A Light at the End of the Tunnel: Bipartisan Bills to Avert Financial Doomsday for the State’s Traditional Public Schools

Eureka!

There may be a light at the end of the tunnel to avert the financial doomsday for the Grand Canyon state’s traditional pubic schools.

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On Arizona’s birthday, the Republican and Democratic leadership of the Arizona State House and Senate have offered bipartisan measures in both chambers to lift the spending limit cap limit.

If the proposals (House Concurrent Resolution 2039 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 1050) pass by March 1, 2022, the ticking time bomb on halting the funding the state’s traditional public schools will not go off.

Commenting to AZ Central, House Speaker Russell Bowers said, “the whole time, I’ve said it’s gonna get worked out.”

Senate Leader Karen Fann, in the same AZ Central article was a little more reserved, stating that conversations (on lifting the cap)  “are all over the place.”

More good news:

In a break with their more hardline Republican colleagues, Fann and Bowers are not looking to tie the lifting of the cap with passage of an expansion of universal vouchers.

This will be a clean bill that addresses one item: Lifting the cap.

Reaction to the Bipartisan Leadership Bills to Lift the Cap.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, who has been urging the Legislature to take action for months, posted on social media:

Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios posted:

House Democratic Leader Reginald Bolding also posted:

Senator Christine Marsh, who along with Representative Jennifer Pawlik, put forth similar legislative proposals to lift the cap weeks ago, commented to AZ Central:

“I’m really grateful that something is moving forward. But it’s irritating that the matter has taken on cliffhanger proportions.”

Representative Pawlik posted:

David Lujan, the head of the Arizona Children’s Action Alliance, stated:

Beth Lewis of Save Our Schools Arizona put out the following brief statement:

 

 

 

 

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