As a 10th-grade teacher and a state representative who sits on the House
Education committee, I'd like to discuss the state of education along with our
budget realities in Arizona.
From fiscal years 2008-12, Arizona faced a collective $13.4 billion
shortfall. Yet only 25 percent of our solutions included permanent spending
reductions. This means we did all we could to protect state budget priorities,
with K-12 at the top of that list.
Education spending has increased over the last three years. With a little
more than one million students in Arizona, total K-12 spending per student
increased from $8,803 to $9,169 during fiscal years 2012-14.
The Legislature even voted to refer a 1-cent sales tax to the voters with a
focus of protecting education. Upon full implementation, this raised nearly a
billion dollars annually, with two thirds going towards education.
This was remarkable given the Republican legislature's aversion to any tax
increases. Also, in spite of the concerns many legislators had with the
president's stimulus bill, we accepted these federal dollars to help backfill
any cuts to education we otherwise would have had to implement.
There's even more limitations.
The Arizona Legislature can only manage 31 percent of our budget, according
to Arizona's non-partisan budget staff. A third of all state spending is
earmarked for voter-protected programs ($3.6 billion), and another third is
driven by statutory considerations.
This means the state must fund:
-- K-12 education, which currently sits at 42 percent of all state
spending
-- The locking up of inmates
-- Health care, where one in five Arizonans are on state managed health care
(AHCCCS), and
-- Child caseloads in the new Department of Child Safety, as a few of several
examples.
The next governor and the Legislature have tough decisions immediately
beginning in January. We must address a $186 million shortfall for the current
fiscal year and a $650 million dollar shortfall next year.
Additionally, the courts are considering requiring the state to pay $1.3
billion for K-12 inflation costs for prior fiscal years with one judge already
ruling the state must pay an additional $336 million each fiscal year. We don't
have final answers in this lawsuit yet, but the total additional cost could be a
multibillion-dollar expense.
For some context, all state spending stands at $9.3 billion. We have few
options, but no good ones.
Should we begin by cutting funds to the new Department of Child Safety?
Should we let inmates out early, as California has? Should we raise taxes in a
difficult fiscal climate and further exacerbate Arizona's struggling economy?
Should we pull out the rug from under businesses that have counted on a
predictable and stable tax structure?
None of these solutions are desirable or prudent.
Yet while we struggle to grow our economy, there's much we can do to
immediately have a lasting impact on public education.
We can and should protect education by hiring and retaining high-quality
teachers, ensure more money gets into the classrooms, and fund schools with wait
lists that have demonstrated clear success.
Republican state Rep. Paul Boyer represents Legislative District 20 in
Phoenix and Glendale.
