Chairman: Effort to recall Superintendent Diane Douglas fails

Ricardo Cano | The Republic | azcentral.com

The campaign to recall state schools Superintendent Diane Douglas has failed, hampered by lack of funds, time and voter awareness.

Max Goshert, chairman of the Coalition to Recall Diane Douglas, said the volunteer effort collected approximately 40,000 voter signatures on recall petitions by Wednesday's deadline. The campaign needed approximately 366,000 required to force a special election.

The failure was not a surprise. At the start of December, the coalition said it was well short of signatures.

Goshert said the recall campaign was hindered by several factors. The supporters didn't raise much money -- about $10,000 through small donations -- and were unable to pay volunteers.

Despite the help of about 1,250 volunteers and 350 signing events held across the state, most voters proved to be apathetic to the coalition's cause, Goshert said. Many people didn't know who Douglas was when approached by volunteers, he said.

"It was definitely a lot that we had to fight," Goshert said. “Superintendent Douglas should know that she is still very much in the public eye and we still have every intention on keeping the spotlight on her,” he added.

Douglas has ignored the recall effort since winning the election last year.

“This has not been on Superintendent Douglas’ radar at all," a Douglas spokeswoman said in an email Wednesday. "She dedicates all her time and energy supporting Arizona’s students, parents and educators.

"She was elected by the people for that reason, and she will remain focused on representing the people through her efforts to give all Arizona students a world-class education. She plans to dedicate her time in office making her AZ Kids Can’t Afford to Wait! Plan a reality.”

The recall petition cited Douglas' feud with the state Board of Education and said she was focused on increasing her power rather than on students and school performance.

Douglas, a Republican, ran a low-key campaign in the 2014 election on a platform focused on repealing the state's Common Core-based learning standards. She won the office of Arizona superintendent of public instruction after narrowly defeating Democrat David Garcia.

Just weeks after Douglas was elected, a political action committee to recall Douglas was created as well as the website recalldouglas.com.

Since then, Douglas has engaged the Board of Education in a longstanding feud over who controls the board's staff and other education policy debates on the state's learning standards.

In her first year in office, Douglas also bickered with Gov. Doug Ducey, who put a stop to her plans to fire two Education Board staff earlier this year, saying she didn't have the authority.

Douglas accused Greg Miller, the president of the state Board of Education, of assault following an intense board meeting in August. Earlier this month, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced his office would not pursue criminal charges in the case, citing insufficient evidence to prosecute.