Public education advocates are trying to keep a measure off the ballot, which would kill their effort to put guardrails on private school vouchers but is ostensibly about military families.
Republican lawmakers passed the ballot measure at the end of this year’s legislative session. It contains a poison pill that would nullify the separate guardrails measure. In a court hearing Friday, attorney Kory Langhofer argued the Republican measure doesn’t violate a provision of the Arizona Constitution requiring legislation to stick to a single subject because both parts of the measure have to do with education funding for kids from military families.
“They both protect it. That’s pretty much the gist of the separate amendment rule. It's fundamentally a political problem, like you don't like the way this is going to play out? We’ll see what happens in November with that,” Langhofer said.
Attorney Nick Ansel argued on behalf of the education groups that the GOP measure is not only a violation of the single subject rule, but intentionally deceptive to voters.
Ansel said if the ballot measure is allowed to stand it would set a precedent for letting lawmakers undermine future citizen initiatives.
“I’m going to see the 'Odyssey' later tonight and if Christopher Nolan has his own Trojan Horse we’d submit to the court that (HCR)2048 is a Trojan Horse of its own and this court should strike it down under both the separate amendment rule and the title requirement of the constitution,” Ansel said.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer said he’ll issue a ruling on the case next week. He indicated he expects to see an appeal from whichever side he rules against.
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A retired University of Arizona professor will be hitting the road — again — to teach in another country. -
When the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind closed its Tucson campus in June, music teacher Kate Scally Howell was worried — and not just because the closure put her out of a job. -
Schools across Arizona are starting back up for the year. Some start this week, while others have already been in class for a few days already. And despite the relative cooldown to start this week, it’s still plenty hot out. -
Our next guests this morning are out with a new investigation that gets at the heart of that question. Evan Wyloge and Katie Wilcox are with The Beam at Arizona State University’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.
