New Arizona hotline sees few calls about race-based lessons
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said his new hotline for reporting race-based lessons in Arizona classrooms has drawn mostly crank calls to date. (Miner file photo)
PHOENIX – Only a handful of complaints out of hundreds of calls to a new state hotline for reporting race-based lessons have warranted investigation, Arizona’s top education official said Friday.
State Superintendent Tom Horne told radio station KTAR News that the Arizona Department of Education found six complaints to be credible.
“The majority at this point are prank calls,” Horne said. “But we’re not going to be dissuaded by that.”
The Arizona Empower Hotline has been in operation since March 7. It was set up specifically for allegations of teachers teaching so-called critical race theory or any lessons that evoke race and ethnicity. State education officials say the hotline so far has received 2,000 emails and 600 calls and voicemails.
There has been a social media campaign to flood the tip line with either prank calls or messages praising teachers.
Many education groups have accused Horne of politicizing their jobs. Some teachers marched in protest to Horne’s office on Wednesday.
The Arizona Education Association recently went on Twitter and called on Horne to eliminate the hotline.
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