When the Blog for Arizona first asked 35-year career educator Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz why she wanted to be the next Superintendent of Public Instruction, she replied:
“I actually have about a million reasons because that’s about how many children we have in the state of Arizona in public education, and every single one of those students deserves to have access to high-quality education, whether they live in rural Arizona or the urban centers.”
That rationale for her candidacy has not changed in the almost year and a half since that March 2025 interview.
Now the Democratic nominee for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Ruiz is committed, if elected, to putting forth a Students First Administration, complete with a nine-point plan designed to:
- Lift all students, regardless of ability, zip code, or demographic group.
- Promote safe and healthy schools.
- Improve student achievement.
- Support teachers and education staff.
- Encourage innovation that enhances the classroom experience and helps the child and instructor.
- Forge strong community partnerships with public education supporting stakeholders.
- Ensure accountability and responsible stewardship of Department actions and transactions, including the financially unsustainable and fraudster-inviting Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program.
This plan is in contrast to the Anti-DEI and Pro-ESA policies of the current Superintendent Tom Horne and the current Republican Nominee, Arizona Treasurer and non-educator Kimberly Yee, the darling of the fringe plutocratic ESA right and organizations like the pro-indoctrination center Turning Point.
Dr. Ruiz, who has the endorsement of former Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, graciously interviewed with Blog for Arizona again to discuss her candidacy to become the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The questions and her responses are below.
In an interview with Tucson Now after your primary victory and in your first ad, you said that the theme of your campaign is students first. Please tell the readers what that means.
Please explain.
“Well, students have always been my priority in their success, and it’s what I focused on for 35 years, and it’s what I would love to continue focusing on as a Superintendent. It’s what the Superintendent should be focused on. Not scoring political points, not attacking educators, and certainly not suing schools. Students should always be our first priority.”
Your general election opponent is Treasurer Kimberly Yee. Please tell the readers at least two reasons why you would be a better Superintendent of Public Instruction than her. Please explain.
“Experience. My opponent has never set foot in a classroom outside of a photo opportunity, while I’ve spent decades teaching math and actually teaching math in South Phoenix, while she’s been in elected office for decades. And during that time, reading and math proficiency rates have continued to decline. So while I’ve been teaching math, you know, she’s been in elected office.”
Would you like to compare her support of ESA’s to your opposition?
“Well, what I would say is that the ESAs have zero guardrails and zero transparency and zero accountability. As a former college president, this is how I live my life with transparency, with accountability, and certainly with guardrails. And so our differences are in that she doesn’t believe there should be guardrails with taxpayer resources. And I believe there should be. That’s the responsibility of being a good steward of public resources and, as an elected leader, that we have guardrails in place to protect our taxpayers’ resources.”
To what extent are you worried about the influence of Turning Point in the coming election?
“I’m concerned. I’m aware, I’m aware of the impact that a large organization backed by individuals who have proven to not have public education as a priority. But we’ve seen what’s happened with the Salt River Project Board elections and how that turned out. And so, this is an example of how we must all band together as a community in our efforts to protect the power and the promise of public education for the one million students across Arizona because what we’ve already seen, the focus is on privatizing public education rather than prioritizing and investing in it.
Looking towards the November general election, what are two additional issues you’d like to campaign on? You could incorporate the education plan that you released yesterday into your response if you like.
“It’s a great plan. It’s a comprehensive plan that’s focusing on our students and students first. And one of the first things that we’ve been talking about and will continue to talk about and plan to do if elected is we really need to have a modern automated system for the ESAs. We were just talking about the ESAs. When we think of how any expense under $2,000 is automatically being approved, and to date it costs Arizonans over half a billion dollars of expenses that have been unchecked and unchallenged, we would be very serious about implementing an automated modern system, something that can process transactions quickly while also preventing unallowable purchases from being made. That’s something we’ve been campaigning on, and we’ll continue.”
“I think something else that’s really important because it affects our teachers and affects our stability of teacher workforce is we need to remove the teacher snitch line. It’s a waste of taxpayer resources. It serves no purpose. We need to restore a climate of respect for our educators so that we can begin to help alleviate the teacher crisis problem that is facing throughout Arizona.”
Are there any other aspects of your newly released plan that you’d like to emphasize to the readers right now?
“We really need to focus on our students and their success, and that really begins with stabilizing our teacher workforce because when we have a revolving door of substitutes, that affects academic performance. We need to give our students that stability in the classroom. And that begins with partnering with community colleges and universities and non-profits. It also is partnering with our teachers and educators and administrators across the state on understanding what their needs are and how we at the Superintendent’s Office and Department of Education can best support our teachers in the classroom so we’re not losing teachers, so we can help retain the teachers we have.”
Please explain at least two ways your campaign will win over independent and moderate Republican voters in the general election.
“We actually already have quite a bit of bipartisan support. As we’ve traveled the state of Arizona, I’ve talked to many Republicans and many independents. Whether that’s in urban areas or rural Arizona, families are really fed up with the politics surrounding education. They want leaders to focus on our students. They’re really, really angry about the universal ESA program. They see that as siphoning money away from their public schools, and they’re really worried that their schools may close. And so whether we’re in rural Arizona and we’ve really traveled throughout our beautiful state. That’s a common message that keeps returning again and again.”
“Parents want us to focus on our students, and having that bipartisan support is really meaningful because at the end of the day, literacy doesn’t have a political party. We’re talking about our children. We’re talking about our children’s academic performance and their future. And we are already running some statewide ads introducing this messaging to our Independents and to our Republicans who care about public education.
You are confident Democratic turnout will be where you want it to be?
“I believe we can always improve the Democratic turnout, voter turnout. I am confident in the support from my fellow Democrats, and I’m confident that we will increase the voter turnout. But I’m also confident in winning over Independents and Republicans with this message of let’s focus on our students and their academic performance. Let’s rein in as much as we can the universal ESA’s so we can focus on resources where they need to be in our public education system.”
Please explain at least two ways your campaign will reach out to voters who normally do not pay attention to politics and turn them out to vote for you in the November election.
One of the things that I’m really proud of is that many of our donors are first-time donors to any campaign. And that’s because we’ve been reaching out. We’ve been reaching out in our travels, and when I say we’ve traveled the state, like we really have gone to all 15 counties to places that are often unseen and forgotten and overlooked. And like places like Clifton, Arizona, in the eastern part of the state, or Page. We’ve canvassed in Eloy, a place that is often overlooked. A couple of weeks ago, we were at the Tuba City Flea Market. We had a table set up with some other candidates who speak Navajo and were able to really engage with communities.”
“We are making a really concerted effort to reach out to communities that are forgotten. And that’s showing up in our donations as well. People have never donated anywhere.”
Is there anything I did not cover in the first six questions that you’d like the readers to know about your candidacy for Superintendent of Public Instruction? Please explain.
“I mentioned our strategic plan. It’s on our website; I would encourage readers to go to our website to learn more about this comprehensive strategic plan that we’ve laid out for our students. And I would say, please tell your friends and our families about this campaign.”
“This has actually become the most expensive Superintendent of Public Instruction race in history. And we expect more dark money from out-of-state groups like Turning Point to continue to flow in towards my opponent’s side. I think that’s significant in why this race is costing so much money. This is a role that should be focused on our students and preparing them for the future. It’s what I’ve done for 35 years. It’s what I would be so honored to continue to do.”
“I’m filled with gratitude at the level of support we’ve received across the state of Arizona. When we looked at those primary results, it’s humbling and I’m extremely grateful for our donors, our supporters, for individuals who hosted fundraising events for us. And I believe because this is completely a grassroots effort, I am a career educator, not a career politician. That’s what it’s going to take to put a true educator back into this important role for public schools.”
Please click here for more information about Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz and her candidacy for Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Please click here to review her Plan for Student Success.
Please click here to read her earlier interview with Blog for Arizona.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.