PHOENIX β Nearly a year after getting $24 million from the Legislature, Gov. Doug Ducey is finally putting the finishing touches on a plan that could put more state dollars into privately run and owned charter schools.
Ducey is still not ready to provide details on how he intends to fulfill his promise he would use the money to abolish the βwait listsβ for spots at high-performing schools, his spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said Wednesday.
But Scarpinato said Ducey remains committed to provide more dollars to schools that find themselves with more applicants than spaces available.
Scarpinato said that includes both traditional public schools as well as charter schools. Thatβs because Arizona is an βopen enrollmentβ state, allowing students to attend any public school they want.
But state law already requires the state to build new public schools as needed, though legislators have not fully funded that account for years. The fallback for many schools has been to seek voter approval for bonds to construct new buildings.
Charter schools, however, which are privately run β and even can be for-profit operations β receive no money from the state for construction despite their official status as public schools. Nor can they seek voter approval to borrow money, but instead must survive on what the state provides in per-student funding.
duceyβs full attention
That raises questions of whether what Ducey will finally unveil next month will largely benefit charter operators.
When he unveiled the plan in January, the governor said he wants βexpansion and replication of top-performing schoolsβ that are at capacity and have waiting lists βthrough targeted financial support.β
βThis is looking at, βHow do we give the best public schools access to capital to expand so that families and kids wanting to get into those exceptional schools can?β Scarpinato said Wednesday.
Scarpinato said work on the plan slowed while the governor helped craft a deal to end a lawsuit over more funding for classrooms. That ended with a plan to put a proposal on the May 17 ballot to tap trust-fund proceeds to come up with an additional $3.5 billion over the next decade.
Now, he said, the governor can devote attention to the capital side of the equation and ensuring that schools have access to cash for new buildings.
But for charter schools, the question becomes finding a legal way to do that.
legality questioned
One hurdle is the βGift Clauseβ of the Arizona Constitution which prohibits any donation, grant, subsidy to individuals, associations or corporations. It even bars the state from lending money to such groups.
That would appear to bar direct funding for capital needs or even providing zero- or low-interest loans to charter operators.
That is different than the state paying schools to educate children on what amounts to a pay-as-you-go basis.
Chuck Essigs, lobbyist for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, said this is more than a legal problem.
He said when taxpayers provide money for new public schools, those buildings are public property β and remain that way βin perpetuity.β
βIf itβs private ownership, it may be there for five years, may be there for two years, may be there for 10 years,β Essigs said. Put another way, a charter school could go out of business while retaining the taxpayer-funded building.
He said if charter operators need money, they should pursue a βprivate solution.β
State schools chief Diane Douglas had similar concerns about not just capital funding but the state funds now going to charter operators. She said that, unlike officials at traditional public schools, they do not report to a locally elected school board.
βWe have charter schools that are using taxpayer money with no elected oversight,β Douglas said. βThatβs a concern to me.β
Scarpinato insisted the constitution will not be an issue, but he refused to provide specifics.
βI think when you see the full plan, itβll address that,β he said. βBut weβll have more on that in the new year.β
Douglas also said no one from the governorβs office has called her to consult about his plans.
The governorβs office had no official response.
The relationship between the two elected officials has been chilly at best since February, when Douglas accused Ducey of having the goal of βmoving funds from traditional public schools to charter schools.β