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

The Arizona Association of School Business Officials may be out, but the lawsuit over school capital funding needs marches on.

An Apache Junction Republican has introduced legislation that would permanently extend a state sales tax that generates more than $644 million in annual funding for public schools.

The board of the Arizona Association of School Business voted to withdraw as a plaintiff in the case asking a judge to rule that the state is not meeting its constitutional obligations to properly fund school construction.

Hoping to set the agenda, a coalition of educators and others laid out options that could generate more than $950 million for education this coming year, all without a general hike in sales taxes.

Diane Douglas is not directly contesting the ruling by Judge Wallace Tashima that the 2010 law was approved by lawmakers out of "racial animus'' and that "no legitimate pedagogical objective motivated the enactment and enforcement'' of the law targeting the Mexican American studies program in Tucson Unified School District.

A new report shows that nearly 2,000 teaching positions in Arizona remain vacant four months into the school year. And 866 have quit since August or just never showed up. The survey of 172 districts and charter schools also found ...

While the move has led some alumni to feel the school is losing its identity, school officials and former students agree that it’s a necessary step for ensuring the continued success of Thunderbird.

House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, said an all-or-nothing approach to the future of a sales tax benefitting public schools would present “a high-risk scenario that just is unwise.”

A plan by business leaders to ask voters for a 1.5-cent sales tax hike for education at the 2020 ballot could set the stage for a possibly expensive battle with Gov. Doug Ducey and his Koch brothers allies -- assuming Ducey is still in office at that point.

A group of business leaders is pushing for a measure to go on the 2020 ballot to increase the sales tax that supports Arizona public K-12 schools and universities.