Lawmakers eye repeal of English immersion
A Republican lawmaker may introduce legislation again next year to do away with mandatory English immersion for students who are non-native speakers.
State ramps up study of Valley Fever, ozone
A new partnership between the state’s three universities and several state agencies aims to increase understanding of issues like Valley Fever and ozone levels in Arizona – and come up with solutions.
Judge hears school-funding arguments
Attorneys for the state want a judge to throw out a 5-year-old lawsuit charging that lawmakers aren't living up to their constitutional and court-ordered obligation to adequately fund new schools and repair existing ones.
Community colleges, CTEDs offer more, longer programs
Last session, Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law a bill that allows community colleges to work toward bachelor’s degrees without having to go to another traditional four-year institution.
Schools push to restore learning loss in pandemic
Faced with dips in proficiency across the board, educators continue to push back against the learning loss their students have experienced during the past two years of the pandemic.
Proposed school funding revamp underway
A new education funding plan proposed at the Arizona Legislature would revamp the state’s funding formula for public districts and charter schools – but critics argue the proposal would not benefit all students equally. The House Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing Monday morning on a strike-everything amendment to Senate Bill 1269, proposed by Rep. […]
Community colleges seek change to spending limit
Semiconductor bootcamp training. Artificial intelligence associate degrees. Nursing simulation programs.
Parents complain about ESA payment issues
The Arizona State Board of Education tabled accepting a quarterly report from the Empowerment Scholarship Account program on February 28 after parents submitted 49 pages of comments and spoke at the meeting about their problems with how the program is being administered. Among the concerns, parents said that there were instances where an expense would […]
Ducey opens door to camp for kids to catch up learning
Parents who think their kids need a bit of an academic boost can begin signing up this coming week to send them to summer camp. But, for the most part, it won’t be the kind of place with boating and archery. Instead, it’s designed to help them catch up with what they may have missed […]
Auditor: Not all teachers got 20% raise
Arizona schools have not lived up to the 2018 school year promise to increase teacher pay by 20% by this past year. A new report by the state Auditor General’s Office found that statewide average salaries are up just 16.5%, or $7,977 a year. And just 87 of the 205 school districts actually hit or […]
School protest measure gets Senate panel OK
A bill intending to protect the right of “peaceful protestors” to protest at school board meetings passed out of committee this week, though Democrats raised concerns about vague wording and liability. Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita’s SB1617 would keep schools and school districts from kicking “peaceful protestors” out of a governing board meeting or other school-related meeting […]
ASBA pulls out of national school boards association
The Arizona School Boards Association is leaving the National School Boards Association, ASBA Executive Director Sheila Harrison-Williams wrote Wednesday in a letter to NSBA Executive Director John Heim. “While we continue to believe that there is value in a national association of school boards, our primary obligation is to advocate for Arizona’s students to have […]