The Election is Over
All School Board Members are Elected and Local Questions Decided. Less than 90 days for the AEL.
Statewide Election Canvass Complete
Today at 10:00 a.m., Governor Ducey, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and AZ Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel gathered to sign the official canvass for the 2022 general election. The ceremony went off without incident, except that it was delayed by about 15 minutes because Attorney General Mark Brnovich was tardy.
The signing of the canvass is the last step in declaring the results of the 2022 general election official, meaning that unless recounts are required, all contests on the ballot are decided, including school board races and local bond and override initiatives. Offical congratulations to all newly elected school board members!
Three races are within the legally mandated recount margin of 0.5%: Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), and the race for the second seat in Legislative District 13 between Republicans Liz Harris and Julie Willoughby (Democrat Jennifer Pawlik won the first seat). The SPI race has Republican Tom Horne ahead by just under 9,000 votes, the AG race has Democrat Kris Mayes up by 511 votes, and in LD13 Harris leads Willoughby by 270 votes. Historically, recounts have not resulted in changes in the hundreds of votes, so it is likely these races will stand as is, but the recounts will be conducted as required and we will see if that holds true this time.
There has also been talk of election challenges from both the Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh campaigns, but as of this writing nothing has been filed.
School Ballot Issues Fare Well Overall
On the school district side, now that the dust has settled, there is, as always, a mixed bag of results depending on where you are in the state. In all, there were 15 bond issues and 32 override issues on the ballot, for a grand total of 47.
Nine bond issues passed, for a success rate of 60%, while 26 of 32 overrides were successful (6 DAA/Capital overrides and 20 M&O overrides), for a pass rate of 81%. Taken together, voters approved local district tax measures at nearly 75%. There were also six non-monetary district issues on the ballot, all of which passed.
In total, voters approved $185.2M in additional spending in overrides, and a total of $812M in bonds statewide. Congratulations to those districts who ran a successful campaign. We know in this environment that success can never be taken for granted.
State Board of Education Meets Friday on Letter Grades, New Executive Director
The Arizona State Board of Education will meet at 10 a.m., Friday, December 9 for its last regular meeting of 2022. This will also be Superintendent Kathy Hoffman’s final meeting as Superintendent of Public Instruction. We at ASBA have enjoyed working with Superintendent Hoffman and wish her well.
On the board’s agenda is final approval of A-F Letter Grades for schools that filed an appeal during the window. In all, 59 appeals were considered by the A-F appeals committee. The recommendations of the appeals committee can be found here.
Additionally, current board Executive Director Alicia Williams announced her intention to resign effective at the end of the year in August, and the board has been engaged in a search to hire a replacement. Per the board’s agenda, it is expected they will announce the new executive director at this meeting. We here at ASBA have also enjoyed working with Alicia over the past several years and are sorry to see her go, but we wish her all the best. We look forward to finding out who we will be working with in the future.
The entire SBE board packet can be viewed on the board’s meeting materials page
Less than 90 days for the AEL
This past week saw a number of lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, call on Gov. Ducey to call a special session before the new year to lift the Constitutional Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) for FY2023. ASBA member disctricts have been busy passing resolutions in favor of the special session, and members are starting to get the message. Call (602) 542-4331 or email the Governor’s office to keep him accountable to the funding he’s promised to our schools. Don’t forget to share the Friends of ASBA countdown clock on social media to make sure everyone remembers this crucial issue for schools.