PHOENIX — In less than a month, Arizona will know who the next top school chief will be. Current State Treasurer Kimberly Yee is on the Republican ticket up against Democrat Teresa Leyba Ruiz, a decades-long educator, for the Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction position.
When ABC15 asked Ruiz why she’s running now, she said she became “fed up.”
"For decades, Arizona politicians have underfunded our schools, attacked our teachers, and really playing their own political games. And as an educator, I reached a point where I was fed up, and it's time to have an educator actually leading the Arizona Department of Education,” she said.
Ruiz said she taught math for 25 years in a South Phoenix classroom before working at Glendale Community College as an administrator. Eventually, she became the president of the college.
While Ruiz said she has a whole plan laid out for her first 100 days in office if she were to be elected, her first two priorities are to undo policies current Superintendent Tom Horne put into place.
She said she would look at the automatic approval of purchases through the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program. Currently, Horne’s office automatically approves purchases $2,000 and less for ESA, as the office is understaffed. After going through the process, they would go back and audit.
“We need to have a full third-party audit, look at the system, and really being a good steward of taxpayer resources,” Ruiz said.
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Her second priority would be to shut down Horne’s Empower Hotline. The hotline allows anyone in the state to report lessons they consider inappropriate on race or other controversial topics.
Ruiz is also asking voters to lead public education while her own children attend a private school that aligns with their faith. She had confirmed that to reporters a few weeks ago after the superintendent debate.
"Arizona has always had choice, first of all. And so, it aligned with our faith. I answered the question. My husband and I worked really hard to pay for it,” she said after ABC15 asked why they chose private school over public.
In terms of Arizona’s low academic rankings, Ruiz said they should create more workforce development programs that help students and the community.
"My mission, my focus has always been our students. That's what I'll continue to do. And that's looking at what's working and how can we make sure our teachers are getting the resources they need,” she said.
As Arizona continues to face a teacher shortage, she said in order to help alleviate that, she’d want to start with the leaders.
"The tone starts at the top. I have met so many teachers who are leaving the profession because they feel disrespected, undervalued, and overworked. So, let's change the tone right away,” she said.
ABC15 did ask Yee for the same interview; however, conditions for an interview were not agreed upon. A source of disagreement was that ABC15 wanted to ask Yee whether her children attended public school or private school, given the position she was running for. However, Yee did not want to discuss her children at all. The question was also asked by reporters after the superintendent debate last month.
Yee did do an interview with ABC15 before she won the Primary election. Her answers to key education issues can be found here.
See our full interview with the superintendent in the player below:
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