1740 W. Adams, Suite 3008. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". However, not all agree with repealing the spending cap. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. School closures and shifts to remote instruction are quickly becoming less common as COVID case rates drop in many states. Katherine Fung 12/23/2021. All republished content delivered onlinemust have a link to AZCIRand include all of the links in our story. Arizona school districts face nearly $1.2 billion in budget cuts A two-thirds majority of the Legislature is needed to override the cap and allow the $1.2 billion to be spent. Arizona's Constitutional Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) We need an override by the Legislature, and then we need to fix it for the future.. Now, if only he would quit fighting schools that enact policies aimed at staying open. TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Arizona Superintendent Kathy Hoffman is urging lawmakers to lift the school spending cap as public schools are facing nearly $1.2 billion in budget cuts. We changed the rules on schools. And students are still trying to recover from the impact of COVID-induced learning interruptions. (Arizona public school funding, by the way, alreadyranks lowest in the nation). Parents are best suited to make decisions about their childs education. The district provided no in-person classes from March 2020 through the end of the . Some school districts maintain their own dashboards online. All stories must run in their entirety unless otherwise noted or agreed upon after discussion with AZCIR. Nearly 300 schools in the U.S. will remain closed for in-person classes after the winter break in an effort to address growing concerns over the latest COVID surge of . We all have to reduce our budgets by April 1 if they dont approve the budget, so at that point, we cant over expand our budget, she said. K-12 districts with mask mandates include: Higher education institutions with mask requirements include: Other districts have implemented partial mandates that apply only on school buses, on tribal land or when students and staff cannot implement social distancing. They have not overspent. These cuts translate to $25 million for the Washington Elementary district, $43 million for Phoenix Union, and $58 million for Tucson Unified, just to name a few examples. Arizona's schools may be forced to shut down as early as April 1 this spring. For more than a decade the Legislatures failure to invest properly in our schools has resulted in such a severe teacher shortage that more than20% of our students dont have a permanent, qualified teacher in their classroom. In the past, when districts hit the decades-old aggregate expenditure limit, lawmakers voted to override it which hasnt happened this school year. In a news release, Ducey, alongside Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, said the extension of the school closures follows updated guidance from the CDC and the extension of social distancing guidelines until the end of April from the White House. and last updated 9:42 AM, Feb 09, 2022. It would be a disaster for the parents, and I think parents of all ideologies would be resentful of the Legislature not passing something to alleviate that problem.". Lane, who is a digital production intern with The Arizona Republic, is working for the Phoenix news bureau. Katie Hobbs signs house bill to fund Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, American Airlines pilots authorize strike; pickets planned at Phoenix Sky Harbor. Or, they will have to close schools altogether by April 1. 2023 FOX Television Stations, until MON 7:00 PM MST, Western Pima-South Central Pinal-Tohono Oodham Nation, Eastern Pima-Southeastern Pinal-Santa Cruz-Western Cochise, until SUN 5:00 PM MST, Maricopa County, Yuma County, Yuma County, from FRI 11:40 PM MST until TUE 11:30 PM MST, Maricopa County, from MON 9:00 AM MST until MON 11:00 PM MST, Northwest Plateau, Northwest Deserts, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, from SUN 11:59 AM MDT until TUE 12:00 AM MDT, Apache County, until MON 9:00 PM MST, Tucson Metro Area including Tucson/Green Valley/Marana/Vail. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. "That would be an incredible disaster. In order to protect yourself from a possible infection, the CDC recommends: LIVE: Interactive Coronavirus case data and map, FULL COVERAGE: fox10phoenix.com/coronavirus, Coronavirus (COVID-19)How it spreads, symptoms, prevention, treatment, FAQhttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus, Arizona COVID-19 ResponsePublic resources, FAQ, webinarshttps://www.azdhs.gov/coronavirus. Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Do schools and child care establishments have to report COVID-19 outbreaks to their local health departments? During his State of Education Address on Jan. 31, Horne touched on the spending cap, among other issues such strengthening student discipline, improving test scores, and his opposition to Critical Race Theory, which is a hot-button conservative political issue. Robbins announces changes to the future of University of Arizona's medical programs. Districts will be forced to lay off huge numbers of teachers, resulting in enormous class sizes. Ultimately, on Feb. 21, 2022, lawmakers in the Arizona State Senate voted 23-6 to waive a constitutional spending cap for K-12 school spending, a week after members of the State House voted on the measure. Read . And if schools close because they are not authorized to spend money already sitting in their bank accounts, the blame will lie with you not our public schools, Hoffman wrote to lawmakers in her address. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. PHOENIX - Public schools in Arizona are once again at risk of massive budget cuts and layoffs unless lawmakers vote to lift a constitutional spending cap that has been in place for decades. As of Dec. 6, she reported, there had been 608 breakthrough COVID-19 deaths in fully vaccinated people in Arizona. Erin Richards. Her position is partially funded by Report for America, a national program that supports local journalists. Unvaccinated people were 32times more likely to die from COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people, according to the new Department of Health Services' analysis of data from November. Thats a death rate of 0.02%. "I think the community is really just frustrated and kind of sick of this because it feels almost like a political football game. Over the years, lawmakers have voted to override it which hasnt happened yet this year. Get AZCIRs latest investigations and updates delivered straight into your inbox. Arizona public schools concerned over possible $1.2 billion in - KOLD Gov. Close K-3 school Desert Garden Elementary School off 71st Avenue and Ocotillo Road and repurpose the building into a preschool facility. Politics, cell towers and hate speech: Why 3 more superintendents are Florida schools move closer to a 12-month school year. Sinema, who has not said whether she will seek a second term, still had a formidable $10 million in her bank account at . Matt Zalaznick is a life-long journalist. The Sunnyside School District says it will lose more than $16 million dollars in funding. Public schools in Atlanta, Georgia also marked August 4, 2021 as the first day of the 2021-2022 academic year. Doug Ducey has put Arizona's public schools on notice. Two years ago, most of society shut down in the face of a deadly virus we knew little about and couldnt defend against. While the education system was strained due to the COVID-19 pandemic and learning shifts, Hoffman said the biggest threat to schools is far from the virus or its complications. We already see it in the number of employers frustrated by the lack of qualified workers. MAP: Districts operational status across the U.S. 2023. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. PHOENIX Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman held her 2022 State of Education address Tuesday afternoon, heavily focusing on the Aggregate Expenditure Limit and the catastrophic impacts it could have on Arizona's education system. PHOENIX Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman held her 2022 State of Education address Tuesday afternoon, heavily focusing on the . Itll be scheduled, and I think most people expect that itll be passed by enough to make (the overages) no longer an issue.. Hoax post claims US schools are closing again | Fact Check 360 Hiatt Drive, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418. Doug Ducey did not mention the cap in his last months state of the state address. Its time we ask ourselves the question: Is it fair to continue asking children to sacrifice and suffer in order to protect unvaccinated adults? Arizona School Calendar 2023 - PublicHolidays.com Here's what you need to know about why the state came so close to cutting school spending. Work immediately to pass a clean concurrent resolution, without caveats, that allows school districts to exceed the Aggregate Expenditure Limit. In-person learning is vital for the development, well-being and educational needs of K-12 students. We have two choices: to allow schools to shut down on a technicality, or to usher them into the 21st century so our entire state can thrive. They may get sick but for them it is, thank God, more like getting the flu than getting a death sentence. The aggregate expenditure limitation shall be determined by adjusting the total amount of expenditures of local revenues for all school districts for fiscal year 1979-1980 to reflect the changes in student population in the school districts and the cost of living, and multiplying the result by 1.10. Nearly 300 Schools Will Remain Closed After Winter Break Due to - MSN You must use our. We saw what it did to our kids. While Arizona is a leader in providing parents options when it comes to the education of their children - the solution is not as simple as school choice. While these cuts only impact district schools, our public charter schools wont be able to absorb the students that might lose access to their primary district school if these cuts go through and as we know, in many communities the district is the only choice available.. According to Bridge Michigan, over 6% of the state's K-12 students missed at least one day of in-person classes this week due to COVID-related shutdowns. Edwards, who graduated from ASU in 2021, has interned with Phoenix New Times, Phoenix Magazine and Crime and Justice News. . State Sen. T.J. Shope, a Republican, does not support repealing the cap. That has a negative economic impact on all of us. "When this was set in 1980, we didn't have Chrome tablets or whiteboards or any of the stuff that we have now that teaches our kids," State Sen. Fann said at the time. Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic, Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District, Maricopa County Community College District, You must credit us: For bylines, use Author Name, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. At the top of the text of the story, include a line that reads: "This story was originally published by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting." During the 2021-2022 school year, public schools were staring at 16% across-the-board cuts, and looking at layoffs and school closings, according to education advocates. TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Arizona public schools face budget cuts of $1.2 billion dollars unless the state Legislature lifts the school spending cap by the end of the month. (Because apparently there would be no other public or charter school option?). The Associated Press (AP) contributed to this report. Some districts maintain their own dashboards online. Maria Polletta is an investigative reporter for AZCIR focused on covering inequities in education. Gallego raises more money than Sinema in Arizona Senate race The latest Arizona headlines, national news events of the day + sports and weather updates. So that cash will just sit there, we believe.. Even so, that will only fix the problem for this spring. The latest Arizona headlines, national news events of the day + sports and weather updates. That puts $638 million of funding a year at risk money that didnt used to count toward the limit but does now. Close your doors for even a day and you will pay. School's out for the rest of the school year, as a result of the pandemic. Then stop playing politics with our children and follow your own advice. Coconino County publishes a COVID-19 school update every Friday that summarizes case rate and percent positivity at district level. Do students and staff have to quarantine if they are exposed to COVID in schools? Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.