My fingers tingled with excitement as I dialed the Arizona Department of Education’s “Empower Hotline” to report inappropriate public school lessons. Finally, I thought to myself, there is a leader like Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne who will save Arizona’s educational system from years of neglect and an all-out war against public education.
That is educational malpractice, I thought to myself. Our children spend more awake hours at school than at home, and we trust that our teachers are paid well because it’s not only a sign of respect but it also leads to better employment satisfaction, desirability of the teaching profession, and continuation of teaching as a career.
“Uh, umm,” I heard on the other end. I sensed my talk on how long-standing tax cuts were starving public schools was making no inroads, so I decided to appeal to her sense of justice, and using my professorial voice I threw her a soft ball. “Maybe so, but what about Critical Race Theory, wokism, gender ideology, drag queen shows, inappropriate books…”