Welcome to the 56th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session
State of the State Recap, ASBA Agenda, and Your Opportunity to Advocate!
Hobbs Has Big K12 Plans in 2024
Gov. Katie Hobbs delivered her annual State of the State address this afternoon as the Legislature opened its 2024 session facing a budget shortfall that is expected to be in excess of $400M.
Hobbs came out swinging on the ESA voucher program last week, unveiling a proposal to increase oversight and reduce eligibility to only students who previously attended public school to reduce spending on a program that by October had already exceeded current year spending forecasts only three months into the fiscal year.
We can deliver common sense solutions like ending the luxury spending, keeping our children safe by requiring background checks for educators, and expanding the authority of the Auditor General. Additionally, let's require recipients to have attended a public school for at least one hundred days, a reasonable standard that would save our state a quarter billion dollars. — Governor Katie Hobbs
Hobbs’s plan would also require background checks for private school teachers in schools where ESA students attend, and increase the oversight power of the Auditor General over the program.
Prior to the governor’s speech, Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma explicitly stated their hostility to efforts to rein in the ESA program, setting the stage early for a standoff on the issue.
The governor also hinted at a proposal to renew Proposition 123, a funding mechanism that currently provides about $300M in additional support from the Arizona land trust that is ending after FY2025. Late last year, Legislative Republicans unveiled a plan to use that money to increase teacher pay. Formal details have not been announced, but previous proposals along those lines were full of implementation problems that made them impossible for ASBA to support.
Gov. Hobbs clearly has her own ideas about that, calling for an opportunity to increase pay for all educators including support staff, and also to invest in school safety.
Any use of land trust money must go to the voters, so a bipartisan agreement on what to send before them would be infinitely preferable to one that is rammed through by one party.
As an organization, ASBA certainly supports an increase in pay for all school district employees and an investment in school safety. We are looking forward to engaging with the governor on the details of this plan.
The governor also applauded the bipartisan effort to override the Aggregate Expenditure Limit for FY2024, thereby eliminating a lot of uncertainty for school districts in the process. Here at ASBA, we hope that trend continues for FY2025.
ASBA 2024 Political Agenda
Each year, ASBA member districts collaborate on developing the ASBA political agenda, which guides our engagement in public policy issues throughout the year. ASBA GR staff use it when determining whether to support or oppose a proposal or a specific piece of Legislation. You can review the ASBA 2024 political agenda here.
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