Policy Maker of the Year

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, Kathy Hoffman, is being honored as the ACTEAZ Policy Maker of the Year. Ms. Hoffman earned a bachelor’s degree in Japanese Studies at the University of Oregon in 2009 and a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Arizona in 2013. She taught pre-school before beginning her career as a speech-language pathologist. Before running for office, Ms. Hoffman worked as a speech-language pathologist at Vail Unified School District and Peoria Unified School District. In this position, she has credibility because she has walked the walk and understands the needs, accomplishments and sometimes frustrations of being in education. But in so saying, she has also had the joy of seeing the accomplishments from a combined effort of talent. Her background has experience in a large district, and a smaller one which allows a larger perspective of student needs.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is charged with executing various education laws and State Board of Education policies; accurately distributing almost $6 billion in education funding to Arizona’s public school system and helping schools comply with the many national and state laws and State Board of Education policies.

In her role as Superintendent of Public Instruction she is tasked with overseeing Arizona’s K-12 public education system. Her department comprises more than 600 staff across four state offices working to serve Arizona’s students, families, educators, and school communities.

Ms. Hoffman serves as the co-chair of the AZ CTE Quality Commission. She has attended ACTEAZ’s Summer Conference in the past and has been an ardent supporter of Career and Technical Education, and Career and Technical Student Organizations. She is a cheerleader for all kids and truly cherishes their accomplishments and applauds their efforts.

Kathy Hoffman has tremendous enthusiasm and the expertise to achieve great leadership in her office on behalf of all students, and all teachers. She is one of the first to recognize a need in education and then find the funding and staff with the expertise to accomplish the goals needed on behalf of those she is responsible for.

It is an honor for ACTEAZ to recognize Superintendent Hoffman for her dedication to support Career Technical Education and the careers these CTE Programs have trained to be successful in life and the workforce.