Horne and Yee Turn Debate Into a Fight Over D.E.I., Finances, and Phonics

Drink update: I finished my glass of red, but had to sneak swigs to follow the barrage of claims and accusations.

Overall, the debate was fast and spicy, each candidate throwing barbs, and yet on policy, they frequently agreed: yes to ESA, yes to phonics, yes to higher teacher pay, yes to charters. The attacks were mostly personal, or were about the current state of Arizona classrooms, not so much what needs to be done to improve them.

Did Yee outflank Horne from the right, which some people expected? Not really. She certainly appeared more polished, but Horne took his shots and landed some blows. Yee definitely outperformed, but Horne has the incumbent advantage. I’d guess it’ll be a close race.

Horne’s closing statement didn’t seem much like a closing statement. I think he thought he was still responding to the last question.

The moderator turns to Yee who folds her hands on the lectern, smiles, and delivers. She says voter should back “someone who has the competence, not the chaos,” to manage Arizona schools. "I’m equipped and ready,” she adds, and the moderator shuts it down.

Alright everyone, 56 minutes of marathon drinking, with about a 15 minute breather in between. I counted 3 full drinks, a full drink's worth of sips, and two big drinks.

So, if you're anything like me, you downed 4.5 glasses of liquor, and are ready to crawl into bed with a bottle of Tylenol.

Big drink time. Yee pivoting away from the accusations of D.E.I. -alignment to her time managing dollah-dollah-bills.

“It’s not in the dumps, as many people say,” Horne says of the state of Arizona education.

Yee has been polished and fast-talking (often with a smile on her face) throughout. Horne has had some verbal stumbles, is beginning to rely more on his notes, slowing down a bit, struggling to finish some sentences.

After his latest verbal stumble, Yee says viewers can see the contrast on the stage, again calling out the state of education in Arizona, lamenting the status quo

Yee wants to bring Home Ec and Shop Class back into our schools. Alternative pathways to teaching is a program, Yee says, that would bring tradespeople into the classroom to help teach, for example, welding.

Horne likes these programs as well, saying he greatly expanded them while in office. He boasts about a “traveling road show” that 40 companies participated in, describing how they explained to students what skills they needed to get a well-paying job right out of highschool.

Hold on. I have to get another bottle of wine for these last 10 minutes.

I'm solidly four drinks in within 50 minutes, and I think I'm regretting coming up with this idea.

Yee jumps on the bandwagon, says we should no longer invest in companies that rely on DEI. But… the reality may be different, according to Pew Research: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/05/17/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/

The specter of Chinese calling the shots: “can you imagine a world like that?” Horne muses. That would be the result of the philosophy of DEI winning, he says.

Critical race theory mentioned -- that's a sip!

Horne takes some shots at bilingual instruction. We brought it up from 5% to 35%. “Bilingual is not the best way,” he says. He adds that various school districts are not following the law and not relying on English immersion for ESL students. He then turns to the ills of “social emotional learning.”

Yee agrees with the problems of social emotional learning, and adds that DEI is a serious problem. Yee proffers a letter: proof! she says, that she never chaired a committee about DEI. As soon as she wields the letter, Horne digs in his pocket and brings out his own letter. Horne points to the letter with a picture of Yee as engaged in something DEI related. The moderator shuts it down: no props on the podium!

The convo shifts back to DEI, which Horne says is “a terrible thing.”

That testy bit is a reminder of a Peoria school board meeting. Throw back another drink.

Throw back them dranks! DEI mentioned three times in a minute.

I'm making an executive decision and saying that because Horne says "bilingual is not the best way" that it's a big sip.

Horne admits that Arizona is at the bottom for state funding, but claims that it ranks much higher in terms of student testing, saying AZ is in the middle. Yee takes a dig, says that “the study my opponent is trying to remember,” and then names the study. She admits that in math AZ is in the middle in terms of ranking, but says we’re just not doing well enough, saying that AZ students are below average for reading. They then begin discussing early childhood reading methods, focusing on the importance of phonic instruction. Horne says he challenged Yee to find a single school in the state that doesn’t use phonics, and Yee counters that while that’s on the books, the reality in the classroom is that some schools “might not be following the law… because they have kids who are not reading.”

This seems to be the state-based study they mentioned:
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/states/achievement/?grade=4

Really should've had Hooked on Phonics as one of the drinking rules...

How to fund under-funded schools?

Yee leans into her experience as treasurer, saying she prioritizes in-person contact with cities and towns and their school districts to help them manage their funds and understand what they need.

Horne claims they did a study finding schools that spend more on teacher salaries and less on administration have better educational outcomes.

This seems to be that study: https://www.azed.gov/communications/horne-more-money-classroom-improves-student-performance

Horne is “big on School Resource Officers,” SROs, or police in schools. He says he’s lobbying for yet more, noting there are over 500 police currently in Arizona schools.

Yee calls SROs a “wonderful compliment to a school.” She says they not only protect schools from outside threats, but can help stop fights in schools.

There is, however, a large body of studies about the problems of SROs, including the criminalization of students. More here:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1163923.pdf

Horne and Yee both lament underfunded schools. Yee says more district money should be focused on classrooms and teachers. Horne notes there’s a lot of money in the state land trust, and salaries could be raised without raising taxes. That is, the lapsed funding from Prop 123. Moderator notes that the superintendent can’t directly affect teacher salary rates.

Yee focuses on poor teacher retention rates, taking a shot at Horne, saying he’s established this unfortunate status quo. Yee herself then leans into the need for Prop 123, and the moderator establishes that they agree on that issue.

The state has never gotten involved in private schools,” Horne says, saying there could be 1st amendment violations if they did. That’s certainly disputed, or at least more complicated than presented.
https://bsmknighterrant.org/2024/01/30/does-the-first-amendment-apply-to-private-school-students/

According to a recent report, currently “no effective auditing process exists to prevent unallowable items from being approved” in the ESA program. Read more here: https://www.azfamily.com/2026/05/14/arizona-esa-voucher-program-audit-reveals-oversight-concerns/

Talking about the ESA program, Horne says he put in guardrails at the beginning: “Every expenditure needs to be for a legitimate educational purpose,” he said of the initial setup. He blames Yee for being willing to pay for Rolex watches purchased under the ESA program. Yee counters and says Horne likes to “twist words.” Yee says she wants to create a “more updated, technological platform” that would automatically screen potentially suspect purchases.

Yeesh, another TWO sips as Yee mentions school choice twice... again

Time for another TWO sips as Yee mentions school choice.

Time for a sip as Horne mentions parents' choice.

The debate is off to a testy start. Horne and Yee trade accusations of misrepresenting public funds. Both are embracing the use of AI.

Some technical difficulties, and I’ve barely begun drinking. But I’ve got a full glass of Côtes du Rhône and am tuned back in…

Yee focuses on her own history, but makes two implicit comments about trustworthiness of Horne, saying "We need a leader we can trust.

Already off to the start with throwing back a full drink, and two sips. Horne mentions trans kids in sports, wokeness, and said D.E.I. three times in literally the first minute.

Here we go...! Tom Horne, with the first opening statement, begins declaiming "leftwing craziness" and claims Yee formerly supported DEI.”

As a reminder, our website doesn’t allow for *actual* live-blogging, so you’ll have to refresh the page for updates. So best to open up the debate in a different window. One day, we’ll make enough money to have a real website. 

Fully expecting with the rule set tonight to be completely tossed by the 30 minute mark.

We're 15 minutes out from the Republican debate with Tom Horne and Kimberly Yee. Grab your drinks and the rules (above) and get settled in. John Washington will be doing some light live blogging and fact-checking, I'll be the drink counter.