PHOENIX — Arizona schools will have to wait longer to get the hundreds of millions of dollars a trial judge says the state owes them.
Without comment, the state Court of Appeals has agreed not to force the state to start making payments now, while the judges consider whether to overturn the trial court ruling that lawmakers shorted the schools in inflation dollars. That process could take months, or longer, as neither side has filed formal arguments.
Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, said he isn’t surprised. Ogle said he had doubted the courts were going to order the state to immediately pay the difference between the $336 million a trial judge said the schools are owed and the $74 million lawmakers actually provided.
But there are signs the courts may be running out of patience, Ogle said. One of the three appellate judges voted against granting the request by lawmakers to withhold the money while the case makes its way through the system.
Senate President Andy Biggs said he was gratified the state won’t have to pay the money, at least not yet — and possibly not ever.
“This ruling is an indication the court understands the ongoing efforts of the Legislature and other parties to come to a resolution,” Biggs said in a written statement. That includes a plan he crafted with House Speaker David Gowan to pump $500 million a year into schools using a combination of tax dollars and additional withdrawals from the state land trust account.
That plan also involves taking tobacco tax dollars, which voters previously earmarked for early childhood development programs financed by the state’s First Things First program. Biggs contends there is $360 million in unspent funds that could better be used for K-12 education.
Earlier this week, the First Things First board voted to oppose the transfer. Board chair Nadine Basha said those dollars already are earmarked for future programs.
On Thursday, Biggs responded by demanding an audit of the program, both financially to see where the dollars went and from a performance perspective to see if the money is being well spent.
“First Things First says its programs and agency are efficient and successful,” Biggs said. “The state needs to find out if that’s the case.”
The lawsuit before the appellate court stems from the 2014 ruling by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper that the state illegally ignored a 2000 voter-approved law requiring that aid to schools be increased annually, up to 2 percent a year, to keep pace with inflation.
Lawmakers conceded they ignored the formula entirely for several years. And the question of whether schools should get the more than $1 billion owed is being handled separately.
But Biggs contends the $74 million put into the budget this year is all that’s legally necessary. He argues the state should get credit for the years before the recession when state aid to schools was boosted by more than the minimum required.
Cooper rejected that argument, saying that’s not the way the law is worded.
Gov. Doug Ducey has his own plan to boost funds, one that relies solely on digging into the principal of the state land trust. By contrast, Democrats contend there is enough available cash to immediately settle the lawsuit — and on the terms set forth by Cooper.
