An Arizona State University professor said Wednesday it is time for the state to curtail its preference for school choice policy and find a way to help parents who choose to stay at failing schools rather than encouraging them to leave.

Early in September, Reyna Montoya awoke to hear the heavy downpour outside her home in Mesa. She reacted the way most Arizonans would — with a giddy enthusiasm and a sense of wonder at seeing a million tears fall from the sky to wash away the desert heat. “We never get to see the rain here,” she said. Montoya, 21, was recounting the story to make a point: Arizona is her home and she’s not going anywhere.

A new report showing Arizona had the steepest education spending decreases nationwide in recent years strengthens the argument for a 1-cent per dollar sales tax benefiting schools, proponents of the initiative said Tuesday.

A House panel has approved a bill that would require schools to annually report how many illegal immigrants are enrolled and how much it costs to educate them.