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

It was a week of disarray at the Arizona Department of Education, and the conflict that spawned it may not be over yet.

State lawmakers are moving to do what schools chief Diane Douglas has so far been unable: Kill the Common Core academic standards and any tests associated with them.

State schools Superintendent Diane Douglas will once again have to decide between conciliation and conflict after the State Board of Education rejected the conditions she set for two board employees to return to work.

State schools Superintendent Diane Douglas acquiesced to the Board of Education’s demand that she allow two of its employees back to work after she attempted to fire them, but imposed a set of conditions that could quickly reignite the conflict.

With Arizona weeks away from using the new AzMERIT test for the first time, four Republican lawmakers have offered legislation that would put its future in doubt.

The standoff at the Arizona Department of Education ended quietly as state schools Superintendent Diane Douglas complied with the Board of Education’s deadline for allowing two board employees back to their offices after she attempted to fire them.

Arizona schools chief Diane Douglas faces a deadline to allow two Board of Education executives she tried to fire back in their offices.

The State Board of Education ordered Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas to allow two board staffers back to work, two days after she attempted to fire them and barred them from the Arizona Department of Education Building.

A day after leveling a litany of allegations against Gov. Doug Ducey in a blistering statement, state schools Superintendent Diane Douglas took a step toward de-escalating her conflict with the governor, suggesting that they work together on legislation to clarify who has authority over the State Board of Education’s employees.

The Arizona Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting for today that was apparently prompted by the firings of the board's executive director by the state schools chief.