Robert Morrill:  I am the author of the book, “The Mexican Mafia, The Story.” I have followed Bill Richardson’s columns for the past three years, and I have found them to be relevant and accurate. The gangs are in fact probably a bigger threat to the U.S. than the al-Qaida.

Arizona lawmakers want to mandate that teachers can't curse in the classroom or influence how future voters make decisions at the polls.

A Senate panel approved $82 million in inflation aid for public schools -- and then voted, in essence, never to give back hundreds of millions more that they've shorted schools for the last four years.

Gov. Jan Brewer is proposing what she said is a first-in-the-nation plan to tie state aid for education to academic performance and improvement.

Guess what? Some very generous Arizonans and Arizona companies are stepping up to help our state‘s schoolchildren. And guess who’s really angry about that? The Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

The former chief executive of Intel wants to essentially blow up everything in public education in Arizona, from how teachers are trained to how they are paid.

Queen Creek Unified School District will have to shed close to half a million dollars from its current budget with just a few months left in the school year.

Arizona’s school districts will have to cut at least $119 million from their current year budgets with the legislation signed by Gov. Jan Brewer this past weekend.

Thousands of students in poorly performing public schools could soon get what amounts to a voucher from the state to go elsewhere -- or even get educated at home -- a move that could remove hundreds of millions of dollars a year from public schools.

A judge has ruled the state can implement a new law giving some parents access to state funds to send their children to private and parochial schools, potentially paving the way to make vouchers available for all of the more than one million children now in public schools.

Saying students are getting only one side of the debate, a state senators wants to free teachers to tell students why they believe there is no such thing human-caused "global warming.''

Attorney General Tom Horne and an Arizona Republican lawmaker are pushing a plan to let principals, teachers and janitors at public schools carry guns.

Education leaders are raising questions about how a proposed plan to give Arizona parents the power to shut down or change a failing school would work — or if it would even make a difference.

A group of business executive and educators is crafting plans to ask voters to accept a new sales tax to keep the state from falling off a financial “cliff” in two years.

A group of business executive and educators is crafting plans to ask voters to accept a new sales tax to keep the state from falling off a financial “cliff” in two years.

Not long ago, I was at one of my favorite sushi bars when, halfway through my tuna tataki, the woman next to me turned and said, “I just want to let you know I think it’s so brave of you to go out by yourself.”

Last week, Gov. Jan Brewer appointed 17 educators, business leaders and public policymakers to her Arizona Ready Education Council to help improve the performance of the state's public classrooms. This group will be looking at test scores, graduation rates, teacher training and other issues as it works toward raising expectations for students, teachers and schools.

Arizona's top school official said Thursday the state has an excellent chance of snagging a share of $4 billion in new federal education grants.

PHOENIX – Arizona can protect schools and communities from gun violence by making campuses more secure, increasing services for the mentally ill and tightening gun ownership laws, the top Democrat in the state House said Wednesday.

Two federal investigations have found that Arizona is violating the civil rights of some students who are not native English speakers by denying them access to special programs for English learners.

All signs of the family of Meggie Le, the 17-year-old senior at Cactus Shadows High School who was shot and killed by her stepfather on Dec. 27 after he killed his wife, are gone from their north Scottsdale home.

Ron Vick, an assistant football coach at Mesa Community College since 1998 and previously head coach at Scottsdale Saguaro and Phoenix Arcadia high schools, passed away July 10 at the age of 66.

February 4, 2005

Arizona schools are being forced to implement new standards for English and math this year while still waiting for financial help from the state officials who are promoting them.