Bill would mandate school-choice guide

By Anne Ryman
The Republic | azcentral.com

A bill in the state Legis­lature would require the Arizona Department of Education to mail a “how­to” guide of educational options each year to the parents of 1 million chil­dren.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Hava­su City, envisions a 12­page handbook that would outline K-12 educational choices besides a child’s assigned public school. Options include charter schools, private schools, open enrollment, homes­chooling, a tax credit and a voucher-type program. Each option would include contact information for the state agency oversee­ing that area.
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Political group aims for recall of Arpaio

By JJ Hensley
The Republic | azcentral.com

A political group called Respect Ari­zona has filed paperwork with the Ari­zona Secretary of State’s Office to launch a campaign to recall Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Petition Partners, one of the largest petition-circulation companies in Arizo­na, posted a social-media message earli­er in the week stating that Respect Ari­zona had “$1.3 million dedicated to the recall of Joe Arpaio.”

Respect Arizona will need to collect more than 350,000 valid signatures in the next 120 days to force a recall elec­tion, according to petition gatherers.

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Food-tax repeal may hit city hard

By Dustin Gardiner
The Republic | azcentral.com

As political pressure builds to repeal Phoenix’s food tax, city officials have outlined sev­eral financial obstacles that could complicate such a move.

City Manager David Cava­zos this week sent a memo to the mayor and City Council list­ing major budget constraints to ending the tax, including con­cerns that it could affect the city’s perfect credit rating or result in a loss of revenue need­ed to help support police and fire services.
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Scottsdale and Valley housing prices rebound – Median price in city jumped 16% in 2012

By Peter Corbett
The Republic | azcentral.com

Phoenix led the nation in improving housing prices among 33 metro areas in a study released this week by ZipRealty LLC.

Median home prices in Phoenix in 2012 were up 29 percent over the previ­ous year. That is well above the 11 percent increase nationally, based on data from the Multiple Listing Ser­vice.

“The metro areas that suffered the most during the real-estate downturn — south Florida and Phoenix — exhibited the greatest improvement recent­ly,” said Jamie Wilson, senior president of technology for ZipRealty, a national brokerage based in Emeryville, Calif.
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Upcoming city budget reflects healthier outlook

By Beth Duckett
The Republic | azcentral.com 

Projections for the upcoming budget in Scottsdale show a slight uptick in rev­enues, including crucial sales-tax collec­tions, offset by rising health-care and pension costs.

Compared with the massive budget cuts of recent years, early estimates re­flect a healthier budget outlook, al­though revenues continue to drag behind pre-recession years.

The city released key forecasts for the 2013-14 financial plan, which will cov­er the year from July 1 to June 30, 2014.

“My message to the council is going to be, ‘We are like the rest of the country, in a period of slow recovery from the reces­sion,’ ” City Treasurer David Smith said. “But we are by no means back to what one would call the good old days.”

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