Page 33 - The Edge - Winter 2017

ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES CONTRIBUTING ARTICLE

BY JEREMY DUDA

Ducey’s council makes K-12

recommendations, but details are vague

A council empaneled by Gov. Doug Ducey to reform Arizona’s
school funding formula released a set of ambitious recommendations. “But for us to be successful, I think we need to
But exactly how they are to be achieved, how they will be funded and give the governor and Legislature some room
what steps the governor will take in the upcoming legislative session
remain to be seen. to maneuver and come up with some solutions
“What we did is really tackle the ‘what’ and the ‘why.’ We did not
particularly delve into the ‘how.’ e ‘how’ is going to be a complex, that make sense.”
complicated process with a lot of input,” Jim Swanson, co-chair of the — Jim Swanson, co-chair of the Classrooms First Initiative Council
Classrooms First Initiative Council, said. “But for us to be successful,
I think we need to give the governor and Legislature some room to Overhauling Arizona’s 35-year-old school funding formula would
maneuver and come up with some solutions that make sense.” be a tremendous undertaking. e complex formula includes various
In his 2015 executive order creating the Classrooms First Initiative weights and segregated funding sources that have complicated the
Council, Ducey asked for its recommendations, but not for a plan to system in its 35 years of existence. Schools receive a set per-pupil
implement them. amount of funding. But that funding is weighted based on grade
e council unveiled 12 recommendations in a report at a meeting groupings, geographic location and other characteristics. In addition,
on December 14. e recommendations were the result of nearly 18 schools receive separate funding for needs such as transportation.
months of meetings and work with stakeholders. e council’s proposals would eliminate some of those weights,
e recommendations included the simpli cation of Arizona’s reduce state regulations, and provide more of the money to schools in
K-12 funding formulas, the creation of standardized and consolidated the form of lump sums or block grants, giving them exibility on how
tax rates among school districts, reducing districts’ reliance on funding they spend their money.
methods such as bonds and overrides, giving the Arizona Department “Unlike charter schools, school districts’ nancial accounting
of Education and State Board of Education more latitude to use the structure is constrained, and as a result it creates ine ciencies and
rulemaking process to implement school nance statutes, additional unnecessary spending behaviors,” the council’s report stated.
funding for schools in low-income areas, and higher pay for teachers. Furthermore, Swanson said the council’s recommendations would
Ducey emphasized to the council that implementing the also equalize funding between district and charter schools.
recommendations would be a long-term project, but that he aims to Some of the recommendations went beyond the instructions in
make progress on it every year and hopes to lay out a road map that Ducey’s 2015 executive order that created the council, including ones
future governors can follow as well. that proposed improving literacy rates in low-income schools through
“I want to tease a little bit in terms of what you will see in this rst extra funding, and reducing the state’s teacher shortage through higher
year and this next year. I think you’ve identi ed very much of what’s salaries, creating incentives for teachers in rural and low-income areas
needed. We’ve realized with Prop. 123 the need for resources and and expanding loan forgiveness programs for teachers.
ongoing improvement in K-12 education,” Ducey said, referring to a e council ended its report with a reminder of three major funding
school funding proposal approved by voters in May. “ at’s very much issues that it didn’t address but that it warned will need attention soon.
on our mind as we put together next year’s budget and the State of the One was the need to renew Proposition 301, a 2000 ballot initiative that
State as well.” provides K-12 schools with about $450 million a year through a sales
Ducey told reporters a er the meeting that he would have “an tax that expires in 2021. Another was the eventual expiration of Prop.
exciting education agenda” in 2017 that would include some of the 123. at measure is projected to provide about $3.5 billion to K-12
council’s recommendations. Other proposals will have to wait until schools over the next 10 years through increased distributions from
future sessions. the state’s land trust.
“We want to tackle the entire plan over the course of our term. Ducey said the state still has time to deal with the pending
But we want to do what’s politically possible in this next session,” the expiration of the two ballot propositions. He said he plans to “lay the
governor said. groundwork” for those eventualities, and le the door open to the
He said he would put more funding into the K-12 system. But he possibility of continuing the sales tax increase enshrined in Prop. 301.
observed, as he has many times during the rst two years of his tenure, He said he will address the third issue – capital funding for school
that education should be judged on more than just funding levels. buildings and facilities – in his budget for the next scal year.

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