Sign In
Free Newsletter
Lawmakers face waiver of school spending limit or permanent fix
Another legislative session means another waiver on the aggregate expenditure limit, and with no end in sight, lawmakers and a school finance aficionado stress the need for a permanent fix given the perpetual limits school district budgets face.
Chuck Essigs: Making sense out of school finance dollars
Chuck Essigs, director of government relations for the Arizona Associations of School Business Officials, has been the go-to guy on school finance for lawmakers, lobbyists and reporters alike for more than two decades. As he enters another session, he plans to
Special session pushed to avoid over $1B in school funding cuts
Democrats and public school officials are again asking Gov. Doug Ducey to call a special legislative session to avoid over $1 billion in K-12 funding cuts this school year, months after Republicans used the promise of a special session as a carrot to bring Democrats on board with this year’s historic bipartisan budget.
School funding a ticking time bomb
Arizona schools are counting down to a March 1 deadline for the Legislature to override a cap on spending or face not being able to spend $1.1 billion already approved for them.
Report: State behind on #20×2020 pay raise promise
Average teacher salaries in Arizona have increased by 13.3% since fiscal year 2017, but that’s still shy of the 15% cumulative goal laid out for this point in Gov. Doug Ducey’s #20x2020 plan.
Revamp of special-ed funding formula goes nowhere
Arizona’s formula for funding special education will be at least 40 years old before it is adapted to reflect the effects of school choice.
Tax-hike plan from conservative changes school-funding debate
Pigs aren’t flying. But it’s probably worth another look out the window, just to check, now that a conservative Republican proposed raising taxes in Arizona.
Rural Republican proposes tax increase for public education
Republican Sen. Sylvia Allen wants voters to approve a sales tax hike to boost funding for K-12 schools and higher education.
Auditor: Laws need to change for effective charter school scrutiny
If lawmakers want quality audits of Arizona charter schools, they have to change the laws governing how charters operate, the state’s top auditor said.
Pima County officials see legal trouble in desegregation tax
Pima County officials say a new state law dictating how to collect taxes for desegregation funding in Tucson puts the county at legal risk.
The Breakdown: Session Wrap Edition
Our reporters sat down with Gov. Doug Ducey as well as Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers to reflect on the last five months - and what this session's events may hold for the future.
School districts, lawmakers clash over teacher pay
Arizona lawmakers, roundly criticized this year over poorly funded public schools, want to make one thing clear: They’re not the ones responsible for giving teachers raises.
