Arizonans will consider a proposition on the Nov. 3 ballot that will require school districts to increase the amount of money they put toward instruction in classrooms.
Proposition 320 would require school districts to increase their direct instruction spending to 60% of their operating budgets. The proposition would apply only to school districts with more than 7,500 students or in counties with over 500,000 residents. The state Legislature approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 1032 this year to put the proposition on the ballot.
Direct instruction is not defined in the proposition, but the measure allows the Arizona Auditor General’s Office to provide that definition.
In the auditor general’s current definition, expenses for teachers, teacher aides, substitute teachers, classroom supplies, field trips and tuition are considered direct instruction.
Expenses pertaining to social workers, counselors, nurses, librarians and special education directors are not included in direct instruction.
The auditor general’s office is using the definition based on what the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics considers instruction.
For school districts that can’t reach the 60% threshold right away, the proposition allows them to increase direct instruction spending by 0.5 percentage points each year.
If a school district fails to increase its direct instruction spending by 0.5 percentage points, it can apply to the Arizona superintendent of public instruction for a waiver.
The proposition allows for two of these waivers in a 10-year period. If a school district exhausts all its waivers and still can’t increase minimum spending, it will see 25% of its classroom site fund money reduced. Classroom site fund money is state taxpayer money that goes toward teachers’ pay and school programs.
After the first year, the percentage taken away increases by 25% for each consecutive year of noncompliance.
For example, if a school district does not comply with the proposition for four consecutive years, the state would remove all its classroom site fund money.
Chris Thomas, director of legal strategy for education policy at the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, told The Center Square that Arizona school districts used to spend nearly 59% of their operating budget on direct instruction, but now spend 52%.
Thomas said school districts have spent more money on student and instructional support as well as professional development and building operations.
As instructional spending has decreased, Thomas pointed out that school districts have performed worse academically, noting students’ reading and writing test scores have gone down in recent years.
Thomas said the Goldwater Institute is in favor of the proposition because it is important that school districts “operate as efficiently as possible” and “they’re successful as possible.”
The Goldwater Institute thinks “more money going to direct instruction will result in better student outcomes,” he explained.
Mitra Khazai, the school board president at the Madison Elementary School District in Phoenix, and state Sen. Denise “Mitzi” Epstein, D-Chandler, expressed concerns about the proposition.
Khazai told The Center Square that the district spent the highest percentage of its operating budget on direct instruction in 2004, spending 59.5%.
She noted since 2004, the school has had to spend 3.5% more of its operating budget on student support, an additional 2.1% on instruction support and an extra 1.6% on plant operations.
Khazai said the Madison Elementary School District will need to adjust its operating budget by $5 million to meet the proposition’s 60% threshold.
According to Khazai, the district would likely have to eliminate positions for assistant principals, counselors, teacher mentors, custodial staff, librarians, media specialists, nurses, security and social workers.
“Madison Elementary School District will need to make some really difficult choices that make it harder for teachers to teach and harder for students to learn,” she noted.
Epstein called the “proposition an assault on students and teachers,” adding that she “vehemently” opposes the measure.
The Chandler senator told The Center Square that more than 700,000 students, which is almost 75% of students in Arizona, would be affected by the proposition.
Epstein noted the proposition does not apply to rural school districts, adding that legislators from rural areas were concerned about serious job losses in communities where the school may be the leading employer.
No matter how long the proposition gives schools to adjust their operating budgets, the cuts will still harm students, Epstein warned.
Arizona parents “want schools to choose the kind of supportive educators that their children need,” she noted.
Khazai said the proposition would make teachers take on additional work previously done by support staff.
The auditor general’s direct institution definition does not include many things teachers say they need to do their jobs, as well as the support students need to succeed and that their families demand, Khazai noted.
Thomas, the Goldwater Institute strategist, told The Center Square that the positions facing cuts are important, but added that school districts could use a portion of their remaining operating funds to pay for these positions.
Be the first to comment