Arizona has shorted its public school students for years, raiding Prop. 301 funds to “balance” the state budget. This is the basis of Cave Creek Unified School District v. Ducey (now DeWit), the lawsuit over voter-mandated inflation funding that’s owed to school districts. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled the legislature violated the law. The trial court has entered a judgment that says Arizona owes about $330 million a year going forward. Still pending is a decision on the back payments portion of the judgment, which could exceed $1.3 billion if the state has to pay for what schools were shorted during the Great Recession.
The Governor and our lawless Tea-Publican legislature have failed to settle this lawsuit, and intend to exhaust the appeals process to the bitter end. They will then tell the Court, “you have entered your judgment, now let’s see you enforce it,” creating a constitutional crisis. They have no intention of ever paying the judgment.
The Arizona Republic reported on Sunday that Arizona is also shorting its school districts and charter schools an estimated $381 million a year in underfunded mandates for students with special needs. Arizona shorting schools millions for special education:
Educators say the costs have only exploded since 2007, as more students are diagnosed with special needs and the cost of services rises.
One district analyst calculated a $381 million gap between what the state provided and what it took to properly fund the education of students with disabilities last year. Others have estimated the gap has surpassed $400 million a year.
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