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.

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:

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

Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios posted:

Today I cosponsored SCR1050 with President Fann to override the aggregate expenditure limit and ensure our schools are not hit with a billion dollar cut. https://t.co/wlg6k15aBp

— Rebecca Rios (@Rios_Rebecca) February 15, 2022

House Democratic Leader Reginald Bolding also posted:

📣Great news! This afternoon #HCR2039 was introduced to lift the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) in the Legislature. We already appropriated money to our public school districts and this bill will ensure they get access to those resources. Next step: we must now pass this! pic.twitter.com/4DSbE53CQv

— Reginald Bolding Ed.D. (@reginaldbolding) February 15, 2022

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:

We now have HCR2039, a bipartisan bill to override the #AEL. I hope we can get a 2/3 vote this week!

— Rep. Jennifer Pawlik (@Jennifer_Pawlik) February 15, 2022

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

Glad to see bipartisan bills (SCR1050 & HCR2039) introduced today to lift the school spending cap and allow schools to spend the money they have already received and budgeted for. I hope they can be passed by 3/1 w/o strings to avoid devastating cuts.

— David Lujan (@DavidLujan) February 14, 2022

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

Good news 🎉 🎉 🎉 The #AZLeg has taken the 1st steps toward waiving the AEL. We call upon majority lawmakers to take swift action to avoid $1.2B in cuts & further stress to AZ families, educators & students. #CleanAEL #NoNewVouchers https://t.co/y781qreygo

— Save Our Schools AZ (@arizona_sos) February 15, 2022