PHOENIX — The Arizona Senate voted Monday afternoon to waive a constitutional cap and raise the spending limit for K-12 schools.
The Senate voted 23-6 for a one-year exemption on the cap. The House had already passed the measure.
If lawmakers had not acted, schools would have exceeded the spending limit on March 1 and quickly started implementing cutbacks like closures or layoffs. About 880,000 students could have been affected.
“The Senate made the right choice today by joining the House in suspending the school budget cap this year. And while it shouldn't have taken this long to fix this issue, I'm grateful disaster was averted,” said Arizona State Superintendent Kathy Hoffman in a tweet Monday afternoon.
The cap on spending is linked to a law passed in 1980 that sets a ceiling on spending that is based on a funding formula for schools.
The spending cap question is likely to be the subject of debate again next year.
“The folks in these buildings are playing politics with my son, your children and more importantly our public schools that are paid for with tax money that we pay as well,” said Marisol Garcia, vice president of the Arizona Educators Association.
All six no votes came from GOP lawmakers. It does not need to be signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
Some Republican legislators defended the state’s record on school funding, saying the reason why they were forced to vote on the measure is because of an increase in funding in recent years.
Republican Sen. Vince Leach of Tucson railed against public schools for not giving his party credit for the big boost in school funding they've received in recent years.
Republicans have been leery of approving the waiver of the aggregate spending limit for fears it could breathe life into Proposition 208, the 2020 voter-approved tax on the wealthy that the state Supreme Court ruled in August was unconstitutional if it put spending over the cap.
Republican State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita of Scottsdale voted against the measure because she thinks the "bureaucratic educational machine" is abusing children and continuing to "complain about money."
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