DALLAS — Arizona schools are awaiting a ruling from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper about how much the state owes local school districts for money withheld during the recession to help balance the budget.
Attorneys for school districts, a public interest advocacy group and the Arizona School Boards Association are seeking funding at levels required under a voter-approved constitutional amendment. State analysts say that restoring the funding will cost $317 million in the coming year alone and $1.6 billion over five years.
The schools also want nearly $1.3 million in back payments to be paid out over the five years beginning in fiscal year 2015, which amounts to nearly $253 million a year.
In September, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the plaintiffs' assertion that Proposition 301, approved by voters in 2000, required annual inflation adjustments to school funding. The proposition raised the state sales tax by 0.6% to fund schools.
The lawsuit, known as Cave Creek Unified School District v. Ducey, argued that Arizona had ignored the 2000 voter mandate.
The Supreme Court's ruling in 2013 found that the state's Voter Protection Act limits the legislature's power to modify voter initiatives and referenda. The Court specifically affirmed the argument that while one legislature cannot restrict the lawmaking powers of future legislatures, the Arizona Constitution allows the voters to restrict those powers of future legislatures.
Arizona's leaders have cut over $1 billion in education funding since 2008, according to the Arizona chapter of the National Education Association, which was party to the suit.
Attorneys for the Legislature argued in a May 9 hearing before Cooper that a September ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court does not require repayment of money that schools should have received in fiscal years 2010 through 2013.
They also say courts can't order the state treasurer to make payments not authorized by the Legislature and governor.
