Thomas Charles Horne (born March 28, 1945)[1] is an American politician, attorney, businessman, and activist who has served as the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2023 and previously from 2003 to 2011.

[8] Horne stipulated (i.e., chose not to dispute) an SEC finding that he and his firm "willfully aided and abetted" in violations of securities law; he neither admitted nor denied guilt.

[10] Asked about the 1973 SEC ban in 2010, Horne blamed errors by a company that he had contracted to do accounting,[7] and on his attempt to use "early-on computerization" while working and being a law student.

[12] Horne was an advocate for full-day kindergarten, citing research that showed that such programs reduce the achievement gap between students from poor households and those from more affluent homes.

[15] Horne, a classically trained pianist and founder of the Phoenix Baroque Ensemble, advocated for increasing arts education in schools.

[16] Horne also continued to implement the Arizona Instrument to Measure Success standardized test; performance on the AIMS test (either alone or in combination with Advanced Placement examss and International Baccalaureate exams) determines graduating high school students' qualification for a "high honors" diploma, which guarantees free tuition at Arizona's three public universities.

[17][18] Horne implemented policies that discouraged bilingual education and sought to shut down the Tucson Unified School District's controversial Mexican American Studies Department Programs.

[19] He argued that the Tucson ethnic studies programs "separated students by race, taught them that they are oppressed, and was influenced by Marxist and communist philosophies.

that effectively banned ethnic studies, and led to the Tucson Unified School District board closing its program in January 2012.

[22][23] In July 2017, Horne testified in the litigation; in his testimony, he defended the law and asserted that the Tucson program was led by radical teachers.

[20] The federal district court, later in 2017, ultimately issued a permanent injunction blocking Arizona from enforcing the law, determining that the decision to ban the Tucson program was "motivated by a desire to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fears" and was unconstitutional.

[37] In 2013 Horne wrote an opinion that defended the state preemption of regulation of firearms; he found that Tucson's city gun laws were unenforceable.

He withdrew the threat several days later when Bisbee agreed to rewrite the ordinance, removing rights reserved for married couples under Arizona law.

[44][45] Horne argued that these students were disqualified from in-state tuition by state law, even if the federal government had approved them to remain and work in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

[51] Horne criticized the Colorado City police force (known as "the marshal's office"), saying it acted as an arm of the FLDS Church instead of the law.

In May 2017, however, the Arizona Supreme Court voided the lower-court decisions, agreeing with Horne and Winn that they were denied due process because Polk was involved in the prosecution's strategy and case preparation.

[66][67] Horne was denounced by several fellow Arizona Republicans, including congressmen Jeff Flake and Matt Salmon and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

[61] Separately, the complaint to the Secretary of State's office led to the appointment of two independent investigators (one of whom was a former Arizona Court of Appeals judge) as special attorneys general.

[69][70] In 2017, Tom Horne joined with Terry Goddard, the Democratic former mayor of Phoenix and Arizona Attorney General, to promote the Outlaw Dirty Money Act, a ballot measure to combat "dark money" (secret campaign spending) by requiring the public disclosure of all major donors to efforts to oppose or support candidates or ballot measures.

[73] Many of the signatures disqualified in the ruling were thrown out because they were collected by 15 paid gatherers who failed to respond to subpoenas requiring them to appear in court for the lawsuit.

[74] In 2021, Horne announced his campaign for a third term as Arizona superintendent of public instruction, challenging Democratic incumbent Kathy Hoffman.

In the lawsuit, Horne contends that the 50-50 Dual-Language Immersion model, one of four methods used to teach such students in Arizona, violates Proposition 203, a 2000 ballot initiative.

[78] House of Representative Democrat Raúl Grijalva criticized the announcement stating "It’s masquerading as a serious educational resource when in reality it’s unaccredited right-wing propaganda.

Horne caused more than $1,000 worth of damage to a car he backed into before leaving the scene—ostensibly, according to FBI agents, to hide an extramarital affair with a subordinate.