Category: K-12 Education

Break the school funding cycle

The legislature has successfully addressed one of the most important issues this session by lifting the school spending limit for this school year. This allows Arizona’s public schools to spend the money they had already received and budgeted for, and avoid $1.2 billion in devastating cuts. But the threat remains. Arizona’s public schools will likely face a similar crisis next year (and probably every year thereafter) unless the legislature refers a measure to the ballot to either repeal the school spending limit permanently or, at the very least, modernize it to reflect what it costs to educate students today.

The current school spending limit is based on what it cost to educate students in 1980. While the limit is adjusted annually to account for inflation and student growth, it does not account for all of the changes that have occurred over the past four decades in how schools educate students. For example, in 1980, schools did not have computers and other technology. The need for additional school safety measures is much higher today than it was in 1980. And Arizona did not have charter schools in 1980. But the clearest evidence that Arizona needs to modernize the spending limit is that Arizona is last in the nation in funding our public schools despite already well-exceeding the spending limit. Therefore, before Arizona can increase funding for public education, we must first raise or eliminate the school spending limit. Because the school spending limit is in the state constitution, the legislature cannot make permanent changes to the spending limit – only voters can. But the legislature can refer a measure to the ballot for voters to do just that, as soon as this November’s election.

Let your state legislators know that you want them to refer a measure to the ballot this year to fix the school spending limit so that we don’t have to do this all over again next year.

2022 Governor's Budget Hits & Misses

Each year, Arizona’s legislative session begins with the Governor’s State of the State speech and the unveiling of his or her annual priorities and proposed budget. This session presents Governor Ducey a rare opportunity in his final year in office to provide much-needed help to children and families in Arizona. Despite the lingering pandemic, Arizona’s revenues have reached historic highs in large part due to the multiple federal economic rescue packages and temporary unemployment insurance expansion. Arizona currently has $1 billion in ongoing and $2.1 billion in one-time revenues. This is in addition to billions of dollars in unspent federal COVID relief dollars.

Also at the beginning of each year, Children’s Action Alliance publishes its list of legislative priorities. It is our hope each year that the Governor's priorities align with ours. This year, while we did see a few bright spots that address longstanding needs, that largely did not happen. Take a look at a comparison of where the Governors priorities and ours find common ground, and where opportunities missed the mark or weren’t addressed.

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Early Childhood

	Secure state general fund investment in child care assistance Not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.
	Increase Arizona Early Intervention Program provider rates Nearly 11,000 children under the age of 3 who have disabilities or developmental delays receive therapies and other support from the Arizona Early Intervention Program. Current rates paid to providers are significantly below comparable rates paid by the program that provides services to children over age 3. The Governor’s budget proposal adds $18.6 million per year starting in fiscal year 2024 to bring the rates in line with rates paid by other programs. A temporary rate increase will be funded in fiscal year 2023 using federal dollars.
	Secure state investment in Healthy Families home visitation program The Governor’s budget provides $10 million, of which $7.5 million is new funding and $2.5 million replaces funds that will no longer be available. Healthy Families currently serves 4,000 families. The Governor’s budget would add an additional 1,500 families. The Governor’s budget also includes a total $15 million for fiscal years 24 and 25 which would increase the program’s ability to serve 8,000 families.
	Fight any use of state funds appropriated for online early education Not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Education

	Prevent a $1.2 billion cut to public schools by authorizing an annual exemption to the K-12 expenditure cap for this school year by March 1 If the legislature does not override the education spending limit by March 1, 2022, Arizona’s district schools will be required to cut their current year budgets by $1.2 billion. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.
	Refer a measure to the ballot to update or eliminate the outdated K-12 expenditure authority. Not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.
	Expand access to affordable higher education and prevent increases in student debt The Governor’s budget proposal increases the Promise Grant funding by $12.5 million for a total $20 million. These additional dollars will serve an additional 3,300 students. The Promise Grant program covers the balance of tuition that remains for students who are fully eligible for Pell grants. The Governor’s budget, however, continues to suspend $10 million of the statutorily required deposit into the Student Financial Aid Trust Fund. This issue is not addressed preventing tuition increases.
	Reduces inequities in school funding The Governor’s proposal increases results-based funding for excelling schools by $60.8 million for a total $129 million. The Governor’s proposal also includes moving this funding into the Basic State Aid appropriation where it will lose its separate identity. Schools continue to receive results-based funding as long as they meet the criteria. For struggling schools the Governor’s proposal includes $58 million to create the Operation Excellence program which provides $150 per student for three years.

Family Health

Extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months (currently 60 days)

Approximately 15,000 to 18,000 pregnant adults could benefit from extended AHCCCS coverage. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Comprehensive adult dental coverage through Medicaid

Currently only a maximum of $1,000 annually of emergency services are available for most adult populations. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’ budget or the State of the State.

Streamline Young Adult Transitional Insurance (YATI) re-enrollment for former foster youth

Young adults who “age out” of foster care at age 18 are automatically eligible for enrollment in AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program. If they do not respond to redetermination notices or requests for additional information, often because AHCCCS does not have an accurate address, they are disenrolled. More than 5,200 young adults are currently enrolled through YATI. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Children's Health

Waive the Medicaid five-year residency requirement for otherwise eligible pregnant people and kids who are lawfully present immigrants

Between 7,000 and 11,000 Arizona children are ineligibility for the state’s health insurance program because they have not been in the US for at least five years. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State. Adopting the Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) option would allow the state to provide high-quality health coverage to these children and to receive a higher federal reimbursement for their care.

Provide 12-month continuous enrollment for children participating in AHCCCS or KidsCare

More than 850,000 Arizona children are enrolled in Arizona’s Medicaid or CHIP programs. Though children who qualify are eligible for 12 months, families who experience income volatility may lose coverage due to a temporary or one-time increase. This has a negative impact on children’s health outcomes and presents an administrative burden to both AHCCCS and the families who lose coverage. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Eliminate three-month wait period for KidsCare enrollment

Arizona’s KidsCare program requires a child cannot be covered by any health insurance for three months prior to enrollment. This presents a barrier to enrollment. Even short lapses in health insurance coverage have a negative impact on children’s health outcomes. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Child Welfare & Juvenile Justice

	Increase kinship foster care stipend The Governor’s proposal quadruples the unlicensed rate from $75 to $300 per month and also increases the daily allowance that pays for clothing, school supplies, etc. This increase adds $19.8 million for a total $24.8 million for kinship placements.
	Reduced barriers to licensure for foster care and kinship care providers Licensed foster care providers receive more than $600 a month compared to the current $75 for unlicensed kinship providers. The Governor’s budget proposes removing barriers to licensure for kinship caregivers while maintaining home life and safety standards.
	Increase the independent living subsidy provided for youth in extended foster care Currently, 651 former foster youth between ages 18 and 21 receive the independent living subsidy. Currently the maximum subsidy is $715 and is reduced by $50 every six months. Neither the Governor’s budget nor the State of the State address this issue.
	Reduce or eliminate juvenile court fines and fees This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Good ideas that didn't fit the bill

The Arizona legislature set a deadline that any bills that did not receive an initial committee hearing by the end of last week cannot advance this session. Committee chairs wield a lot of power in deciding which bills receive consideration or not and with 1,823 bills introduced this session, we understand there simply is not enough time to hear every bill. But there were several good ideas that would improve the lives of Arizona’s children and families introduced this year that never had the opportunity to be considered in committee. Even though time has run out this year for those bills, we want to take a moment to highlight a few of those good ideas that merit stronger consideration in the future:

HB 2416: Sponsored by Representative Pawlik to appropriate $13 million for child care to raise reimbursement rates. Arizona’s child care assistance program continues to reimburse providers for care at rates that are far below what it costs to actually provide that care. Parents often have to pay the difference between the reimbursement rate and the cost, making accessing child care too expensive even for many low-income families who are eligible for the program.
HB 2291: Sponsored by Representative Osborne to provide comprehensive dental care to eligible pregnant women. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to developing oral health problems, which if left untreated are associated with adverse birth outcomes and increased risk of dental disease in early childhood.
HB 2273: Sponsored by Representative Butler to increase income eligibility for KidsCare, Arizona’s health insurance program for low-income children, from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. Arizona currently has one of the lowest income eligibility thresholds for its children’s health insurance program in the nation. After years of progress toward reducing the rate of uninsured children, Arizona has taken an unfortunate turn. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of uninsured children grew by roughly 22%. In 2019, 161,000 Arizona children were uninsured – the fourth highest rate of uninsured children in the United States.
HB 2659: Sponsored by Senator Marsh to establish an annual conference on children and youth to identify and recommend policy solutions to the legislature that will improve the lives of children in Arizona.
HB 2146, HB 2147, HB 2148, HB 2283, HB 2566, SB 1098, SB 1736, SB 1737: Sponsored by Representatives Friese, Lieberman, and Bolding; and Senators Alston and Bowie. Several bills were introduced this session to provide much-needed reform to the private school tuition tax credit program which diverts public tax dollars to private schools. These bills would restrict use of these tax credits to low-income families and would limit the amount which can be used for administrative costs. The expansion of private school tuition tax credits has had a significant impact on reducing state revenues growing from a cost of $14 million in 1999 to $177 million in 2019.
HB 2728: Sponsored by Representative Sierra to make participation in extended foster care until the age of 21 an opt-out rather than opt-in program for youth aging out of foster care when they turn 18. Extended foster care can provide a better bridge to adulthood especially during the current health and economic crisis.
SCR 1017: Sponsored by Senator Quezada. A legislative proclamation identifying racism as a public health crisis affecting our entire society and avowing to support policies that reduce racial and ethnic health inequities and promote social justice.

The list above is not an exhaustive list. We are glad to see so many lawmakers introducing bills this session that will benefit Arizona’s children, and we hope many of those bills become law in the future.

Image source: ABC's Schoolhouse Rock

State of the State

This week, the Arizona legislature begins its work for the year at a time when many Arizona children and families are struggling to meet their basic needs during this health and economic crisis. Recently released data by the U.S. Census Bureau shows 1 in 6 Arizona households with children (16%) said they had only slight confidence or no confidence at all that they would be able to make their next rent or mortgage payment on time. Increasing numbers of Arizona households with children are also reporting they do not have health insurance and/or do not have enough food to eat, and communities of color are disproportionately suffering.

That is why it will be so critical for lawmakers to focus their work on helping families achieve financial stability, and keeping children healthy and safe during these difficult times.

Our 2021 legislative priorities include:

Making health care more accessible for Arizona’s children by expanding eligibility for KidsCare, Arizona’s Children’s Health Insurance Program;
Restoring supports to grandparents and other kinship caregivers who step in and prevent children from entering foster care when parents are unable to care for their children;
Provide safe, quality child care options for working parents of young children by increasing the child care subsidy reimbursement rates;
Providing Arizona’s public schools with the same amount of funding for conducting virtual schools during the pandemic as they receive for in-person instruction.

What Arizona does not need is more tax cuts which will only reduce state revenues that struggling Arizona families are counting on to provide housing and food supports, and make child care more affordable. Rather than shortsighted tax cuts, we urge Governor Ducey and lawmakers to take a more responsible approach and prioritize a plan to stop the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, and put Arizona on a path to recovery from this health and economic crisis.

Read our 2021 Legislative Priorities

Arizona's drop in K-12 enrollment could mean lost funding for public schools

Arizona Department of Education reported 50,000 fewer students attending public schools than last year. This number far exceeds the number of families who have formally opted for homeschooling for 2020-2021. The unfortunate reality is that many children may not be in school at all during the pandemic. Losing a year or more of education has significant consequences, both for the students and the public schools they attended.

Students in Arizona who are impacted by deep economic and racial disparities are now experiencing compounding gaps in learning. Studies have shown, educational attainment, particularly in childhood, is crucial for long-term success. The pandemic will affect Arizona’s children’s long-term economic well-being, and by extension, the Arizona economy as a whole.

In addition, as school funding is tied to enrollment, Arizona’s public schools will see their funding cut, throwing them into an unexpected financial bind without the resources needed to get through the pandemic. It is also important to note that the additional funding from Proposition 208 is not expected to be available to schools until fall 2021.

In June, Governor Ducey announced a grant program intended to help schools recover budget losses tied to enrollment declines. The program guaranteed schools would not lose more than 2% of the funding received last school year. But many school districts across the state now report receiving less funding than promised from these grants.

The State of Arizona currently has a balance of $978 million in its Rainy Day Fund as well as an estimated $411 million revenue surplus for the current fiscal year. We urge Governor Ducey and state lawmakers to dedicate some of those dollars to provide schools with the funding they were promised. Arizona’s public school students deserve no less.

KIDS COUNT Data Book is the only source to focus on statewide trends about Arizona’s children

Children’s Action Alliance (CAA) is proud to present the 2020 Arizona KIDS COUNT Data Book—the only biennial source to focus on statewide trends about Arizona’s children. Thanks to the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this powerful resource helps inform decision-makers and stakeholders about the economic, social, and physical well-being of children and their families throughout the state. In addition to the Data Book, statewide and county indicators can be found on our new and updated website – along with other resources, toolkits, and information on how to advocate for children and families.

As you know, CAA regularly uses data as a compelling tool to find common ground across geography and political ideology to create an Arizona where every child is safe, loved, and has access to quality education and affordable health care. In this KIDS COUNT Data Book, the data show Arizona has made important strides in improving the conditions for children since the Great Recession - before the unprecedented challenges our communities, our state and our nation have faced due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

The 2020 Arizona KIDS COUNT Data Book offers a closer look at the strengths and contributions of immigrant families as more than 1 in 4 children are growing up in an immigrant household and 6 in 10 Arizona children are children of color. Despite the changing demographics in the state, children of color are more likely than their White peers to lack the fundamental supports to grow up healthy and strong. It is our hope that YOU - lawmakers, advocates, and state agency leaders use the information in this Data Book to address the long-standing structural inequities in our state. It is time to move towards an Arizona that provides opportunity for all children, not a privileged few.

As advocates for children, we will continue to challenge ourselves to think creatively and critically to find new ways to support Arizona’s children and families. Join us and use the Data Book and other resources on our new website to spark action for measurable and positive change.

We Won!

Yesterday, in a unanimous decision, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the Invest in Ed ballot initiative will remain on the November ballot. Now, millions of Arizona voters will have the opportunity to put more resources into our schools. We have made Arizona history because of your hard work and support and we cannot thank you enough!

Today’s victory, while incredibly important, is just another step towards winning on Election night.

Here are three things you can do today:

1. Sign up to volunteer - we need your help to win in November!

a. And/Or Click here to RSVP for our statewide volunteer call at 6 PM tomorrow

2. If you, your family members or friends own businesses, we need their support. Please ask them to endorse the Invest in Education campaign today.

3. Chip in $5 for a yard sign OR click above and sign up for a volunteer shift to get one

Finally, when talking about Invest in Education, please let people know:

The Invest in Education measure helps students and increases school funding – while not taxing the working and middle-class families being hammered by the pandemic.

Only the wealthiest Arizonans pay more under this measure, while every Arizona student will get a better education and the opportunity to learn.

Thanks again for all your support!

Paid for by Children’s Action Alliance and the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. Not authorized by any candidate.

Arizona Supreme Court Again to Decide Fate of Arizona Public Schools in Appeal Following Bizarre, Politically-Charged, Lower-Court Ruling

Children's Action Alliance is disappointed and confused by the “political” ruling issued Friday by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury, the #InvestInEd campaign is again headed to the Arizona Supreme Court.

The Superior Court decision prompts questions about the future of ballot initiatives in Arizona.

"A Maricopa County judge didn’t just throw a tax increase to better fund Arizona’s schools off the ballot. He virtually ensured that voters will never will be able to decide whether Invest in Ed should become law. Or much of anything else. The Arizona Legislature, in recent years, has dealt a series of systematic body blows to our constitutional right to make laws at the ballot box. But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury? In one swift judicial upper cut, he may have just delivered a knock-out punch," read Laurie Roberts' Monday morning op-ed on az central.

"Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury’s ruling, if upheld, could make things infinitely more tricky for citizen-led initiatives, namely having to craft language suitable not just to supporters but the opposition, as well," claims Abe Kwok in a similar op-ed.

"These challenges will ultimately make their own way to the state Supreme Court. The justices should reject them. And, to avoid a continuing avalanche of such challenges in future elections, they should clarify what was peculiarly egregious about the 2018 Invest in Ed initiative that warranted an exception to the generally broad discretion initiative proponents should have in summarizing their measures," wrote Robert Robb in his own op-ed.

Children’s Action Alliance supports the Invest in Education Act because it will produce hundreds of millions of new, sustainable dollars annually for public schools so that every Arizona child will have the opportunity to receive the quality education they deserve. Arizona has one of the worst teacher shortages and some of the largest class sizes in the nation. This measure will enable us to provide meaningful pay raises for teachers, classroom aides, and other student support staff. This will also enable schools to hire more counselors, school nurses, and other staff who keep students healthy and safe. Investing in public education now is especially important so school staff and administrators can help students recover the learning losses caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

You can stay a part of the movement to fund Arizona's public schools. Click here to sign up to get Invest in Ed updates and find ways to support our efforts as Invest in Ed moves through the appeal process to make it to the November ballot.

Paid for by Children’s Action Alliance and the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. Not authorized by any candidate.

Take Action Today for Public Schools

As a consequence of the COVID pandemic and the resulting steep decline in state revenue, state education funding — and our schools —face deep, damaging cuts.

Without significant federal education funding support, schools will need to make very difficult budget decisions and cuts after an already difficult spring. Strong federal government assistance would make a major difference.

If the Senate fails to act soon and provide emergency funding, schools will have to lay off teachers and support staff who our children need more than ever, and the education and future of students will suffer.

Please contact Senate leaders now and ask them to provide $200 billion in Education Stabilization funding and $4 billion for home learning access for public schools.

Forfeiting our children’s education and future is unacceptable and unnecessary.

From our families to yours, thank you for your support of public education.

Sincerely,

Siman Qaasim, Children's Action Alliance

Mark Joraanstad, Arizona School Administrators

Rebecca Gau, Stand for Children Arizona

Beth Lewis, Save our Schools Arizona

Christine M. Thompson, Expect More Arizona

P.S. Your voice is crucial in this — please let Senator McSally, Senator Sinema and your Representatives know how important this funding is, today!