PHOENIX — A recent roundtable of five candidates for the state legislature reflects the Democratic Party’s appeal for the public-school vote, as Arizona continues dismal showings in national rankings.
Just last week Consumer Affairs ranked Arizona 51st for “Best States for Public Education 2024," citing low per-pupil funding and large class sizes as two key metrics.
Democrats hope a group of pro-public-school candidates will help flip the state legislature to a Democratic majority for the first time since the 1990s. The margin for Republicans is two seats in each chamber.
“We are working our tails off to ensure that happens,” said Senator Christine Marsh (D), running for re-election in a competitive north Phoenix legislative District 4.
Candidates include teachers, a librarian and a board president
Candidates who joined Marsh at last week’s roundtable were:
- Retired English teacher and librarian Judy Schweibert, incumbent running for the AZ Senate in Legislative District 2
- 40-year educator Keith Seaman, incumbent running for the AZ House in Legislative District 16
- Music teacher Stacey Seaman, running for AZ Senate in Legislative District 16
- Madison Elementary School Board President Karen Gresham, running for AZ House in Legislative District 4
“Public schools must once again become the priority they should be,” Schweibert said.
Arizona has boosted funding, but fallen behind nationally
Arizona has recovered from severe cuts made after the 2007 recession. According to state data, per-pupil spending is higher the past three years than it was in 2008, just before recession cuts kicked in.
However, the state has not kept pace with national trends. An analysis of federal data shows Arizona’s per-pupil spending was 88% of the national average in 1992. In 2012 it was 68%. In 2022 it was 71%.
“It’s the rural schools that are hit the hardest by the lack of resources,” said Keith Seaman. “We’ve had teachers who are hired in September, and then try to get out of their contract in December. They can’t do it.”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Five “public education” candidates for the Arizona State Legislature discuss the 2024 election at a September roundtable hosted by the Arizona Education Association. They are Former Teacher of the Year, Senator Christine Marsh, Music Teacher Stacey Seaman, 40-year educator and Representative Keith Seaman, retired High School English teacher and librarian Representative Judy Schweibert, & Madison Elementary School Board President Karen Gresham.
Public schools face growing healthcare, pension costs
Running public schools is also more expensive, administrators said.
Technology demands, employee benefits, and special needs accommodations add to the growing cost of running schools.
“Post-Covid, we’ve seen a significant spike in our special education costs,” said Dr. Scott Menzel, Superintendent of Scottsdale Unified School District. “Because it’s a service required by statute we don’t have a choice. And we want to provide that service.”
Menzel said pension packages are more costly. Unlike charter schools and private schools, public districts match employees’ 12% pension payroll contribution.
“That’s a big difference in terms of cost pressures,” Menzel said. “Twenty years ago, people would say it’s worth it to not get paid as much as they could in the private sector because of the pension benefits on the backend. That proposition is getting squeezed based on our economic reality.”
During the roundtable meeting, Democratic candidates recounted ways they said districts have made sacrifices to cover necessary costs.
“Being a music teacher, I would have students in band and orchestra who wanted to play but their families didn’t have money for instruments,” said Stacey Seaman. “At the beginning of the school year, I would hit the pawn shops and find what students needed. A teacher shouldn’t have to do that.”
Republican Matt Gress defends teacher salary approach
One education bill sponsored by Republican legislator Matt Gress is being used against Democrats. Gress has proposed requiring teacher salary increases up to $10,000.
Democrats, including Schwiebert and Marsh, rejected the proposal. They are now targets of campaign signs decrying their votes. Marsh and Schwiebert allege Gress’ bill “wasn’t a serious proposal” because it did not raise salaries for other school positions and did not contain adequate revenue to cover the raises.
They say it would have forced districts to cut staff.
“I think he (Gress) probably wanted to appear as if he wanted to fund teacher raises, but the truth was the bill followed the right-wing Republican agenda of defunding schools,” Schwiebert said.
“Any serious attempts to raise teacher pay, I’m all in,” Marsh said.
Gress tells 12News he crafted the bill “in a responsible way.”
“The same funding source that Representative Schwiebert used in her bill was the same in my bill, except hers costs three times as much,” Gress said. “I think Republicans and Democrats and Independents all agree we need to invest more in our teachers.”
Gress’ proposal would have bypassed administrators, representing a key difference between the two parties. Republicans generally want to narrow new money for teacher salaries only. Democrats say that approach ignores the realities districts face.
“The entire school family, the paraprofessionals, the librarians, the bus drivers, they are just as important as the teachers,” Representative Keith Seaman said. “We Democrats need to be trusted that we know what is wrong with the funding gaps in schools.”
Gress, who worked in the Ducey administration on the “20 by 2020” school funding initiative, says districts only raised teacher salaries by an average of 16% and therefore should not be trusted to have discretionary funding increases.
“That was a very informative time for us,” Gress said.
District leaders allege they were forced to use “20 by 2020” funds for other costs including facilities, which is the subject of a 7-year lawsuit against the legislature. Federal data also shows districts run relatively lean administrations, at a cost of about 50% of the national average.
Gress is running in an east Phoenix-area district that includes Gresham. Gresham, a 3rd-generation Arizonan, said her experience as a school board member and parent motivated her to run.
“Since my kids started school in Arizona, they have not had a fully funded education. It was not like this when I was growing up,” Gresham said.
Democrats vow to scale back ESA private vouchers
Private school vouchers are also a point of debate in swing districts. Since Arizona became the first state in the country two years ago to launch universal vouchers, the program has polarized parents and activists. More than 70,000 kids enrolled are proof the program is popular for their families.
But ESAs come at a high cost.
The nonpartisan Grand Canyon Institute estimates non-special needs private school vouchers will add $429 million to the state budget this coming school year, compared to costs before the law was passed in 2022.
While Republicans were quick to note last month the state’s Department of Education covered its expenses with $4 million to spare in its budget, Democrats note other school programs are being sacrificed.
For example, ASU just announced it will close a campus due to a loss of $24 million in funding from the legislature. The state also cut $37 million in poverty funds for public schools beginning next year.
Those cuts are happening while the state now pays for thousands of kids to attend private school; kids whose families were already paying for private school tuition before the law was passed.
“The one-seat Republican majority refuses to even hear bills that don’t follow their privatization agenda,” Schwiebert said.
Democrats want to keep ESAs for special needs students intact, but scale back or eliminate universal ESAs.
Schwiebert’s opponent in her race is twice-elected Republican state legislator Shawnna Bolick, who said in 2022 “school choice” was her “number one priority.”
Bolick’s campaign did not respond to requests for an interview.
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