Ducey, with other priorities, accused of reneging on schools deal

PHOENIX — Lame-duck Gov. Doug Ducey said Monday he won’t call a special legislative session to deal with school funding problems before his term ends this month until he gets a promise lawmakers will deal with some issues on his own agenda.

That could scuttle any chance of giving schools an immediate assurance they won’t have to cut more than a billion dollars from their spending plans by July 1.

The Republican governor acknowledged Monday that he had agreed to bring lawmakers back to the Capitol to waive the “aggregate expenditure limit’’ if he could be shown there were enough votes for passage. The waiver would require 20 of the 30 senators and 40 of the 60 representatives.

Lawmakers from both parties who support the waiver said last week they have the votes.

But Ducey, who leaves office at the end of the month, said that’s not enough.

“There are things in addition” to the aggregate expenditure limit “that I’d like to see get done,’’ he said. He would not elaborate.

But Daniel Ruiz, his chief of staff, said providing more state funds in vouchers for students to pay for private and parochial schools is “certainly a priority that’s been discussed.’’ So, too, he said, are issues ranging from border security to changes in election laws.

At stake: massive school funding cuts

The school funding problem is a constitutional cap, approved by voters in 1980, of how much can be spent each year on K-12 education. Adjusted for inflation and student growth, that limit now is $6.4 billion.

Lawmakers approved a major infusion of new funds for the current school year. Based on that, schools prepared budgets totaling nearly $7.8 billion.

Without a waiver by March 1, schools would have to reduce their annual spending by nearly 18%. And they would have to make those cuts in just a three-month period, a move that several school officials said would lead to layoffs and school closures.

State Rep. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa, who chairs the House Education Committee, said lawmakers who voted for the budget were assured Ducey would support a special session by the end of this year. That would end the uncertainty, especially with a new crop of lawmakers taking office in January who had nothing to do with the approved budget nor with the bipartisan deal that made it possible.

Ducey, who has repeatedly touted his role in increasing K-12 funding, said Monday that bringing lawmakers to the state Capitol between now and the end of the year is not that simple.

“We’re not going to do a special session unless we can get it done,’’ he said. Ruiz said that means adding things to the agenda that the governor and Republican lawmakers want.

‘That’s not the deal’ he made

However, “That’s not the deal’’ that was hammered out on the budget, said Sen. Sean Bowie, D-Phoenix, one of the bipartisan group of lawmakers who was involved. “The deal was we would pass this budget, which he signed and celebrated after we passed it, and we would get the special session on the AEL.”

What changed, Bowie said, is that the November election didn’t turn out the way Ducey wanted.

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“I’m sure he would like to do other things, too, especially since he’s going to have a Democratic successor,’’ he said.

Ducey, constitutionally precluded from seeking a third term, had backed fellow Republican Kari Lake for governor. He said she was a better choice to continue his priorities including vouchers and tax cuts.

Lake, however, lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs, who will have the ability to veto priorities of the Legislature, which remains narrowly in Republican hands. But Bowie said that’s irrelevant to what Ducey offered Democrats last spring.

“The deal was we pass the budget, we provide the votes for the budget that it needed to get across the finish line,’’ Bowie said. Ducey needed those Democratic votes as several GOP lawmakers refused to support the $15.6 billion state spending plan.

At least part of the reason schools are up against the spending cap is that budget immediately added $526 million to base education funding for K-12 schools, an 8.8% increase. It also provides a $50 million infusion in “opportunity’’’ funds, dollars earmarked to help students who come from low-income households.

Complicating matters is the cap is based on prior year enrollment. And that dropped due to COVID.

GOP priorities before Hobbs takes office

Ruiz said it’s not just Ducey who wants to discuss more than school spending. He said some members of the Republican-controlled Legislature say they want other items added to the agenda if there’s going to be a special session.

That goes beyond election and border issues.

There also are lawmakers who want the governor to reconsider his veto earlier this year of a measure that would have allowed Maricopa County residents to decide whether to extend the half-cent sales tax funding transportation projects. Absent legislative authorization for a vote, the levy ends in 2025.

And then there are vouchers. Formally known as “empowerment scholarship accounts,’’ they provide state dollars for private and parochial school tuition and costs.

Originally started more than a decade ago to help students with special needs, they are now available to any of the 1.1 million students in public schools due to a vote this year by GOP lawmakers.

Now, however, some supporters say the vouchers, which average around $7,000 apiece, are insufficient to entice parents to put their children in private schools because they often don’t cover the cost. So they want to pursue an increase now, one that long-time voucher supporter Ducey likely would sign — but one that could easily meet a different fate under Hobbs.

Bowie said the push now by GOP lawmakers for something that wasn’t on the table when the deal was cut is no surprise.

“They kind of view it as their last opportunity to get some policy goals of theirs passed that they haven’t been able to,’’ he said. “They intentionally want to hold the AEL hostage in exchange for that.’’