A Republican school board member is challenging the Democrat incumbent and former Arizona Teacher of Year for the Legislative District 4 state Senate seat. 

In the two terms that she has represented the district, Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, has focused on education issues. A career educator, Marsh was named Arizona’s Teacher of the Year in 2016.

Her challenger, Carine Werner, has served as a member of the Scottsdale Unified School District Board since 2022. Similar to Marsh, her top-line campaign issue is education. 

Both candidates have focused on education in their campaigns, underscoring their opposing views. 

In February, Werner stood beside Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and the Freedom Caucus at a press conference announcing the Arizona Department of Education’s decision to allow PragerU curriculum in public schools. PragerU is a conservative nonprofit video site that provides an “alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education,” according to their website. 

Werner also spoke at a press conference in 2023 where, alongside Horne, she opposed Critical Race Theory being taught in classrooms and encouraged parents to report such instances to a state hotline. 

The hotline was launched by the Arizona Department of Education in 2023, with the purpose of allowing parents to “report inappropriate public school lessons that detract from teaching academic standards.” According to the department’s website, this includes those that “focus on race or ethnicity, rather than individuals and merit, promoting gender ideology, social emotional learning, or inappropriate sexual content.” 

Her campaign website said she will “ensure transparency in classrooms so parents are informed and involved in their child’s education” – if elected to the Senate. 

Werner has not taken a stance on private schools throughout her campaign, while Marsh has sponsored legislation aimed at tightening accountability of private schools. 

Both candidates support giving teachers and support staff raises.

Marsh said her experience as an educator has significantly shaped her approach as a lawmaker. 

“A good teacher has to find the bridge to that reluctant child or that reluctant learner, and that same skill set translates to the Senate, trying to find some sort of common ground with as many people as possible,” Marsh said. 

She told of reading bills that are introduced to grading essays in a classroom setting. Students are graded based on the quality of their work, she said, not the type of student they are. That is the same approach that should be taken in analyzing bills, no matter the party of their sponsor, Marsh said. 

At the end of the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers negotiated to pass a plan for the state’s budget. 

Marsh said the state’s budget is funding both public schools and the Empowerment Scholarship Account program – without the proper funding. 

“If they want to prop up the two systems, funding needs to be there to do that, because otherwise we are facing a situation in which all of Arizona is facing some consequences,” Marsh said. “Everything gets defunded if the state budget doesn’t have enough. That’s everything from health care to infrastructure to water mitigation.” 

A cap on ESA enrollment might be a good place to start, Marsh said, with some exceptions, such as allowing the younger siblings of an ESA student to be “grandfathered in” to the program. 

Marsh underscored “maintaining a balanced Arizona Legislature” as the top issue on her campaign website. She said bipartisanship has been absent from the Capitol for many years, and that is something that she’d like to change. 

“Right now, bills that are very small and would actually help people or prevent danger don’t even get a hearing,” Marsh said. 

Marsh narrowly defeated Republican candidates in both the 2020 and 2022 general elections. The district, which encompasses north Phoenix, central Scottsdale, Arcadia and Paradise Valley, leans 3.4% in favor of Republican candidates, making it an incredibly competitive district, according to the Independent Redistricting Commission. 

The competitive race has drawn high spending from donors for both candidates. As of the most recent campaign finance reports, which were due before the primary elections, Werner’s campaign had $118,835 on hand while Marsh led with $256,719. 

Werner did not respond to a request for an interview before the deadline.