The Arizona Board of Regents voted 9-1 to scale back the state AIMS scholarship, approving a proposal that would implement stricter academic standards for eligibility and cut the award from 100 percent to 25 percent of tuition.

The Arizona Board of Regents still are considering making changes to the state's AIMS scholarship.

Most K-12 schools in Arizona offer students some sort of arts instruction, but the vast majority of those schools spend less than $1 per student per year in supporting those classes, according to a report released in July.

With early voting starting next week, the three candidates in the Republican primary for state superintendent of public instruction are trying to distinguish themselves from their opponents who hold similar beliefs on improving schools in Arizona.

When students return to schools in a month or less they will encounter bigger class sizes, fewer teachers and librarians, bus routes eliminated, and classrooms and corridors that aren’t quite as clean as they’ve been in the past.

While Arizona has figured prominently and negatively in the national news lately, the national media have overlooked two very positive recent outcomes for our state’s students.

A video circulated by Democrats that purported to show a Republican candidate for state schools chief walking out on an interview with a high school journalist earlier this year did not reflect what actually happened.

Alan Bayham gets paid to argue, so it’s no surprise that he speaks passionately and convincingly about his goals as the incoming president of the State Bar of Arizona — just don’t mention that other staple of the legal profession, lawyer jokes.