On June 27, the Republican-controlled legislature sent Hobbs a budget that gave her nearly everything she wanted, including “fully funding” for education. Some Republican legislators bent over so far to please Hobbs that they created a fair amount of friction among their ranks. They did so in the spirit of cooperation, to avoid a state government shutdown.
However, just 12 days later, on July 9, Hobbs wasted no time in stabbing those legislators in the back by claiming that they are allowing public schools to go underfunded. The occasion of her rant was a claim made by NBC Channel 12 news that Empowerment Scholarship Account recipients are “hoarding” $440 Millions of funds received, apparently to use those funds to help fund college educations.
Arizonans deserve transparency and accountability for how their money is being spent. Instead, $440 million in taxpayer dollars is being hoarded in private accounts while public schools go underfunded. We need some guardrails to protect Arizona taxpayers. https://t.co/t32xw1xMBo
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) July 9, 2025
Even the highly-biased NBC article admitted that what the “hoarders” are doing is not unlawful. It should be clear to anyone who looks at the facts that this action by Hobbs is not about underfunding education, but about the education establishment losing control over indoctrination of the relatively small percentage of students that participate in the ESA program.
Even Hobbs herself, in her Governor’s website description of the budget deal, listed several education-funding items, including fully funding of K-12 education and a 2-year waving of the Aggregate Expenditure Limit. This latter item warrants further explanation.
In 1980, the voters of Arizona approved Proposition 109 which established the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) in the Arizona Constitution. The margin of approval was an overwhelming 82% YES to 18% NO.
Even though the AEL was a limit on K-12 and Community College funding, it was a very generous limit.
It set the then current year, 1980, as a baseline and limited the growth of future funding to the percentage of growth in student enrollment, plus the percentage of inflation, plus a 10% bonus.
In addition to that, it included a mechanism for overriding the limit. The legislature could override the AEL by a concurrent resolution approved by at least 2/3 of both chambers of the legislature.
That is exactly what the legislature did this year, except that they did two years at once. SCR1041 overrides this year’s limit and SCR1042 overrides next year’s limit.
One last point regarding education funding is that for quite some time now, education funding has comprised well over half of all expenditures at both the state and the county level. That leaves less than half to meet other obligations, like law enforcement, infrastructure, healthcare, etc.
Our governor should be thanking the members of the legislature for their generosity toward public education instead of bashing them for bogus education underfunding.
Hobbs and the teachers unions are seething because parents are being allowed to choose the best educational path for their children. If they were really concerned about school funding, they would clean their own house. They keep telling lies about the ESA program because that’s all they have. And if they don’t like the laws, have the legislature change them. Elections have consequences. And if ESA parents are using the funds on college, so what? The money is going to educational opportunities for students to go to trade school or academic classes, but then who am I kidding? They’re not concerned about education or serving the public, they’re concerned about control and Union coffers.
Not sure who to despise more, The Hobbit for being, well, The Hobbit, or the spineless RINOs who have absolutely no purpose for holding office or drawing salary from the public purse.
Aren’t you so glad you elected this POS for your governor? Thank the McCain deep state wing of the republican party for this crap……Hope they are happy…..
Go to Butler go to Dallas go see a play in DC. Just go. Get the eff out of Az. Skank.
Hobbs proves, once again, that she is a Leftist first, a Democrat second and a Governor for her people only. The wants and needs of the rest of the people of the State of Arizona don’t matter to her, even though she talks about having “guardrails to protect Arizona taxpayers”. Those guardrails are there to protect her source of leftist action money. If she wins re-election, there won’t be any restraints on her actions. She will concentrate even more on governing solely for her people in order to build a legacy.
Great choice, AZ voters! You have the most incompetent and nasty governor.
the ‘ rule ‘ of LEFT – starting early in Edu. – simply no longer acceptable to the citizens of the State – the incidence of misuse and misguidance of the student – the battle of parent / public school rights has cast the State’s EDU system into a civil war – NO! IS NO! don’t want your liberal – evil mindset in my kids education – no way – no shape no form – its “OUR FUNDING” you are using and that the Left and Right allowed what happen to have happen is BS! As Corey notes ‘FAKE competition’ with both sides screwing the population… we’re paying for ‘lousy education with dismal results’ NYET!!!!!!!!! Close it all – that they caved to ‘Gov’t SHUT DOWN’ Close it – no compromise in ‘these are ‘our kids’ no yours – our funds – not yours to meet your social agenda.
Just wait til the education establishment sees the financial impact when 30% of the seats in the classrooms empty as the democrat ‘new-slaves’ leave the country.
States going to haities in a hand basket and the duopoly of false choice R and D conspire to lead us down a path of debt bondage and limited freedoms. So sick of the FAKE competition when both sides completely screwing the population.