Van Hoek, Anna

Meet the Candidate

Running For:

School Board

District:

Higley Unified School District

Age:

Occupation:

Sr. Business Analyst

Education:

College studies in Computer Science, with more than 20 years of professional experience in finance, accounting, information technology, procurement, contracts, compliance, and business analysis.

Family:

My husband and I have lived in Gilbert since 2003 and within the Higley Unified School District since 2006. We have two daughters.

Religion:

Christian

Biographical Info:

I have lived in Gilbert since 2003 and have served on the Higley Unified School District Governing Board since January 2023. I bring more than 20 years of professional experience in finance, accounting, information technology, procurement, contracts, compliance, and business analysis. I currently work as a Senior Business Analyst and serve on the Arizona Auditor General’s School Finance Advisory Committee. I also have extensive experience working with elected officials on legislation and public policy involving education, parental rights, transparency, fiscal accountability, and constitutional rights. I am a longtime advocate for parental rights and health freedom and co-founded the Arizona chapter of Children’s Health Defense, serving as Vice President in 2021. During my first term on the Governing Board, I have focused on independent oversight, fiscal responsibility, transparency, parental rights, academic excellence, and accountability to students, parents, and taxpayers.

Statement:

I am seeking re-election because there is still important work to be done. During my first term, I have focused on strengthening oversight, increasing transparency, protecting parental rights, safeguarding taxpayer dollars, and ensuring decisions are made in the best interests of students and our community. I believe a governing board member’s role is to provide independent oversight and accountability, not simply approve recommendations. I am running for a second term to continue bringing experienced, principled leadership to Higley Unified, with a strong focus on academic excellence, fiscal responsibility, parental rights, transparency, and accountability.

Survey

Response Legend

SSupports
OOpposes
*Comment
−Declined to respond
†Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question	Response	Comments/Notes
1. Requiring district and charter school officials, including teachers, to inform parents about their child’s social, mental, emotional, or physical health.	S*	Parents have the fundamental right and responsibility to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children. Schools should never withhold information regarding a child's social, mental, emotional, or physical health from a parent. Parents must be informed of issues affecting their child so they can make appropriate decisions and provide the support their child needs. Transparency between schools and families is essential, and parents should never be intentionally excluded from matters involving their own children.
2. Allowing parents to opt their children out of activities or lessons that offend their personal, moral, or religious beliefs.	S*	Students should not be forced to participate in lessons or activities that conflict with their family's deeply held beliefs, and parents should have the ability to opt their children out without penalty. At the same time, sexually explicit or otherwise age-inappropriate material should not be provided to minor children in the first place. For the past four years, I have worked to remove sexually explicit books from Higley schools and to strengthen protections that ensure instructional and library materials are appropriate for the age and maturity of the students who have access to them.
3. Increasing state and local taxes to provide more funding for schools and school facility projects.	O*	We need to be better stewards of the taxpayer dollars schools already receive. School funding has increased year over year, yet increased spending has not resulted in corresponding improvements in student achievement. Schools receive approximately $15,000 per student when all funding sources are considered. Before asking taxpayers for more money, districts should demonstrate responsible stewardship by carefully evaluating spending, prioritizing classroom instruction and resources that directly benefit students, efficiently managing staffing and facilities, and eliminating unnecessary expenditures. Taxpayers deserve accountability and measurable results from the substantial investment they already make in public education. More funding should not be the automatic answer when existing resources have not first been shown to be used effectively and responsibly. Fiscal responsibility, accountability, and a strong academic focus must come first.
4. Requiring signed permission from a parent before a student may participate in any sexuality related instruction, activities, or clubs.	S*	I support requiring signed parental permission before a student participates in any sexuality-related instruction, activities, or clubs. Much of this type of instruction does not belong in public schools to begin with; schools should remain focused on academics and leave sensitive matters involving sexuality, personal values, and beliefs to parents and families. When such topics are addressed, parents must be fully informed in advance and provide affirmative written consent rather than being expected to discover what is occurring and opt their child out afterward. Schools should never circumvent parents on these deeply personal issues.
5. Allowing all parents to use tax credits and publicly funded empowerment scholarship accounts to enable their children to attend any private, homeschool, or online academy of their choice.	S*	Parents should have the freedom to choose the educational environment that best meets the individual needs of their child, whether that is a traditional public school, charter school, private school, homeschool, or online program. I strongly support Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Account program and educational tax credits because a child's educational opportunities should not be determined by their ZIP code or limited to a single system. Education funding should follow the student, and parents, not government, are best positioned to determine which educational option is right for their child. School choice also encourages every educational system, including traditional public schools, to continually improve and earn the confidence of families.
6. Making available books and instructional materials that include sexually explicit images and themes in school classrooms and libraries.	O*	Sexually explicit images, themes, and materials have no place in classrooms or school libraries accessible to minor children. Schools have a responsibility to provide age-appropriate educational materials, and protecting children from explicit content is not the same as restricting legitimate academic instruction. For the past four years, I have actively worked to identify and remove sexually explicit books and materials from Higley schools and strengthen safeguards around what students can access. Parents should have transparency into the materials available to their children, but the burden should not be placed solely on parents to opt their children out of content that should never have been made available to minors in the first place.
7. Acquiring parental consent for school faculty and staff to refer to students by pronouns that do not align with the student’s birth sex.	S*	Parents should never be kept in the dark when a school is asked to treat their child as a different sex or use pronouns that do not correspond with the child's biological sex. At a minimum, this should require the parent's knowledge and affirmative consent. Schools should not socially transition a minor or conceal that information from parents. Staff should work in partnership with families rather than creating a separate identity for a child at school without the parent's involvement. I also believe employees should not be compelled to use pronouns that conflict with biological reality or their sincerely held beliefs.
8. Allocating teacher pay raises based upon merit rather than providing uniform salary schedule increases based upon years of teaching or additional credentialing (e.g. master’s degrees).	S*	I support merit-based pay. In most professions, raises are tied to performance, results, increased responsibilities, and demonstrated value rather than automatically awarded across the board. Education should be no different. Exceptional teachers should be recognized and rewarded for their performance and contributions to student success. Years of service and additional credentials may be factors, but they should not automatically determine compensation increases regardless of performance. A merit-based system rewards excellence, encourages professional growth, and provides an opportunity to retain our highest-performing teachers.
9. Implementing policies to allow students and faculty to use the restroom, locker room, and shower room based on self-identification rather than biological sex.	O*	I oppose policies that allow restrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities to be used based on self-identification rather than biological sex. Sex-separated facilities exist to protect privacy, safety, and dignity, particularly for minor children in spaces where they may be changing clothes or showering. Students should not be required to share these private spaces with members of the opposite sex. Schools can provide reasonable accommodations, such as access to a private or single-user facility, for students who are uncomfortable using facilities corresponding to their biological sex without compromising the privacy rights of other students. My commitment to protecting sex-based rights extends beyond my service on the Governing Board. I was also one of the parents who intervened in the lawsuit defending Arizona's Save Women's Sports Act.
10. Teaching what is known as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI); social, emotional learning (SEL); or critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.	O*	Public schools should focus on academic instruction, not political or ideological agendas. I oppose DEI and CRT-based instruction that divides students by race or teaches them to view themselves or others through the lens of group identity, privilege, or oppression. I also have serious concerns with SEL when it moves beyond basic classroom skills and into areas involving a child's values, beliefs, attitudes, mental health, or emotional development that belong with parents and families. I have repeatedly voted against sending district staff to trainings conducted by organizations that promote DEI and oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund such training. Schools should teach students how to think, not what to think, and parents should have full transparency regarding curriculum, programs, surveys, and materials being used with their children.
11. Requiring each district and charter school to post online a list of all curriculum and instructional materials being used in the classroom.	S*	Parents should not have to file public records requests or discover after the fact what is being taught to their children. Curriculum and instructional materials used in the classroom should be easily accessible to parents online so they can make informed decisions about their child's education. Transparency should include not only formally adopted curriculum, but also supplemental materials used for instruction. Parents deserve to know what their children are being taught, and public schools should have nothing to hide.