Meet Kathy Hoffman, the new schools superintendent.
It’s been a jam-packed week for Kathy Hoffman. The 32-year-old speech therapist has watched her lead grow in the state superintendent race, putting her on-track to become the first Democrat to lead the Arizona Department of Education since 1995.
On Monday, nearly a week after Election Day, the Associated Press called the race for Hoffman. On Tuesday, her opponent, Frank Riggs, conceded. Since then, Hoffman has done a flurry of interviews to introduce herself to the public and begun preparing to transition into office in January.
A Washington Post columnist has called her campaign “one of the most unlikely stories” of the election season. She’s the first Millennial to win statewide office in Arizona, and she rode a national wave of voter support for women and educators to beat more experienced politicians in both the primary and the general election.
She stopped by The Arizona Republic to share her plans for the state Department of Education.
Question: What do you think it was about your campaign that resonated with voters?
Answer: I kept my campaign very focused on what our students need, on what our teachers need. I made it very real-life-experience-related, that parents and different communities I was talking to could understand, and understand where I was coming from. I think people could see my passion and dedication.
There were many factors to it, but we had a very grass-roots campaign and I don’t think I followed any playbook of how to win a campaign. I created my own path forward.
Q: You’re one of the first Millennials — maybe the first — to be elected to a statewide office. How will you bring that perspective to the Department of Education?
A: One thing that will set me apart from other, typical elected officials, since I am a younger now-elected person — I’m still getting used to saying that — but since I am on the younger side, one thing that’s important to me is having a strong communications department. I know what’s more traditional is having good PR, but to me it’s very important to have great social media and to have, for example, to do Facebook Live videos, to have a Twitter account that is, of course, professional but also highlighting all of our achievements. Just to have that open line of communication out to the public is very important to me.
I do think I bring a different energy, since I’m a firsttime candidate . ... Of course I’m going to surround myself with experts, but I also will be thinking creatively to solve solutions in ways that people might not have thought about before.
Q: You mentioned wanting to do an audit of the department. Is that one of your first priorities?
A: It is one of my top priorities because I know as an elected person that I should be held responsible to the taxpayers. So that’s why we’re going to set up that committee (to audit the Arizona Department of Education) even before I take office, to figure out the best people to serve on that committee. And that way, when we get in, we can immediately start looking and go line by line. It’s a matter of fiscal responsibility.
The intent of the audit is to make sure that my administration can be held responsible and accountable for all of the spending that’s taking place in the Department of Education.
Q: How will you work with the Republican-led state Legislature and Gov. Doug Ducey on education issues?
A: My plan is to be as cooperative as possible. I definitely plan on meeting with them, again, ahead of January, being very proactive about meeting with legislators, with the Governor’s Office, and my priority is to find those areas where we can work collaboratively. I’m sure we have many shared goals.
For example, I know he (Ducey) has mentioned that he also has the intention of charter-school reforms, of also having more transparency and accountability there, so that’s just one example where, at least what I’ve heard, where there’s bipartisan support for that. And so we will be working on that together.
Q: What do you think should be done to hold charter schools more accountable?
A: What I’ve learned along the way and what I’ve been hearing as I’ve met with different education leaders, including charter-school leaders, is we do need to figure out a way to make the system more fair. Because we do know these schools are in competition with each other.
And we do want to make sure all of our students have access to a high-quality education and the learning opportunities that they need to be successful, whether that’s your regular books and paper and pens to be successful or whether that’s special-education services and those types of tools and therapies that are also very expensive. I’m going to be working with people with different backgrounds from district schools as well as charter schools to figure a way forward.
Q: You were one of the educators who descended on the state Capitol during #RedForEd. What role will the movement play, if any, in your Department of Education?
A: I’ve been elected to be a voice for our teachers and our students; I’m a voice for public education. That is my role as superintendent, is to be a positive pro-public education voice, to find solutions that benefit everyone. I know #RedForEd is part of that, I know that’s what they care about. I know the Save Our Schools group has also been pushing for policies that support our public schools.
I don’t see it as there being one movement. I see it as there’s a pro-public-education movement to make sure our schools are fully funded, that our teachers have fair pay, that we need to address the inequities within our public-school system.