators about why his administration lost the $29 million in the first place.
“Some things are true, and some things are not true,” Horne responding to Democrats who questioned his position in the committee.
Unfortunately, what was not true was Superintendent Horne’s words citing a federal allocation deadline that, according to the U.S. Department of Education, did not and does not exist. His administration now admits was an internal ADOE deadline. This caused ADOE to miss the actual spending deadline of September 2023. Instead of contacting the U.S. Department of Education to ask for a waiver, Horne simply returned the $29 million in Title I dollars to the federal government, costing Arizona our fair share of federal tax dollars and depriving public schools of these much-needed funds.
Senators Catherine Miranda (LD11) and Assistant Democratic Leader Juan Mendez (LD8) released the following statement:
“It was clear during the audit committee that Tom Horne never had any intention of being forthcoming with truthful information regarding the missed deadline,” Senator Miranda (LD11) stated. “I applaud the U.S. Department of Education for informing the Arizona Department of Education that there was a mechanism to retrieve the funds and for reviving the $29 million expired Title I funds, despite the failure of Horne’s leadership. This money is critical for Arizona public schools. With the unaccountable expansion of universal school vouchers, our state budget has been ravaged with public school teachers, students, and education professionals bearing the brunt of this burden. These dollars are a lifeline to schools and Horne and his Republican allies have proven time and time again to be irresponsible stewards of public education dollars."
Senator Mendez (LD8) added, “Representative Matt Gress and his Republican colleagues gave Superintendent Tom Horne the floor to spread lies and misinformation when Democrats were seeking easy answers to very clear questions about the Department’s failure to provide for our public school students. Arizonans deserve to have confidence in their elected leaders and this moment has been a stark reminder that Republicans are willing to lie if the truth doesn’t fit their narrative. I am grateful these dollars have been revived by the federal government and I can promise that our caucus will be watching intently over the process that ADE will use to disperse them. Our schools must be made whole again.”