Trustees of the Maricopa County Unified School District 48 have adopted a resolution calling on the Legislature to restore funding to public education that has been dwindling since 2008.
Officials said the Scottsdale school district has seen state funding drop by $20 million in the past five years as its part of the state’s 20% cut in aid. The district increased class sizes earlier this year to make up a $9 million funding shortfall.
The resolution, sponsored by the non-profit Valley Interfaith Project, wants lawmakers to bring base state school funding “to a level at least equal to the national average of per pupil funding.”
Arizona state aid to local education totals spent $7,666 per pupil in fiscal 2011, below the nationwide average of $10,560 per student.
The letter to Gov. Jan Brewer and state lawmakers called on the Legislature to “fulfill its constitutional duty to fully restore the recent cuts in school funding.”
The district serves Scottsdale and portions of Phoenix and Tempe.
