Republicans in the state Senate — and possibly the House — plan to start drafting next year’s budget shortly after Labor Day and have a proposal ready by the end of the year

On paper, that $11.8 billion budget signed Friday by Gov. Doug Ducey is a somewhere north of 11 percent higher than what was adopted a year ago.

Sine die watch is finally over after the Senate approved an $11.8 billion budget on Memorial Day

The fate of an $11.8 billion budget could be decided today as lawmakers debate the question of the liability of churches, the Boy Scouts and other organizations over old charges of sexual abuse.

Instead, Fann, R-Prescott, emerged from her office shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday to end the day and apologize to a group of red-shirted teachers, many of whom had spent their first day of summer vacation watching a mostly-empty Senate floor.

Just a few hours after saying she was “bound and determined” to pass a budget Friday night, Senate President Karen Fann sent senators home for the night without voting on an $11.8 billion spending plan.

Saying the budget agreement crafted by GOP legislative leaders and Gov. Doug Ducey is “not a conservative budget,” Rep. Tony Rivero, R-Peoria, vowed to vote against it Thursday unless his colleagues agreed to several significant changes.

The Arizona Department of Education and state legislators came to a compromise that would no longer punish students and parents on the Navajo reservation who use school vouchers to attend out-of-state schools.

An $11.8 billion spending plan was introduced in the Arizona Legislature late Tuesday afternoon, setting GOP leaders and Gov. Doug Ducey on a collision course with a handful of Republican senators who said they’ll vote no on the budget deal.

Today’s the day lawmakers in both the House and the Senate hope to introduce budget proposals, but don’t hold your breath for sine die just yet.