The highs and lows of the 2019 legislative session can be measured by how well legislators worked together with the smallest of margins.

But even with the 17-13 split in the Senate, the 31-29 split in the House, the Democrat who accomplished the most during the First Regular Session of the 54th Legislature is the one who was criticized for her lack of political experience during the campaign – and she wasn’t even a lawmaker.

The Arizona Department of Education and state legislators came to a compromise that would no longer punish students and parents on the Navajo reservation who use school vouchers to attend out-of-state schools.

An $11.8 billion spending plan was introduced in the Arizona Legislature late Tuesday afternoon, setting GOP leaders and Gov. Doug Ducey on a collision course with a handful of Republican senators who said they’ll vote no on the budget deal.

Remarkably, I learned at last week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing that there are some people who still don’t know Save Our Schools Arizona’s stance on the Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher program. As an educator, I’m accustomed to repeating myself over and over again day after day for years on end, so I’m more than happy to apply that skill here.

Republican senators advanced a bill that would expand eligibility for Arizona’s school voucher program and strip oversight of those vouchers from the newly elected Democratic head of the Department of Education.

A Republican lawmaker wants the state to hire a private company to oversee and administer Arizona’s voucher program and wants State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, not the newly elected Democratic superintendent, to choose the vendor.

That record number of Arizonans who turned out to vote this year has a dark side for direct democracy: It's going to be harder for voters to propose their own laws or get rid of ones they don't like.

Arizona voters refused Tuesday to ratify a bid by Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican lawmakers to allow any of the state's 1.1 million students in public schools to get vouchers of state tax dollars to attend private and parochial schools.

It seems a bit out of Alice in Wonderland. But if you support the goals of those who put Proposition 305 on the ballot -- opposition to expansion of vouchers -- you have to vote "no'' in November.