Gov. Doug Ducey’s office paid nearly $700,000 to private law firms in a losing effort to defend an embattled ballot initiative that increased school funding disbursements from the state land trust.

The bad news started when a pedestrian was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber SUV in Tempe. Some blame was directed at Gov. Doug Ducey for welcoming the technology company to test autonomous vehicles in Arizona with little-to-no oversight.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the funding scheme used by Gov. Doug Ducey to increase aid to schools is unconstitutional.

Attorney Tim Hogan has held elected officials accountable for education funding and health care issues for decades, much to the chagrin of those he has opposed. Hogan, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, said this week that he is leaving the center after 26 years.

The lobbying arm of Arizona’s school boards is threatening to sue over a proposed amendment that would require 50 percent of inflationary funding increases for K-12 education to be used for teacher pay raises.

Five current and former Arizona teachers of the year told Gov. Doug Ducey today that they feel betrayed after he signed an expansion of vouchers last week.

It’s hard to set a course for the future of public education in Arizona when school officials and lawmakers are still feuding about the past.

Various interest groups and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas are making known their education spending priorities.

Claiming Proposition 123 was illegally enacted, a group of citizens is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to review -- and overturn -- the voter-approved measure to put more dollars into public schools.

The state Investment Board voted unanimously Tuesday to distribute more than $190 million to schools by Thursday in the first payment for Proposition 123 despite continued arguments by state Treasurer Jeff DeWit that the funding -- and even the election that approved it -- is illegal.