Former Arizona school board president Greg Miller dies

PHOENIX — Greg Miller, a former Arizona school board president who tangled with Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas in recent years, died earlier this week.

His daughter said he died Tuesday of natural causes after battling coronary artery disease for years. He was 69.

Miller and his wife Pam founded the Challenge Charter School in Glendale in 1996 and he served on the Board of Education from 2010 until he resigned in August 2016. The board creates statewide school policies.

“We wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the Miller family and its extended Challenge Charter School community,” the Arizona Charter Schools Association, which Miller chaired, said in a release.

Wendy Miller said her father was most proud of his work as an educator. She said she’s received hundreds of calls from former students who said he had been like a second father to them.

According to a biography on the Challenge Charter School website, Miller also worked in the field of civil engineering for 25 years.

He’s also survived by his wife, daughter Kelly Dawn Zollinger and three grandchildren.

Miller presided over the Arizona State School Board until he resigned in 2016, citing his feud with Douglas.

Their public spat began shortly after Douglas took office two years ago over the board’s staff.

Douglas fired two members of the school board, only to have that overturned by Gov. Doug Ducey.

Miller and Douglas were involved in a heated exchange over her view that board staff can only read documents that are in the education department’s computer system while they are at department headquarters.

In the audio, Miller can be heard telling Douglas, “You don’t have the floor,” then Douglas said, “Take your hands off of me!” There is then a sound of a microphone being bumped.

Douglas later claimed Miller grabber her, an accusation he dismissed as being as politically motivated.

Douglas sued the school board, arguing her role as superintendent meant she oversaw the board’s staff. The board also sued over the issue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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