PHOENIX – The Arizona state employee who called an anti-Common Core teacher a “f*cktard” has been disciplined by her superiors, though nobody’s offering any details of the punishment.

Project specialist Angela Escobar’s slur against teacher Brad McQueen was revealed earlier this week when McQueen published an op-ed exposing the abuse he was subjected to from Arizona Department of Education (ADE) employees after he went public with his opposition to the learning standards experiment known as Common Core.

McQueen documented the abuse by publishing several email messages written by ADE bureaucrats that were obtained through a “freedom of information” request.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

The most offensive email was written by Escobar who, in response to learning that McQueen was giving a radio interview about his Common Core opposition, declared, “What a f*cktard.”

The offensive word combines the obscenity of the “f bomb” with the mean-spiritedness of “retard.”

Obviously, the ADE isn’t too choosy about who it employs.

McQueen tells AZCentral.com he still feels “sick” about the comment.

“I guess I challenged (Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John) Huppenthal’s public proclamations that teachers supported the Common Core,” McQueen explains to the news site. “There is also obviously a culture of retaliation at the ADE for those who disagree with the company line.”

Arizona Department of Education spokeswoman Jennifer Liewer tells AZCentral.com that Escobar was punished after an official discovered her email during the process of fulfilling the “freedom of information” request

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

However, Liewer would not say how Escobar was disciplined because the department’s privacy rules prohibit disclosure, AZCentral.com reports.

All that is known is that Escobar is still employed by the state.

In our view, the state’s handling of this situation is even more alarming than Escober’s offensive comment.

Since Arizona taxpayers pay the salaries of all state employees, they have the right to know how those employees are being held accountable for misbehavior. The taxpayers’ right to know certainly trumps the department’s “privacy rules.”

Arizona taxpayers owe McQueen a huge thank you not only for exposing the bullies who are running the state’s education system (see his op-ed for details), but also for shedding light on the state’s transparency and accountability problems, too.