Arizona lawmakers’ refusal to fully fund our public education system has left our kids $4.5 billion behind the national per-pupil funding average. This funding disparity has a clear impact: unlike other states, Arizona does not fund full-day kindergarten or adequately fund teacher or staff salaries. Instead, we have the most crowded classrooms and the worst teacher turnover rate in the nation. The failure of our state government to fund our public schools leaves local communities struggling to fund an inequitable, unpredictable, and unstable system that fails to give kids the robust education they deserve. 

Here are a few ways local communities are forced to attempt to fill that gap: 

Bonds & Overrides: Bonds and overrides are voter-approved initiatives that generate additional property tax revenue to fund projects and operations for local school districts beyond what the state provides. Unfortunately, not all districts in Arizona are successful in passing these local measures. Although most metro Phoenix districts have been successful in passing bonds and overrides, exurban and rural communities have not. Of the last six attempts to pass a bond or override in Cave Creek Unified School District, for example, only one has been successful. This has a tangible impact: Cave Creek’s average teacher salary is anywhere from $5,000 to $9,000 lower than the surrounding districts that consistently pass bonds and overrides. Many bonds and overrides will be on the November 2023 ballot (check your mail after October 11). We encourage you to vote YES on every measure to support local students and educators!

Inequitable Parent Fundraising: Parent groups used to fundraise for “extras” like field trips and enrichment, but the substantial decrease in Arizona’s state funding for public education has forced schools to rely on parent group funding for necessities, like instructional staff, academic programs, and other services that districts can no longer afford. While wealthy school districts may still be able to scrape by, the abdication of this responsibility has left school districts in lower-income and rural areas far behind. More than 70% of the nation’s wealthiest parent groups serve schools where less than 10% of students come from low-income families. Parents in lower-income areas of Arizona often do not have disposable income to donate to schools, or the time or means to participate in large-scale donation drives. In the face of severe budget cuts, these schools must somehow manage with less – and kids pay the price. 

Teacher Crowdsourcing: Imagine a surgeon needing to buy their own scalpels or be left to use dull, 10-year-old scalpels her hospital can’t afford to replace. Sound ridiculous? Something similar happens every single day in Arizona schools. The state does not provide enough funding for necessary supplies, forcing teachers to shoulder the cost and further reduce their already disproportionately low salaries. While a teacher from a well-off household might be able to afford to spend thousands of dollars per year on materials for students, most must rely on Amazon Wishlists and the kindness of strangers. This is unfair to teachers and students alike. A teacher’s ability to spend out-of-pocket shouldn’t affect the quality of their classroom or the tools students have available to them. And regardless, teachers should never have to spend their own salaries on essential items that can and should be funded by the state.

The quality of a student’s education should not depend on their zip code, the income level of their community, or their teacher’s ability to use their own money on their classroom. Unfortunately, the Republican majority in the Arizona legislature has for decades walked away from their responsibility to fully fund public education, focusing instead on propping up private school vouchers. Our state is projected to spend almost $1 billion on these vouchers in the next school year alone. Allocated properly, that money could be used for $300,000 in additional funding for every school in the state. Better is possible: we just need lawmakers with the courage to fulfill their constitutional duty to adequately fund our local public schools.

Excerpted from a recent blog from Save Our Schools Arizona Network – read the full piece HERE.