Budget Deal is Struck Between Governor & Legislative Leadership—The Scramble Begins
Gov. Hobbs’s staff briefed K-12 stakeholders on the broad strokes of a budget deal yesterday ahead of the release of budget bills and appropriations hearings scheduled for this morning (Senate) and afternoon (House).
The budget addresses a key ASBA priority of further ongoing increases to District Additional Assistance above those secured in FY23, continued large investments in district building renewal, and the use of availalable money to distribute as flexible funding to the public schools system.
The state had a large budget surplus to deal with, with nearly $2.3B in one-time funding available. However, on the ongoing side of the ledger, only about $48M is available.
For K-12, the highlights of K-12 spending are as follows:
Previously Enacted Appropriations
These are issues that are covered because they were included in prior year budgets, but are worth repeating for non-budget nerds.
Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) weight increase: $13M
District and Charter Additional Assistance increase: $29M
School District Operations
The budget plan includes new funding for school districts, including increases in the base level and district additional assistance.
$157.7M for the 2% inflation increase mandated by Proposition 301.
Increases the base level by an additional $68.6M. This funding is generated by repealing the results-based funding program and redistributing the funding to the base level.
Increases District Additional Assistance ONLY by an additional $20M above the $29M pre-appropriated in FY2023. As a result, DAA will increase by just over 9% in FY2024. Charter Additional Assistance will increase by just over 3%.
Provides a one-time $300M “state aid supplement” to be distributed to school districts and charter schools based on weighted student count. This money would be available for maintenance and operations and unrestricted capital outlay purposes.
School Facilities
$200M for the building renewal grant program (this is just about $200,000 more than the amount available in FY23)
$1M to hire personnel at ADOA division of school facilities for in-person school insepections.
Non-Formula Issues
There are about $36M in non-formula issues that are included in the agreement, mostly the result of member initiatives. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some highlights:
$15.5M for HS/Community College dual enrollment incentives
$10M for consumable art/music supplies
$5M for e-rate to draw down at 13:1 federal match
$2M for feminine hygiene products in schools.
ESA
The budget bills do include some statutory requirements for ESA reporting, including whether a recipient previously attended public school, disaggregation by disability category, grade level, English Learner status, and average award amount. However, the agreement does not include additional reforms, a cap on ESA enrollment or a rollback of any eligibiity provisions. We are continuing to encourage the governor and legislators to make such reforms a priority. ASBA opposes public funding for private and religious education and believes that the state’s highest responsibility in public education is to public schools.
What’s Next?
The budget bills are going through committee today, but early Senate appropriations exchanges suggest that the members are already feeling testy with each other. We predict they will pass appropriations today but the vote counts for final passage are a bit murky at this point. Whether we see significant changes to the overall package appears to be dependent on how many Republicans will refuse to vote for the package and how many Democrats will be willing to make up those numbers.
ASBA staff is working on a comprehensive, detailed summary of budget proposal provisions and will provide it as soon as possible.
Watch Budget Hearings Live
Senate Appropriations (now)
House Appropriations (1p)