PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey promised Monday to put more money into K-12 education.
But voters will need to wait to find how much — and how quickly.
In his fourth State of the State speech, the governor acknowledged that Arizona has had a history of increasing spending on the state prison system even as it cut education funds during the recession.
"Not any more," he promised.
"For the second year in a row, my budget will add no new prison beds," Ducey said. "All of this while fighting crime and improving public safety."
The governor remains adamantly opposed to increasing taxes. He also will not consider rescinding some of the previously enacted tax cuts which have yet to take effect.
" My cabinet continues to identify millions in wasteful spending, opportunities for consolidation and streamlined services," he said. Ducey put those savings at "tens of millions of dollars combined."
That is unlikely to be enough to satisfy education advocates and even some elements of the business community who say state aid to schools has been cut by more than $1 billion.
Yet the governor clearly does not want to see his plan measured by money.
"Before we talk dollars and cents, let's address something," he told lawmakers.
"Some folks think the best argument for a greater investment in our public schools is to claim that our schools are failing," the governor said. "They are wrong."
He said the record shows that schools are improving .
"You wouldn't always know it from picking up the newspaper or turning on the TV, but Arizona public schools are showing real, measurable signs of progress," he said.
As proof, Ducey said four of the top five public high schools in America are in Arizona.
What Ducey did not mention, though, is that all four are charter schools. And while they technically are public schools, they have come under increased scrutiny for admission policies that some say are exclusionary.
There are gains among traditional public schools, Ducey said, specifically citing the progress made in the Chandler Unified, Peoria Unified and Washington Elementary school districts.
"We know how to educate a child in the state of Arizona," the governor said. "We need to do it more often in more locations across our state."
The governor did mention the hot-button issue of teacher salaries.
There are studies that show teachers here, on average, are paid less than their counterparts in virtually every other state. And Ducey said that some additional dollars that have been made available, including a 2016 voter-approved measure to tap a special education trust fund, have resulted in 9 percent more being spent on teacher salaries since the 2014-2015 school year.
Teachers will get an additional 1 percent pay hike this year, though that was not necessarily of the governor's doing.
Last year Ducey asked legislators to boost teacher pay by 0.4 percent. That proved too little, with the Republican-controlled Legislature responding with a 1 percent pay hike and a promise of an additional 1 percent for the coming school year.
