Friday’s big education news is a funding package put together by AZ Schools Now to generate $950 million in additional money for schools without increasing the sales tax. That’s enough to get us even with where we were in 2008.
Arizona is spending less per student now than it was in 2008 using inflation-adjusted numbers. Exactly how much depends on how you crunch the numbers. AZ Schools Now says it would take a billion dollars, more or less, to get us back to 2008 levels.
A billion, more or less, to get us back where we were. The sad thing is, we’ve been beggaring our schools for so long, a billion is significantly less than we need. We’re at or near the bottom of the country in per-student funding, and adding a billion dollars would only raise us two notches. We’d move past Oklahoma and pull even with Mississippi.
Even though it’s not enough, an added billion would mean a hell of a lot to our teachers and students. If we boosted teacher salaries by a few thousand dollars, maybe we could hold on to teachers who are fleeing the state for better pay. And get some credentialed teachers who have left the profession to return to the classroom. And lure a few more college students into teaching programs to increase the future teacher pool. Add in a few dollars more for classroom supplies and equipment, and we’d move closer to giving our children the education they deserve.
But you can be sure our Koch-addicted Governor Ducey, who fancies himself the “education governor,” will fight a substantial increase in education funding to his last breath, especially if any of the money comes from income or business taxes. In Ducey’s world, if schools get any more money, it has to come from State Land Trust Funds, sales taxes or local taxes. His most solemn pledge is to keep income and business taxes moving downward. Not surprisingly, that’s also the bottom line of the Koch Brothers donor network which Ducey counts on to pony up a big pot of money during campaign season.
At the end of last year, Trump and Republicans in Congress were told they had a choice: come up with tax breaks for the rich or No money for you. Ducey knows he’s facing a similar ultimatum, and he also knows people are predicting a Democratic wave election in 2018. If the tsunami is big enough, even Arizona could see Republicans swallowed up, especially if they don’t have dark money to keep them afloat.
AZ Schools Now suggests that we can avoid increasing sales taxes and still come up with $950 million, but Ducey isn’t going to like what he sees. One part of the plan is to stop the phased-in corporate and individual tax cuts. That would keep $22 million in the budget which will be lost if the cuts continue. Another is to have a minimum corporate tax rate of $500, which would raise $17 million. Another is to increase income tax rates for households whose incomes are over $500,000, bringing in $250 million. Yet another is to make sure all taxpayers pay their full share of the qualifying tax rate (QTR), which is used to fund education. That would bring in $208 million. Those items get us about half way to the $950 million goal. Here’s the whole list.
If Arizona goes this route, taxes on corporations and the one percent go up in some cases and don’t go down in others, while our growing income inequality isn’t worsened by increasing the regressive sales tax.
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2018.
Since I came to this state in 2005, it was apparent that, our prison system is in great need of “reform”. However, with governor chosen puppets, such as Ryan, the states “go to budgets” would be harmed if such reform was to take place.
I have only read about it and advocated prison reform through letter writing the Governor (Napolitano/Brewer at the time) since 2005. (As an employee with the state, that letter got me a bullied meeting with the Director of Prisons, as, he did not like my letter, so he called me up to his office to “threaten me”. (It backfired on him) Yet, we are still spending approximately 34k per year average for incarcerated individuals that, are non violent offenders, etc., who must serve 80% of their time prior to any “hint” of an early release. Add on any disciplinary sanctions, and, that inmate is in for 100’% of his/her sentence. Blah Blah Blah about this education stuff. My conclusion based upon fact; Arizona dont care about children. It’s not a priority. Move on folks. Parents must involve themselves in the teaching of their children and not count on public schooling any longer.
How about the $300 Million that the State was Ordered to pay the Schools in Cave Creek Unified School District, et al. v. Doug Ducey, et al (cv-13-0039) It seems that the money was never paid to the schools and the following year, Governor Ducey introduced his Proposition to get more funding into the schools. But the $300Million was not included and seems to have been forgotten.
TUSD will need to build a war chest of cash for the coming lawsuits after the revelation last week that they had maintained a “blacklist” of current and former employees. Some were demoted, some transferred in an attempt to punish opposition to their agenda. All which is illegal by state law. Remember them saying they cared about our children?
Does this bill include returning state funding to Pima and Maricopa Community Colleges? At this time, Pima College gets NO state funding, which harms students and limits the ability of Tucson to offer the promise of an educated workforce to potential employers.
Rita is correct. It is criminal there is no State funding for Pima and Maricopa CC districts. The best tax system is the widest possible base with the lowest possible rates, income, sales or property taxes. Every special interest credit, exemption, exclusion or differentiatial rate shifts the responsibility to someone else, and raises the remaining rates.In my mind the first thing to go should be the corporate tax credits and all tax credits for private tuition organizations. I go to Catholic church and when I see those Tax credit pamphlets in the church I am angry.
You are an angry Catholic because parents can choose a better education for their kids than the failed public schools? But then you think the Community Colleges, and all public education needs more cash to “create” good employees. Aren’t the corporations already solving that problem for us?
Every student that leaves the public education arena, lowers the cost of education for all tax payers. Just think what the $14,000 per year TUSD spends could really buy.
Wayne, choose an better school with your own money. Not with taxpayer subsidies. I guess that pesky State Constitutional provision on sectarian schools means nothing, when we mean it to mean nothing. I guess Jesus should have asked for a subsidy from the Roman authorities (Zacchaeus and Mathew) to support his preaching. So the people of Judea would have a choice of religions.
Flash. Ducey says essentially nothing in his SOS. No specifics on anything. With his boss, Steve Y., sitting behind him , it would have been fun to see DD propose eliminating the STO tax credits to assist in fundng public schools. Just to see Yars swallow his cud. (You want religious schools? Great choice, do it without public money. ) But of course that will never happen.
Frances it seems like you may have more of a problem with your church than you do with the current law. The AZ Constitution does not allow direct funding of religious schools. But after six (or more) court challenges to the State Constitution, a tax credit has been allowed, because it simply is not tax dollars directly received from tax payers. It is a credit.
It seems that your church feels they are not receiving enough financial support from their parishioners so they have decided to pursue tax credit dollars. You and other members should ask them to stop. As long as the needed shortfall makes it into the offering plate each week.
I am not a fan of subsidizing solar panels, water heaters, child care or poorly run public schools. But I am forced to as part of the American experience. Can’t we all just get along?
By the way, it seems that many of the major cities mayors are pushing our President to enact a federal credit shadowing the AZ law, so that inner city troubled youth will have access to educational choices that right now only middle and upper income families have access to.
That is, unless you would join me in sharing your tax credits with needy families.
I fully believe tax credits, especially corporate tax credits for private school accounts, is money laundering, the worst of so called public policy, and fiscally irresponsible. Ducey can’t find the money for public schools, but he can find it for private, unaccountable schools. The hypocritical rationale is to help poor and handicapped students, when the sole reason is subsidizing affluent parents who already send their kid to private, religious schools.
I am sorry but I know the truth and that is not it. Go take a look at some of the kids enrolled and you would change your opinion. For some it is their only chance and many of the affluent are subsidizing and donating to the others tuition costs. I also had family that benefitted from that education tax credit.It has been a real blessing when they thought they were trapped in a failing school.
With such a large percentage of the student population continuing to be made up of illegal immigrants or children of illegal immigrants, as well as legal immigrants, there is no way we will ever keep up with student funding. It’s not going to happen.
We’ve chosen a low-wage, high-immigration policy for our economy and are reaping the “benefits”.