By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Doug Ducey is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that could affect his ability and that of future governors to tap a special education trust account to funnel more cash into schools.
But the new filings with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals contain none of the vitriol that the governor unleashed last year at the trial judge who ruled against him.
In new filings, attorney Theodore Olson contends that U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake was incorrect in deciding that changes to the formula of how much can be withdrawn from the fund cannot occur without congressional approval. Olson argued to the federal appellate judges that is not the way the federal law reads.
And if that argument doesn’t work, Olson has some alternate legal theories.
The fight is over Proposition 123. That was Ducey’s 2016 plan to put more dollars into K-12 education without hiking taxes.
