Discipline cases against Arizona educators have climbed since 2022; state board credits more investigators and a cleared backlog

The Arizona State Board of Education decided far more discipline cases against educators and other school employees in 2025 than it did three years earlier, but state officials say the rise mostly reflects the board catching up, not more misconduct in schools.

Figures from the board's 2025 Enforcement Action Report, as reported by Your Valley, show assault-related cases adjudicated by the board went from 47 in 2022 to 75 in 2023, 143 in 2024 and 203 in 2025. Cases classified as sexual misconduct rose from 50 in 2022 to 106 in 2023, dipped to 94 in 2024 and reached 113 in 2025.

What the state says is driving it

"The rise in adjudicated cases is primarily driven by increased legislative funding for investigative staff and administrative support, along with securing outside counsel to address representation turnover," said Garnett Burns, director of enforcement actions for the Arizona Department of Education. Burns said that let the board resolve its backlog much more efficiently.

Because a case is counted in the year it is decided, the totals do not show when the underlying conduct occurred, the board noted.

Another factor is a 2021 law that gave the board disciplinary authority over certain school workers without teaching certificates who work directly with students. In 2025 the board decided 78 cases involving those noncertificated employees, more than any single group of certificated staff.

What the categories include

The assault category covers nonsexual physical misconduct on or off school grounds, including some incidents between adults, such as certain domestic violence cases in which children were present. State officials cautioned that the 203 cases in 2025 should not be read as 203 attacks on students. Assault made up 53% of the board's decided cases last year and sexual misconduct 30%.

School officials filed about half of the reports tied to cases decided in 2025. The board cautioned against assuming that added training on grooming and boundary violations directly caused the increase, saying it does not "currently have hard data to share regarding how training impacts cases."

The report estimates that about 98.4% of Arizona's education workforce did not appear in the disciplinary actions it reviewed, a figure the board calls an approximation. Its statistics also leave out complaints that did not reach a final decision and investigations still open.

Completed actions can be searched in the board's public disciplinary database.

Sources

yourvalley.net

azsbe.az.gov