Legislative leaders are keeping membership in the dark, but the Arizona Republic is reporting that a “resolution to the five-year legal battle over school funding could come as early as this week. Lawmakers have been summoned to the Capitol to discuss the details.
According to the Arizona Republic, “Senate Republican spokesman Mike Philipsen confirmed Saturday night the principles had reached an agreement in the 2010 lawsuit, in which K-12 public school districts and charters alleged the state shorted them by not fully funding a voter-approved inflation formula during the Great Recession.”
In August, the plaintiffs in the Cave Creek v. DeWit lawsuit declared an impasse in settlement discussions. On that same day, Senate President Andy Biggs and Speaker of the House David Gowan announced a proposal to place additional money into classrooms across the state.
Due to a gag order from the court, both sides will not discuss the details of the settlement.
The Legislature’s proposal uses four revenue streams that would infuse as much as $5 billion in new money over the next 10 years.
“K-12 funding has been one of our highest priorities in the budget each year, and as we climb out of the recession and see growing revenues, we see the opportunity to provide additional money for our classrooms, while still keeping state finances balanced,” said Senate President Andy Biggs in August.
The funding plan would be done without raising taxes on Arizonans, according to Biggs and Gowan.
The proposed funding plan has four components: a commitment to continue a supplement to annual basic state aid which began in the last budget process, a new increase to annual basic state aid, a partial shift of money from the state’s First Things First program, and a plan to use increased earnings from the state trust land. In the first year alone, these four sources would bring $500 million in new money to the classroom and as much as $5 billion over the next decade.