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Board reviews educator discipline report showing 381 adjudications in 2025; staff emphasize training and improved timeliness
Summary
The State Board heard Jessica Mueller present the annual educator‑discipline report covering 2016–2025; the board learned 381 educator adjudications were recorded in 2025 (partly reflecting expanded authority over non‑certificated staff), average adjudication time has fallen to about 10 months, and staff plan an interactive dashboard and enhanced outreach and training.
The Arizona State Board of Education on June 22 reviewed the board’s annual educator‑discipline report and discussion focused on trends, improved processing times and prevention through training.
Jessica Mueller, who authored the report, told the board the 2025 calendar‑year report documented 381 cases adjudicated by the board. Mueller emphasized that the increase does not necessarily indicate more misconduct in classrooms but reflects expanded jurisdiction over non‑certificated personnel and improved reporting from schools: "This is 98.4% of the workforce never is involved in a board adjudicated disciplinary action," she said, noting the majority of educators serve professionally.
Mueller described improvements to case processing—average adjudication time has dropped to about 10 months—and said the investigative and enforcement teams are expanding outreach and planning a more interactive public dashboard to give districts and stakeholders better drill‑down capability. She flagged a rise in assault‑category cases and a higher representation among substitutes and emergency‑certified staff, and said targeted training and stronger case‑management tools are part of the board’s prevention strategy.
Board members praised the investigative and enforcement staff and asked how the board could scale training and resources. Several members urged leveraging county superintendents and educator‑preparation programs to distribute ethics and mandatory‑reporting training; staff said they are developing short videos, one‑pagers and partnerships with state and national organizations to broaden reach.
Public commenters later raised individual discipline cases during the discipline call‑to‑the‑public, asking the board to consider due process in pending matters; the board approved enforcement consent items and later took additional certificate enforcement votes (a member declared a recusal for a specific item).
