Arizona lawmakers violated the constitutional requirement to fund public schools, ruled Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dewain Fox.
In a 114-page decision, Fox stated on Aug. 11 that Arizona schools did not meet the minimum standards in providing adequate equipment for building repairs, even though the Arizona Constitution requires the Legislature to organize and fund a “general and uniform public school system.”
The case, Glendale Elementary School District v. State of Arizona, was filed in 2017 by Glendale Elementary School District, Crane Elementary School District, Chino Valley Unified School District and Elfrida Elementary School District, alongside Arizona School Boards Association, Arizona Education Association and Arizona School Administrators.
They sued the state for failing to uphold the constitutional obligation of providing adequate funding for public schools.
“This decision is a victory not only for the Glendale Elementary School District, but for every student in Arizona,” said GESD Superintendent Cindy Segotta-Jones in a press release. “It affirms what educators, families, and communities have long known, that every child deserves to learn in safe, well-maintained and well-equipped schools. We are grateful to the Court for recognizing the importance of equitable investment in our children’s education.”
“Today’s ruling is an important step in our union’s fight to get Arizona lawmakers to invest even the bare minimum in public schools,” said AEA President Marisol Garcia, who is also a teacher in the Isaac Elementary School District.
Students have been in environments that cannot withstand over 100-degree weather conditions or prevent exposure to mold or asbestos, Arizona state Sen. Eva Diaz, a Democrat on the Senate Education Committee, said in a press release.
“The Courts have officially ruled on a lawsuit that has been brought on by our fearless school districts and education stakeholders to demonstrate how much Republican leadership has grossly failed to ensure our students have a safe environment to learn in,” Diaz said.
The office of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told The Center Square that over the past three years, the Democratic governor has secured over $1 billion to build school facilities and provide quality learning environments.
“The governor takes seriously the state’s constitutional obligations regarding capital funding, and has repeatedly offered to work with the legislature to build a public education system that gives every Arizona student an opportunity to succeed,” said Liliana Soto, Hobbs’ press secretary.
A spokesperson confirmed that Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Arizona, has said the state will appeal the decision.
The state constitution does not require funding for school system expenses, argued the attorneys for the Legislature. They also pushed back on the idea that the court has the power to tell lawmakers what the state is expected to fund.
“Such matters invade the exclusive power of the Legislature, are non-justiciable, and therefore do not create a viable claim mover which the court may assume jurisdiction,” said lawyer William Richards.
The attorney who represented the plaintiffs said otherwise.
“They can say they’re going to appeal, but the evidence is the evidence, and the law is the law, and all they’re doing is digging the hole deeper,” said Danny Adelman, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.
The Arizona Department of Education declined to comment, other than agreeing that school facilities need to be healthy and safe environments.
“This decision sends a clear message: Arizona must meet its constitutional responsibility to fund our public schools the way they should be. Every child deserves the same opportunity to learn in a safe, well-resourced environment,” said Ellen White, ASBA executive director, in a statement.
“The office of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told The Center Square that over the past three years, the Democratic governor has secured over $1 billion to build school facilities and provide quality learning environments.”
Um, from where? Who pays for that? What gets cut to fund it? Is she just running up our children’s credit card?
“The governor takes seriously ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶t̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶i̶t̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶ her party’s political obligations regarding ̶c̶a̶p̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ teachers’ union funding, …”
Based on the comments, none of these people have any clue about what actually happens in classrooms on a daily basis. As a retired elementary teacher (30+ years), I know that my colleagues and I focused on teaching the three R’s, critical thinking skills, decision making skills, and behavioral skills that many of our students’ parents didn’t or couldn’t teach at home. We had minimal resources, multiple unfounded mandates and usually little or no support from parents. It’s not surprising that nobody wants to become a teacher today.
That was then. Now the preponderance of public school teachers are the indoctrinated Communists Obama filled the colleges of education with and are destroying our children with hate America, sexual deviation and Communist indoctrination.
Parents are getting their kids our of public schools for great reason in droves.
WANT TO STOP THE PROPERTY TAX—PUBLIC SCHOOL SHAKEDOWN NONSENSE? …… Arizona needs a constitional amendment, like other states have in similar form, that all official AZ permanent residents age 60+, living in the same primary domicile residence 10+ years, pay NO public-education related property tax, charges or fees. This will put them on a budget, and force them to focus on measurable outcomes & performance, and stop the “MISSION CREEP”.
It might serve to provide perspective to read these two recent articles.
Arizona’s $20 Billion School District Surplus: Empty Buildings, Full Bank Accounts
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2025/08/07/report-finds-over-12-2b-in-school-assets-sitting-underused-across-arizona/
New Report: Arizona Public Schools Continue To Decline As Spending Grows
https://azfreenews.com/2025/08/new-report-arizona-public-schools-continue-to-decline-as-spending-grows/
Time to break up these school cabals
no school system should have more than 10,000 kids
and needs to be run by NEIGHBORHOOD parents, not PhD progressives
our son is already planning on home school(1 & 3 year old today)
taking their kids $$ with them
These commies will get their cake soon enough. They produce graduates that can’t even read or use math. The last 20 years have produced more low wage workers than any other period in history. The great teachers are pushing out dummies so they will be good little commie lemmings.
Public schools in Arizona will come to total collapse within the next 5 years. Their product is horrible and parents are leaving in droves. 30% of the seats are filled with illegals during the largest deportation of illegal aliens in world history. When they leave, 30% of the teachers won’t be needed nor 30% of their funding. And specifically in Tucson/Pima County the student population will continue to fall even further because more babies are being killed by democrats than are being born in the Commune too far left to survive, much less thrive.
Public Schools are over weight with Administrators and non-teaching staff and technology. Schools in India produce far better educated students in block buildings with blackboards and no air conditioning. Arizona needs to support success in education not pampered ignorance.
I wonder if an audit of monies designated for building maintenance was actually spent for said purposes. My guess is that it was spent for things like DEI reeducation or lavish junkets for the various school board members.
$ per student head = Students have ‘left’ the public system due to the inability of the public system to provide the public student with a meaningful education within the confines of the will and desires of the parents – so they leave the system – making what’s left ; those teachers desiring to teach what ‘they think’ is appropriate (WOKEISM) to teach ‘not enough students to operate the school at a operational level with the per student remaining cost per student =ing a BROKE WOKE SCHOOL SYSTEM. Bad Math – Tough DUKIE pound sand..