FY2025 Budget is Done, and No One is Happy
The 2024 version of the Arizona Legislature passed the state budget for the year beginning July 1 on Saturday, June 15. That was a little over a week ago, so the political details are old news. Suffice it to say that plenty of Republicans and Democrats felt the package left a lot to be desired.
ASBA staff has prepared a complete summary of the K-12 related provisions, if you’d like to wade through them. These are the numbers for this year, and these are the relevant budget bills. It’s a little bit messy, as the task was to close about a $1.8B budget deficit that spans two fiscal years. Here are the highlights:
Formula Dollars
$161.4M for a 2% increase to the base level and transportation funding as required by Prop. 301, as well as a 2% increase to charter additional assistance
$37M additional to increase the free and reduced price lunch weight (FRPL) in FY25 as a one time appropriation (more on that below)
$29M additional to increase district and charter additional assistance amounts as a one time appropriation
Capital Funding
$200M in building renwal grant funding (level funding from FY2024)
All new school construction projects included in the baseline budget will be funded
ESA/STO Programs
Prohibits ADE from enrolling a student who applies for an ESA after March 31st until July 1st (effectively removing the ability of parents to collect ESA funds over the summer for a student who attended public school until after the 100th day)
Imposes regular audit requirements on ADE relative to the ESA program
Caps corporate STO donations at $135M annually beginning in FY25
Reductions in FY24 Appropriations
Consumable Art Supplies Reduced from $10M to $7.5M
Dual Enrollment Tuition Incentive reduced from $15M to $3M
Dual Enrollment Teacher Incentive Eliminated ($500,000)
Broadband funding reduced from $5M to $2.5M
Ongoing Reductions
Kindergarten Entry Assessment requirement and associated funding eliminated ($1.5M)
College Credit by Examination Incentive Program reduced from $7.5M to $3.8M
One Time Funding for DAA and Free and Reduced Price Lunch
One of the lowlights of this budget is the transition of the final of three increases in district and charter additional assistance and the free and reduced price lunch weight to one-time funding.
This means that for FY25, the final installment of these amounts ($29M for DAA/CAA and $37M for FRPL) will be paid out as a flat per-pupil amount based on student count, and the per-student amount for DAA and the FRPL weight were not adjusted in statute. Therefore, schools will get the increase, but it’s not built-in for future years.
The budget bills to state that it is intended to become permanent in FY28, but that still leaves us FY26 and FY27 in which the funding is at greater risk.
Districts should be prepared to inform their Legislators and Gov. Hobbs early and often that along w/ the AEL, this funding is key to serving students in the current environment and must be protected in FY26 and FY27.
In Memoriam: Harley
If I might take a point of personal privilege here, one of the reasons this summary is so late in coming is because one of my dogs, Harley, passed away shortly after the budget was passed.
Harley was rescued1 by us when he was 12 weeks old and he lived with us for 13 wonderful years before he succumbed to cancer. We are grateful for that much time with him, but it is never enough. We truly don’t deserve the unconditional love and loyalty shown to us by our four-legged canine companions, but they never tire of giving it. He was an extremely kind, intelligent, and gentle boy. And we miss him dearly.
So, if you have a dog (or cat, or bird, or horse, or whatever animal companion makes you happy), make sure you tell them you love them. They never get tired of hearing it.
Thank you for indulging me. Now back to our regularly scheduled education content.
Chris
We adopted him from Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue. They did all the hard work.