Overview
- The Arizona State Board of Education approved starting revisions to strip diversity, equity and inclusion references from state educator standards.
- The Education Department plans to launch the rewrite in 2026, seek input from all 15 counties, and present draft materials by September.
- Superintendent Tom Horne argued the overhaul is necessary to guard as much as $866 million in federal education funding.
- Horne said he wants terms such as “equitable” removed because he believes they promote equal outcomes by race rather than individual merit.
- The Arizona Education Association urged the board to retain current standards and warned that scrapping DEI could curtail lessons on groups like the Navajo Code Talkers and hinder student safety programming.