Legislation implementing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's plan to use state cash to back loans taken out by charter schools is still being polished, despite his budget including $24 million for the plan, he said Monday.

Many school district officials and education leaders say Gov. Doug Ducey’s “Classrooms First” slogan and the oft-repeated boast that Arizona will spend more than ever on K-12 education next year are misleading and don’t reflect how budget cuts will affect schools in 2016.

For political insiders, crafting the state’s spending plan is a spectacle – a final meeting of the minds after a period of high drama, backroom wheeling and dealing, and rushing to put together the final pieces of a $9 billion jigsaw puzzle.

The budget deal struck between Republican legislative leaders in both chambers and Gov. Doug Ducey lacks enough support to pass in either chamber, at least without serious changes.

As National Consumer Protection Week comes to a close, legislators and Gov. Doug Ducey are working to pass a state budget that would gut the fund that pays for consumer protection efforts in the Attorney General’s Office and instead use some of that money to sue the Obama administration.

If there’s a unifying theme to the budget proposal introduced on March 4, it’s that education, state agencies and state programs should brace for painful times ahead.

Republican leaders in the Legislature plan quick action on a budget deal hammered out with Gov. Doug Ducey.

ASU President Michael Crow yesterday blasted Ducey’s proposed $75 million cut to the universities, writing to ASU’s alumni community and others that the governor’s budget plan “signals to the state and the nation that higher education is a low priority in Arizona.”

The slide in the percentage of education funds that ends up in Arizona classrooms appears to have stopped. But it also isn't getting any better.

People across the country and around the world flock to Arizona to gaze into the vast depths of the Grand Canyon and bask in mild winters while attending some of the largest sporting events of the year, including the occasional Super Bowl.