The deputy director of the Arizona Board of Education is leaving for a new job at the University of Arizona as state schools chief Diane Douglas seeks a court's authority to fire her.

Former Arizona Department of Administration Director Brian McNeil is threatening a lawsuit over his 2014 firing, alleging that top aides to then-Gov. Jan Brewer illegally released confidential information to falsely portray him in a negative light in order to justify his termination.

State schools Superintendent Diane Douglas lashed out at Gov. Doug Ducey after he overturned her attempted firing of two state Board of Education employees, accusing him of infringing on her statutory and constitutional duties and of surrounding himself with a cabal of Common Core supporters.

A judge has ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs was justified in firing the former director of its Phoenix office, but not because of delays in care and secret waiting lists that consumed the agency this year.