Nine months after the Arizona Department of Education notified schools it had misallocated millions in funding for special education programs, the federal government has approved a plan to correct the error.

The state Board of Education won't be weighing whether to discipline tens of thousands of teachers who walked out during the #RedForEd strike -- at least not yet.

Three of the Republicans hoping to be state school superintendent want students exposed to and taught "intelligent design,'' but not necessarily as part of the science curriculum.

Arizonans will get a bit more time to weigh in on the proposed new science standards for high schools, including the bid by Diane Douglas, the superintendent of public instruction, to eliminate several reference to "evolution.''

"I believe in God,'' the governor said.

The state's top school official is trying to downplay - and in some cases remove entirely - references to evolution in the standards of what students are supposed to be taught in Arizona high schools.

House Majority Whip Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, is telling teachers who oppose the job action to send her emails at her official state address detailing that they actually want to go to work but can't because the school has been closed. Townsend told Capitol Media Services she will write back -- and from her official state email account -- to provide proof that they made that claim.

In her annual State of Education speech Monday, Douglas cited statistics showing that more than one out of every five teaching vacancies at the beginning of this school year still remained unfilled four months later.

Gov. Doug Ducey kicks off the legislative session Monday with a call for more education funding -- but not with the tax hikes that some say are necessary to provide truly adequate funding for schools.

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.