Of the six board members currently serving on expired terms, only one – a top school choice advocate – was removed from her post at the State Board of Education. 

Jenny Clark, founder of the school choice advocacy group Love Your School and political foil to Gov. Katie Hobbs on Empowerment Scholarship Program policy, was first asked to resign, then removed from her position on Feb. 24 following the expiration of her term. 

First appointed in 2022 by former Gov. Doug Ducey as a public member, Clark’s time with the board was marked by advocacy for parents using ESAs and School Tuition Organizations, or STOs. 

Outside of her work on the board, Clark, as part of Love Your School and its political arms, the Defending Education Freedom group and the Love Your School League, took to social media to update and call ESA parents to action on any tweaks, needle moves or legislative attempts to regulate the program. 

She most recently defended the Department of Education’s decision to move to risk-based auditing of reimbursements under $2,000, citing a state law explicitly allowing the practice, and rebutted a claim by the Attorney General’s Office that the department had to require a written curriculum with purchases of supplementary materials, or items like pencils and books.  

Clark often responded directly to Hobbs, too. At a press conference podium astride Republican lawmakers, Clark countered claims of the program’s potential to “bankrupt the state,” and she circulated an online petition to the governor’s proposals to rein in, regulate or otherwise curtail the program in her 2025 State of the State Address.

Clark’s term on the State Board expired on Jan. 20. On Feb. 18, she received a phone call from the Governor’s Office asking for her resignation. She initially declined, citing several other board members serving on expired terms. 

The refusal prompted a promise of a letter from the Governor’s Office concluding her service to the board. She said the email from the Governor’s Office of Boards and Commissions arrived just before 4 p.m. on Feb. 24. She confirmed she would no longer be serving on the board and declined to comment further. 

Sean Ross, executive director for the State Board of Education, confirmed the board had been notified by the Governor’s Office regarding the end of Clark’s term. 

Beyond Clark, five other state board members are serving on expired terms. 

Three members, Katherine Haley, president of the board and a public member, Julia Meyerson, founder and executive director of charter school Vista College Prep, and Daniel Corr, president of Arizona Western College, had terms expire on Jan. 20, 2025. 

Jason Catanese, a teacher, and Dr. Scott Hagerman, vice president of the board and superintendent of Tanque Verde Unified School District, had their terms expire in January 2024. 

Per the state’s laws on the state board membership and governor nominations, members are nominated by the governor and must be confirmed by the Senate in order to take on the four-year term, and members can only serve a year without confirmation. 

Incumbent members can continue to serve beyond the expiration of their term, but are cut off after a year. 

Ross confirmed the currently expired terms but said no other board member had delivered notice that they were considering ending their time with the board.

Clark’s departure marks the second vacancy on the board. 

Hobbs’ appointee, Anna Tovar, left in October after the Senate Education Committee failed to confirm her prior to hitting the year-mark on her term. 

A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to an inquiry on Clark’s removal, whether the office planned to remove any additional board members, and if there were any upcoming appointments to replace Clark or Tovar. 

The State Board of Education is not alone in expired or vacant seats.  An analysis by the Arizona Capitol Times previously found of the 2,038 boards and commission seats in state government, nearly 16% are vacant and 22% are occupied by members whose terms have expired.