Guests – Tom Horne, Joel Strabala, Kirk Feiler, Carl Maness

Tom Horne Addresses Teen Suicide Prevention and School Safety

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has partnered with the JED Foundation to combat teenage suicide in Arizona schools. This initiative comes in response to concerning statistics showing nearly one in four Arizona students seriously consider suicide, with 10% making attempts.

"Prevention of suicide is so important," Horne emphasized. "The closing of schools during COVID was a huge mistake. In Florida, they didn't do it and didn't have any more cases than anybody else. Young people tend not to get COVID unless they have pre-existing conditions, with very rare exceptions."

The JED Foundation, a nonprofit focused on protecting emotional health and preventing suicide among teens and young adults nationwide, will work with Arizona schools to implement evidence-informed suicide prevention training. The initiative complies with Arizona state law ARS 15-120 and will equip school-based mental health professionals statewide with proper training.

When asked about the concerning statistics regarding teen suicide contemplation, Horne cautioned about survey reliability: "Be careful about any survey of kids because when my four kids were young and they would take a survey, they would come home and tell me they did whatever they could to shock people."

School Safety and Resource Officers

Horne discussed his efforts to increase police presence in Arizona schools, noting he has expanded the number of school resource officers from 190 to 563 since taking office in January 2023.

"It's been my crusade since I took office to increase the number of police officers in our schools," Horne stated. "We pay for the police officer. It doesn't cost the school anything."

He criticized schools that refuse police officers, particularly singling out Phoenix Union High School District. "When schools say they don't want police officers, the worst case I've ever heard is Phoenix Union High School District School Board. They had a request from two schools for police officers, and the teachers were for it, the parents were for it, the principals asked for it, the administration asked for it, and the school board voted not to."

Horne referenced a recent incident where Officer Bonanno, stationed at a Tucson charter school, prevented a potential mass shooting. "We escaped a tragedy by the skin of our teeth. He saw an open gate, investigated, and found a guy in a room with 20 kids with a gun and a knife who said he was going to kill the kids to make them famous. Because he was an experienced, brave police officer, he didn't wait for backup. He arrested him right away and saved all those lives."

Chronic Absenteeism Crisis in Arizona Schools

A new report by the Helios Foundation reveals alarming rates of chronic student absenteeism in Arizona schools, with 28.1% in elementary schools and 37% in high schools. Horne defines chronic absenteeism as nine absences in a semester or 18 absences in a year.

"High school kids that miss 37% of their classes are in for a very bleak future, and we're talking about 37% of them," Horne warned.

As a solution, Horne highlighted the success of the one School District's policy: if high school students miss nine classes in a semester or elementary students miss 18 days in a year, they don't receive credit for the course.

"This used to be common practice until our culture got overly letting kids off the hook for everything they do," Horne explained. "We got too easy, and the penalty we paid is in academics."

The District has dramatically reduced absenteeism through this policy, achieving rates of only 9% in elementary schools (compared to 28% statewide) and 8% in high schools (compared to 37% statewide).

"When you apply these kinds of policies, parents get a strong incentive to be sure the kids go to school every day. And the parents are the best ones to make sure that their kids go to school."

Conflict with State Treasurer Over School Funding

Horne described an ongoing dispute with State Treasurer Kimberly Yee regarding a cash advance for the Nadaburg School District, which has 1,500 students.

"It's common to give cash advances as long as the budget shows they'll be positive by the end of the year," Horne explained. "The needs go up and down, and sometimes they need a cash advance."

The issue has been ongoing since August, with confusion over responsibilities. "I approved it, the Department of Administration approved it, and it has to be approved by the treasurer. We sent it to her for approval, and the first reaction was, 'This is not our responsibility.'"

After providing the relevant statute, Horne said the treasurer's office still delayed action. "They sat on it and didn't do anything, although the electronic record shows they looked at it several times. In the last minute, while the school is needing this for their education, they denied it."

Horne explained that the denial was based on a clerical error that initially showed a deficit, but upon correction, the district actually has a $1.5 million projected surplus.

Transgender Bathroom Policies in Schools

During the call-in segment, a listener named Kimberly raised concerns about a biological male using girls' restrooms and locker rooms at CDO High School in Tucson, despite the principal denying these claims.

Horne firmly stated this practice is not legally required: "It's not true. The Ninth Circuit isn't saying you have to let boys in the girls' bathrooms. They're saying districts will make their decisions and we're not going to interfere one way or another."

He elaborated that there are two relevant Ninth Circuit cases with different outcomes—one where the court didn't interfere with a district allowing transgender bathroom use, and another where the court didn't interfere with a district prohibiting it.

Horne has reported schools with such policies to the federal government, noting, "President Trump is against it. As soon as you give me authority to cut off federal funds to these schools, I will do it."

He warned districts of the significant financial risk: "If you lose that much funding, parents can look for another place to go to school, either under open enrollment or charter schools or ESAs."

School Board Elections and Voter Involvement

Following the segment with Tom Horne, Joel Strabala discussed the upcoming Tucson City Council election, with ballots to be mailed out on October 8th.

"If you live in the city of Tucson, in any one of the six wards, you should get a mail-in ballot starting on Wednesday the 8th, and you should get it by no later than Friday or Saturday the 10th or 11th," Strabala explained.

Three positions are open: Ward 3, Ward 5, and Ward 6. Republican candidates include J.L. Wittenbracker in Ward 3 and J. Toloff in Ward 6, with no Republican candidate running in Ward 5.

The election will also include Proposition 417, the "Plan 2025" city initiative, which Strabala described as "a Tucson city plan for social engineering to distribute city monies to take care of the homeless and subsidized housing, but there's no money or improvements in law enforcement safety and very limited funding for improving our roads."

Republican PC Power Rally Event

Kirk Feller, running for LD17 State Representative, discussed his campaign priorities, including addressing economic concerns and preventing Arizona from becoming like California, Colorado, or Oregon.

"The economy and why prices aren't coming down" is a top concern he hears from voters. "When prices go up that much, they very rarely come down. And that is one of the main reasons we have to avoid electing people like Joe Biden and Democrats in general."

Feller also emphasized the importance of securing Arizona's elections: "We have got to nail down some of these issues in our state elections. This is what Florida did too."

The segment concluded with Carl Manis promoting the upcoming PC Power Rally at Silverbell Lake's Danny Lopez Park on Saturday. The event will recognize precinct committeemen and volunteers while encouraging new people to get involved in civic engagement.

"I decided I wanted to have somewhere we can recognize precinct committeemen and people that volunteer, help, go out and put up signs, do phone banking," Manis explained. "It's a hard job, it's a volunteer job, but it requires a lot of hours."

The event will include food, music, speakers, and a tribute to Charlie Kirk. Tom Horne will be among the speakers, along with other candidates and community leaders. The rally runs from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with Val Romero providing barbecue in potluck style.