Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Janice Palmer, director of governmental relations for the Arizona School Boards Association, has accepted a position as vice president & director of policy for the Helios Education Foundation. Her new responsibilities will include guiding the foundation’s new strategic direction in the school reform movement in Florida and Arizona.

Sen. Debbie Lesko is again trying to eliminate a tax mechanism that allows some Arizona school districts to raise millions of dollars in funding allotted for desegregation and student achievement efforts.

Two decades after Arizona helped pioneer the charter school movement, enrollment data show the schools don’t match the school age demographics of the state and, in many cases, their neighborhoods. White - and especially Asian - students attend charter schools at a higher rate than Hispanics, who now make up the the greatest portion of Arizona’s school age population.

Gov. Doug Ducey has promised to sign a bill restoring funding to Joint Technical Education Districts, if a bill ever reaches his desk.

Elisa Villanueva Beard, CEO of Teach for America, talks about the rewards and challenges of teaching, and why she wouldn’t hire Donald Trump to join the TFA corps.

Lawmakers have reached a deal on a proposal restoring nearly all the cuts to high school career and technical education made in the last legislative session.

State schools chief Diane Douglas is lashing out of a bill to confirm the power of the state Board of Education, calling it “anti-voter, anti-democracy, anti-education, anti-parents and anti-children.’’

Arizona cut higher education funding deeper than any other state last year, capping a five-year period in which the state led the nation with a 27.3 percent cut from its support for colleges, a new report says.

The business and education communities have joined forces to restore funding for technical and vocational classes

Hours after the experts had their say – the budget analysts, representatives from the Arizona Board of Regents, and the presidents of the Grand Canyon State’s public universities – the public had a chance to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Jan. 27. Senators got more than they bargained for.