AUGUST 26, 2015
Senate President and House Speaker announce education funding plan
Proposal could place billions more into K-12 classrooms over next decade
PHOENIX – As part of an ongoing commitment to funding K-12 education, Senate President Andy Biggs and Speaker of the House David Gowan today announced a proposal to place additional money into classrooms across the state. The proposal uses four revenue streams that would infuse as much as $5 billion in new money over the next 10 years.
“K-12 funding has been one of our highest priorities in the budget each year, and as we climb out of the recession and see growing revenues, we see the opportunity to provide additional money for our classrooms, while still keeping state finances balanced,” said Senate President Andy Biggs.
The funding plan would be done without raising taxes on Arizonans, another priority for President Biggs and Speaker Gowan.
“In 2012 voters rejected a plan to raise taxes to fund education by an overwhelming margin. There clearly is no interest to increase taxes for this purpose. This proposal keeps faith with the voters by responsibly investing billions of dollars into Arizona’s classrooms without a tax hike,” said House Speaker David Gowan.
The new funding plan has four components: a commitment to continue a supplement to annual basic state aid which began in the last budget process, a new increase to annual basic state aid, a partial shift of money from the state’s First Things First program, and a plan to use increased earnings from the state trust land. In the first year alone, these four sources would bring $500 million in new money to the classroom and as much as $5 billion over the next decade.
