Arizona House passes measure that would allow nearly $1.2B in school spending

PHOENIX – With the deadline to act just two weeks away, the Arizona House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a measure that would clear the way for schools to spend nearly $1.2 billion in approved funding.

Concurrent resolutions to override a constitutionally mandated school spending cap were introduced in each house Monday, but the Senate version remains in limbo.

Senate President Karen Fann said Tuesday that she does not have the votes among her GOP caucus members to pass the measure with the required 20 votes, even with all Democrats backing the bill.

“I have a few members that are okay with it the way it is,” Fann said. “I have some members that would like to get something else as part of the deal with this.”

March 1 is the deadline to approve the override, and each chamber must pass it by a 2/3 majority. The House version passed 45-14 with one member not voting. All 28 Democrats present and 17 of the 31 Republicans voted yes.

The legislation would authorize K-12 districts to raise the aggregate expenditure limitation for the current fiscal year by $1,154,028,997, the amount by which authorized funding exceeds the cap.

“I’m grateful that we could be here to make it official and let this money go so that they can enjoy it and put it to good use,” Speaker Rusty Bowers said before voting yes.

The formula for the aggregate expenditure limitation was created in a measure passed by voters in 1980. The cap has been lifted in previous years when necessary, sometimes closer to the deadline than this year, Bowers said.

School leaders, including Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, have been fretting about the prospect of slashing budgets by 16% if the GOP-controlled Legislature fails act.

“Districts should not have been put through the undue stress of planning for these cuts, but I’m grateful a bipartisan solution is on the horizon,” Hoffman tweeted Monday.

The best birthday present the #azleg can give our state is immediate passage of HCR2039 & SCR1050 to suspend this year's budget cap.

Districts should not have been put through the undue stress of planning for these cuts, but I'm grateful a bipartisan solution is on the horizon.

— Kathy Hoffman (@Supt_Hoffman) February 14, 2022

Republicans had been hoping to get a ruling on a legal challenge to Proposition 208, an initiative to tax the wealthy for additional school funding passed by voters in 2020, before addressing the funding limit. They worried if they voted to raise the cap before a court decides the case, it could hurt their legal argument against the initiative.

“We simply said we want to make sure that there is no linkage between this issue and other issues,” Bowers said Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: Earlier versions of this story erroneously said the governor had to sign the measure if it passes both chambers. Concurrent resolutions do not need the governor’s signature to go into effect.

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