PHOENIX β Foes of state schools chief Diane Douglas can now start gathering the more than 366,000 signatures they will need to try to oust her from office.
Max Goshert, who chairs the recall committee, submitted the required paperwork this morning to the Secretary of State's Office to start the recall drive.
But in doing so, Goshert started the clock running.
State law gives recall organizers just 120 days to submit 366,128 valid signatures. That sets a deadline of Dec. 30.
More to the point, Mary Fontes who handles elections matters for the office, told Goshert he likely needs a margin of 25 percent given the number of signatures that normally get disqualified for one reason or another. That makes the real goal in excess of 450,000.
The recall is no real surprise.
Foes announced their goal last November, even before Douglas actually was sworn in. But they could not act at the time, as the Arizona Constitution precludes recalls of statewide elected officials until they have been in office for six months.
Goshert acknowledged that much of the frustration with Douglas is that she is attempting to do exactly what she promised during the campaign: dismantle the Common Core academic standards. Those efforts led to the other things that have kept Douglas in the news β and in court β including her effort to fire two employees of the state Board of Education she called "two liberal staff who have publicly stated they will block all efforts to repeal or change Common Core."
But he said the real problem is that she has not been an advocate for public education.
"She's the person who has to go in front of the Legislature and say why public schools deserve more money," Goshert said.
That claim, however, is only partly true.
In January, Douglas told a House panel that the state of education in Arizona is "poor." She also told members of the Education Committee that they're going to have to take some responsibility β and pony up some dollars β if they want the situation to improve.
"New teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate," she said. After the last school year, 24 percent of first-year teachers and 20 percent of second-year teachers did not come back.
And one reason for that, Douglas said, is money.
"Arizona's average teacher salary is ranked 42nd in the nation and salaries are a major obstacle when recruiting outside of Arizona," she said. "Without experienced, highly effective teachers in each Arizona classroom, our students will struggle to succeed."
Douglas, however, made no specific budget request to lawmakers, acknowledging the state's finances. Nor did she submit a specific proposal later in the session to the budget committees.
