PHOENIX – Members of Arizona’s Education Establishment have their knickers in a twist over a pre-recorded phone message – or “robocall” – from Arizona’s top education official that tells parents how they may be able to access the state’s growing voucher program.

The controversial phone message features state Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, who tells listeners they may be able to send their children to “private school for free” under the terms of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account.

Huppenthal’s message also directs interested families to a website run by a libertarian think tank for more information.

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AZCentral.com reports the scholarship program “is open to special-education students, children in foster care or whose families serve in the military, and children who attend public schools that received a ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade from the state Department of Education.”

It’s estimated that 200,000 of the state’s 1.1 million public school students could qualify for an “empowerment scholarship,” which provides most eligible families with a scholarship containing 90 percent of their child’s per-pupil state funding for use at the private school of their choice, according to AZDailySun.com.

Huppenthal’s promotion of the state program has teacher union leaders and public school apologists howling in protest. Arizona Education Association President Andrew Morrill described Huppenthal’s phone message as “appalling.”

“I think it’s very unfortunate that the elected leader of our public instruction system, public school system — and, by the way, I think that’s distinction without a difference in this case — saw fit to encourage parents to leave that system,” Morrill told KNAU.org.

Huppenthal responded to Morrill and other critics by correctly noting that he’s “the superintendent of public instruction, not the superintendent of public schools.”

In a prepared statement on his official Facebook page, Huppenthal defended his decision to record the robocall – which went out to about 15,000 homes – as a way of informing families of this “unique program.”

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Huppenthal added that his intention wasn’t to “advocate for private school instruction over that of a public school education.”

“I want to make it clear that I have the utmost respect and admiration for all of our public school teachers,” Huppenthal wrote in his message, according to AZCentral.com. “I work tirelessly every day to assure teachers and educators are supported, students are provided with excellent education opportunities and parents have information they need to make quality choices for their children. I have great regret if any member of the public school system felt anything less than my full appreciation for what they do on a daily basis.”

It remains to be seen if this “tempest in a teapot” will have any effect on Huppenthal’s re-election bid in November.

In the meantime, we suggest that teacher unionists and public school apologists who are “offended” by Huppenthal’s message do like the rest of us when receive an unwanted robocall: Hang up and get on with life.