The Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Friday revised its estimate for cuts to funding for small charter schools and said the Department of Education is wrong in its interpretation of legislation establishing the reduction.
Read More »JLBC says Education Department erred in calculating charter school funding cuts
Nest eggs: Governor, Legislature sat on millions during budget cuts 
Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican lawmakers like to talk about the hard decisions they had to make regarding where to cut the state budget. But when it comes to their own portions of the state budget, they didn’t cut a dime.
Read More »State pays last $44 million on loan covering recession-era unemployment benefits
The state has finally paid off the last of the money it had to borrow to pay unemployment benefits to workers during the recession.
Read More »Overall House spending rises 29% under Gowan’s leadership 
In the first four months under House Speaker David Gowan’s leadership, the cost of running the chamber has increased 29 percent year-over-year, according to a budget summary provided by the chamber.
Read More »Strong revenue showing raises questions about whether lawmakers acted too fast 
The surprisingly strong showing in state revenue collections in April promptly revived questions surrounding the wisdom of rushing the budget’s passage earlier this year.
Read More »Not really so bad: Lawmakers say their approach to school funding is misunderstood 
Lawmakers made broad claims about education spending this year, from Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration promoting a “classrooms first” theme on social media to frequent boasts of spending more on education than at any time in Arizona’s history.
Read More »Lawmakers fell in line as the usual budget opposition failed to materialize 
Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican legislative leadership’s quest for swift passage of their first budget was aided by unusually lackluster opposition from Democratic lawmakers and GOP critics.
Read More »Ducey signs $9.1B Arizona budget plan that cuts spending
Gov. Doug Ducey said Thursday he intends to approve legislation cutting millions more in taxes even as he signed a budget that cuts millions of dollars from education and social programs.
Read More »Classrooms first: School officials say rhetoric doesn’t match budget reality 
Many school district officials and education leaders say Gov. Doug Ducey’s “Classrooms First” slogan and the oft-repeated boast that Arizona will spend more than ever on K-12 education next year are misleading and don’t reflect how budget cuts will affect schools in 2016.
Read More »Lawmakers talk of fix-all bill for budget errors, unresolved issues 
Gov. Doug Ducey noted with pride that less than two months after he took office, legislators approved a budget that he considers 99 percent of what he asked for, passing it out of both chambers in record time.
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