Tempe Elementary board adopts five legislative priorities, including push to repeal state spending cap
Loading...
Summary
The Tempe Elementary School District governing board unanimously approved five legislative priorities April 1, led by a call to repeal Arizona's constitutional aggregate expenditure limit and to oppose expansion of programs that redirect public funds to private schools (ESAs).
The Tempe Elementary School District governing board on April 1 voted unanimously to adopt five legislative priorities it will ask the Arizona School Board Association to carry, highlighting a push to repeal the state's constitutional aggregate expenditure limit.
Board members said the aggregate expenditure limit (AEL), written into the state constitution in 1980, prevents districts from spending funds already collected under the state funding formula. "It's not new money," said Dr. Driscoll, the district's senior administrator who explained the AEL to the board. "We already have the money. We just can't spend it because of the cap." Several members said losing access to that funding could force districts to cut programs or delay payroll if the legislature does not extend or repeal the limit.
The board's five priorities, as finalized at the meeting, are: repeal the constitutional aggregate expenditure limit; repeal programs that direct public funds to private schools and prevent future expansion (referring to empowerment scholarship accounts, or ESAs); fully fund full-day kindergarten; oppose legislation that would curtail the legal authority of locally elected school boards (including curriculum approvals); and repeal and replace Proposition 203 with research-based bilingual education reforms.
Miss Eures, who moved adoption of the priorities, said federal advocacy and funding for bus routes on tribal and federal land and for IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) were also discussed but the board narrowed its list to the five top priorities. "Parents in some communities don't even know ESAs exist," she said during debate, noting public concern over money shifted out of the public system. Another member, Mr. Terry, described the fiscal effect of ESAs and tax-credit policies as having "outsized consequences" on district budgets.
The motion to adopt the priorities was moved by Miss Eures and seconded by Mr. Lemon; the board recorded a unanimous aye vote on the motion.
What happens next: The board directed that the selected priorities be shared with ASBA and with the board's legislative liaisons. The priorities will guide the district's advocacy during the legislative session; no additional district-level legislation was proposed at the meeting.
Note on claims and figures: During discussion a board member characterized transfers to ESAs or private-school tax-credit benefits as "millions up to $1,000,000,000," a figure spoken in the meeting that the board did not substantiate during the session. The meeting record presents that as a member's claim rather than a verified district figure.
