The House voted to waive the aggregate expenditure limit (AEL) today with bipartisan support, clearing the two-thirds majority necessary to send it forward. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, needed 40 votes to pass and received 46.  

Arizona is again grappling with the issue of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts and whether voters should decide for themselves if taxpayer money can fund private and home schools for all K-12 students.  

School choice is not a weapon to take down public schools but a tool to allow parents to choose their child’s means of education and ensure a pathway to success.

More than 40 years ago, a bipartisan coalition of Arizona legislators came together to help ensure fairness in how the state funds public schools. The time has come for lawmakers to act again. 

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday upped the pressure on the growing number of public-school districts defying a state ban on mask mandates as they try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Stanford University scholars, for instance, linked testing data across the country and found only 28 general enrollment public schools nationwide where the students learned at a rate 50% or more above the national average. Arizona has 11 of those 28 schools, and charter schools make up nine of the 11.

In 1994 (when AZ passed open enrollment and charter school laws) 59% percent of Arizona public schools had 70% of their student body from a single race or ethnicity. During the 2017-18 school year (the most recent available) that statewide percentage had dropped to 41%. Arizona students are less rather than more racially isolated in their schools today than in 1994.

It is the Legislative season so once again a bill will be pushed for consolidation of public school districts in Arizona. This time it is Rep. John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction, with HB2139, a bill that will mandate all elementary and union high school districts become unified by 2024.

bill imposing new rules on Arizona charter schools is likely dead for the year after House Speaker Rusty Bowers declined to move it forward, saying it doesn't have enough support to pass.

House Speaker Rusty Bowers knows he will have very little wiggle room in the 2019 legislative session.