ARIZONA, USA — Arizona lawmakers have one month to figure out a state budget for the next fiscal year, including what to do with a rare surplus of more than $5 billion.
Faced with large class sizes, a teacher shortage and low national rankings for per-pupil spending, education advocates want lawmakers to allocate more than $1 billion of the surplus for school funding.
A proposal pushed by State Senator Paul Boyer of Glendale (R) would use state surplus dollars to add $800 million to schools annually and another $200 million in a one-time disbursement.
“It’s all up to leadership. Leadership as you know, they don’t have to put anything on the board if they don’t want to,” Boyer said when asked if he’s optimistic a version of his plan will get a vote.
Senator Boyer, a teacher, said he’s been in communication with House Majority Leader Ben Toma (R) and rank-and-file legislators on a school budget increase. The plan would fix the aggregated expenditure limit and resolve issues related to Prop 123, Boyer said.
Toma did not respond to written questions from 12 News.
“I have been meeting with Toma. He’s briefed Representative Udall, and as far as I’m aware she is supportive of my proposal,” Boyer said.
Representative Michelle Udall is the House Education Committee Chair. 12 News sent an interview request to Udall by email but did not receive a response.
“I do believe if my proposal… after getting feedback from superintendents and also honoring the will of the voters who did vote for Prop 208… all that put together, I think if that plan was on the board, I think it would pass with 31 and 16 (votes),” Boyer said.
Arizona voters passed Prop 208 in 2020, requiring a tax surcharge that would have added more than $800 million annually to schools. The plan was declared unconstitutional.
A major sticking point moving forward is how to expand Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA’s), Boyer said. Some lawmakers want to expand them for all students. Boyer is willing to support superintendents who want to expand them for low-income students only.
Nearly 100 superintendents sent a letter to legislative leaders last week asking for nearly $1 billion in additional funds. It requests an increase in the base support level of $550 million. It also calls for enhancements to the state’s K-12 funding formula. These include an additional $100 million investment for special education and an additional $100 million to address challenges facing low-income students.
“A strong investment of almost $1 billion of the state’s budget surplus will give Arizona’s schools the opportunity to build a stronger education system, to grow the economy of Arizona, to provide a workforce to meet high wage and high demand jobs,” said Mark Joraanstad, Executive Director of Arizona School Administrators.
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