PHOENIX — Raises are on the way
to Arizona teachers.
Governor Doug Ducey has signed the full #20x2020 plan into
law, providing a 20 percent boost in teacher pay over the next three years — including 10 percent in school
year 2018 — and a significant increase in
flexible dollars to Arizona schools for support staff, new textbooks,
upgraded technology and infrastructure.
This package — proposed by Governor
Ducey on April 12 and passed today on a bipartisan basis — represents an increase of more than $1
billion in education spending when fully implemented, including a more than
$520 million increase in K-12 education spending this year alone.
“Arizona teachers have earned a raise, and this plan
delivers,” said Governor Ducey. “The impact our teachers have on the lives
of Arizona kids cannot be overstated. They work incredibly hard to make a
difference for their students. This plan not only provides our teachers
with a 20 percent increase in pay by school year 2020, it also provides
millions in flexible dollars to improve our public education system. I’ve
had the honor of hearing directly from Arizona teachers, over these last
several weeks in particular. It’s their input that has shaped and improved
this plan. We will never check the box on public education, but this is one
big, positive step in the right direction for our teachers and their
students.”
Investments in Arizona’s classrooms include $371 million to
fully restore recession-era cuts to Additional Assistance over the next
five years, starting with $100 million this fiscal year. These flexible and
permanent dollars will be available for updating curriculum, modernizing
classroom technology and increasing support staff salaries.
The budget also includes other important K-12 education
investments, including $1.8 million to fund career and technical education,
$10 million for behavioral health specialists, $53 million for building
renewal to improve school infrastructure – the highest funding level since
2007 – and $86 million over two years for construction of five new schools.
This budget was very much influenced and shaped by Arizona
school leaders.
On April 10, Governor Ducey met with a group of
superintendents representing students from across the state specifically to
talk about the impact a strike would have on their schools and communities.
During that meeting, they described the challenges of recruiting and
retaining staff, and at the same time, managing all of the remaining needs
in their schools.
The next day, on April 11, the Finance Advisory Committee,
consisting of independent economists, recognized that revenues through
March were $262 million above forecast and included significant increases
in ongoing revenues available to the state over the next several years.
This report confirmed news released on April 9 from the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office announcing a 75 percent upward revision to
growth forecasts for the national economy over the next two years. With
that improved outlook, Arizona could realize over $1.5 billion in
additional revenues over the next five years.
The budget does not compromise other essential state services
to accommodate our teacher pay package. In fact, it increases the state’s
commitments to developmental disabilities, skilled nursing facilities,
Medicaid, critical access hospitals, the arts, food banks and higher
education.
For additional information on the budget, click HERE.
Investments in the budget include:
Education
$644.1 million for a 20% increase in teacher pay
school year 2020; these raises will be ongoing, protected in the base of
the budget and inflated
• $304.9 million for 10% teacher pay raise in FY
2018/FY 2019 (school year 2018)
• $164.7 million for 5% teacher pay raise in FY 2020
(school year 2019)
• $174.5 million for 5% teacher pay raise in FY 2021
(school year 2020)
$371 million to fully restore
recession-era cuts to Additional District/Charter Assistance, phased-in
over five years
• $100 million in FY 2019
• $168 million in FY 2020
• $236 million in FY 2021
• $303 million in FY 2022
• $371 million in FY 2023
$86 million in cash funding for
the construction of new schools (three in Chandler, one in Tolleson
Unified, one in Queen Creek)
$53 million for K-12 school
building renewal, the highest level of funding since 2007
$27 million in capital funding for
Arizona’s universities: ASU, NAU, and UofA
$8 million for resident student
funding at Arizona’s universities
$5.3 million for ADE’s Education
Learning and Accountability System
$3 million (plus $7 million in
federal dollars) for behavioral and mental health specialists to enhance
school safety
$2 million for the Arizona School
for the Deaf and Blind to enhance the early childhood learning program
$2 million for ASU’s School of
Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership and UofA’s Center for the
Philosophy of Freedom
$1.8 million to fully fund the
state formula for career and technical education (JTEDs)
$1 million to create a computer
science professional development program
Happy and Healthy Citizens
$55 million in provider rate
increases for hospitals, the first broad-based increase since 2007
$14.1 million to fully fund adoption
subsidies for nearly 35,000 children
$13 million for network enhancement
payments to providers of developmental disabilities services (a $1 million
increase from the prior year)
$10.7 million to fix a recession-era
shortfall in the developmentally disabled program, guaranteeing funding for
free developmental evaluation of children, case management, and room and
board
$8 million in new dollars to
expand the capacity of soon-to-be-built veterans homes in Yuma and
Flagstaff
$2.9 million in skilled nursing
provider rate increases
$2.6 million to relieve counties of
contributing to the State’s Medicaid match
$2 million for Alzheimer’s
research
$2 million to increase the level
of military retirement pay exemption from $2,500 to $3,500
$2 million for the Arts
Commission, an increase of $500,000 from last year
$1.8 million in increased funding
for critical access (rural) hospitals
$1.7 million extra State assistance
for Pinal, Yavapai, and Mohave counties
$1.7 million to expand abuse
treatment at prisons to help reduce recidivism
$1.4 million to expand education
services to 486 inmates
$1 million for Arizona food banks
to increase capacity, especially those in rural areas
$500,000 for an additional 975 inmates to
participate in employment training at Lewis and Perryville
$500,000 for expanded home and community-based
services for the elderly
Public Safety
$24 million ($6 million
state funds and $18 million federal funds) to construct a new
National Guard Readiness Center in Tucson
area to improve training and readiness
$11.3 million to eliminate counties
paying for a share of operating costs at the Arizona Department for of
Juvenile Corrections Offset
$3 million to eliminate the
county cost shift for the Arizona State Hospital to treat sexually violent
persons
$2.9 million to add troopers to Arizona’s
Border Strike Force to protect critical regions in Southern Arizona
$1.4 million for additional troopers
on Wrong-Way Driver Night Watch to improve response times to wrong-way and
impaired drivers
$800,000 to establish the
Arizona Pharmaceutical Diversion Task Force to combat abuse and trafficking
of prescription drugs
$600,000 over three years to
improve Arizona’s criminal background check system
Natural Resources
$25.6 million increase for preventative highway maintenance (for a
total of $41 million), the highest level spent in State history
$4 million to develop Oracle
State Park in the Catalina Mountains to expand the park to allow more
accessibility to the public
$2.5 million to renovate Buckskin
Mountain State Park in Parker as part of a three-year plan
$700,000 to expand wildfire
prevention efforts
$350,000 for maintenance on 37 dams and other
properties owned by the Game and Fish Department
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