Elsie Toles

Elsie Toles (September 19, 1888 – August 29, 1957) was Arizona's first female Superintendent of Public Instruction, a professor, and an author. She was the first woman to hold this position and the first elected to statewide executive public office in Arizona.

Biography Elsie Toles was born on September 19, 1888, in Bisbee, Arizona. She was one of four girls in Bisbee High School's first graduating class. She attended Pomona College for a year before returning to Arizona upon her mother's death to care for her brother and sister. In 1908, she earned her teaching credentials from the State Normal School (now San Jose State University) in San Jose, California, and taught for two years in Bisbee before bringing her siblings with her for a year of specialized studies at the University of Michigan.

Toles returned to Arizona and taught in Bisbee and Douglas, Arizona. The Cochise County Republican Party approached her about running for the county superintendent of public instruction. She was the only Republican in the county to win that year, and held the post for two terms, starting in 1916. In the position, she managed 90 schools, many of which were rural. The many rural schools required extensive travel. 2021: Arizona Rural School's Association Hall of Fame established the Elsie Toles Woman in Rural Leadership Award