Ducey: Working on "more thoughtful" Arizona school funding plan

PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey promised Wednesday to present a “better, more thoughtful” plan to put more money into public schools than the one he proposed in June.

Ducey acknowledged he has not gotten legislators to sign off on his proposal to dig into the principal of the state land trust fund for the next decade to raise about $2.2 billion. Both Republican and Democrat legislative leaders each have come back with different alternatives.

What all that means, the governor said, is what he presents to lawmakers when they return to the Capitol will be different.

“We’re listening to the concerns around this,” Ducey said. “And I think we’ll actually have a better, more thoughtful package going forward.”

The governor even indicated he might divert into new education funding some of the more than $700 million the state has in the bank.

Ducey has run into some opposition, including from his own party, for his proposal to take more money out of the trust fund for the next decade than the current $100 million a year.

The dollars there consist of the earnings from the sale and lease of 10 million acres Arizona got from the federal government when it became a state; about 9.2 million acres remain.

Following Ducey’s plan — removing $2.2 billion over the next decade — still leaves the trust at $6 billion at the end of that period.

But state Treasurer Jeff DeWit, a Republican like Ducey, said that really is a loss.

By 2026 there will be more children in school. And DeWit said those dollars will be worth less, having been devalued by inflation.

Sticking with the current formula, the trust would grow to more than $9 billion by 2026.

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GOP legislative leaders are pushing a modified plan using some funds, smaller trust withdrawals and convincing voters to divert money from a program for early childhood development, something they have refused to do twice before.

Democrats, by contrast, say there is enough money around to give schools the more than $330 million in additional inflation aid a trial judge has ruled they are owed. The point to the $325 million left over at the end of the last budget year plus another $460 million in the state’s “rainy day” fund.

But there are some GOP lawmakers who have questioned the wisdom of more state aid, suggesting schools should not get more state dollars without some way of proving the additional funds will improve the quality of education.

Ducey said he is listening to those concerns. But he disagrees the current state funding level — the lowest in the nation — is sufficient.

“I think there’s broad agreement we need more resources and we need reform in K-12 education,” the governor said. “There’s no reason we can’t do both.”

He said those changes may not be simultaneous, with funding coming first. But Ducey said legislators should vote for the additional funding and trust he will follow through.

“I think anybody that’s looked at my record in public service knows that I’ll be about financial responsibility and accountability in addition to more resources,” Ducey said.

The governor’s comments on Wednesday are the first real indication that Ducey now knows he can’t get the program he wants, at least not as he laid it out.

“We feel confident we’re going to be able to do something good,” he said.

“It’s just that we’d like to improve it,” the governor said. “So we’re having those discussions.”

Ducey declined to detail what modifications he is making in his plan. “When we’re ready, you’ll be the first to know,” he said.