Page 37 - The Edge - Summer 2017

ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES CONTRIBUTING ARTICLE

School districts sue state over crumbling buildings

Katie Campbell school buildings and facilities,” Hogan said, referring to his state
Arizona Capitol Times Supreme Court win over the same issue.
Howard FisCHer He said the state is in the same position as in 1991 when he
Capitol Media Services filed the initial lawsuit.
School districts, education groups and taxpayers filed suit “We’ve got a system that is almost wholly reliant on the tax
May 1 to force lawmakers to pay for school maintenance and base and voters’ willingness to access it. That’s an unfair system.
construction they have neglected for years. It’s unfair to schools. It’s unfair to students. And it’s unfair to
Plaintiffs gathered on the steps of Glendale Landmark taxpayers,” Hogan said.
Elementary School with their lawyer, Tim Hogan of the Arizona Two decades ago, Hogan successfully argued that relying on
Center for Law in the Public Interest, to announce the long- districts’ taxpayer dollars to cover school-maintenance costs,
awaited suit revolving around Arizona Supreme Court rulings particularly in low-income areas, was unconstitutional. A
they contend have been ignored by the Legislature. settlement in 1998 included a one-time payout of $1.3 billion
The lawsuit contends the state has failed to provide the to get buildings up to state standards, with an additional $200
money needed to ensure public school buildings, facilities and million a year earmarked for soft capital expenses, like textbooks
equipment meet minimum standards, and that failure has forced and buses.
school districts to divert other resources to address those needs But since that agreement, Hogan said money to fund the
or allow them to persist. building renewal formula and soft capital funding has been cut
“I think it’s outrageous that we have Supreme Court decisions year after year, leaving school districts to make up the difference
– three Supreme Court decisions from 1994 through 1998 – that
very clearly spell out what the state’s responsibility is for funding Continued on page 38

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