Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) passed a resolution at its board meeting last week asking the Arizona Legislature to override the state’s aggregate expenditure limit (AEL) for the year. If the current AEL continues, the district would lose $12.2 million in funding.
“This resolution urges the legislature to act quickly to override the limit to avoid immediate harm to school districts,” according to its introduction.
The AEL, passed by Arizona voters in 1980, is the total amount K-12 public schools in the state are able to spend each year. School spending will exceed that limit for the current year if an override does not happen by March 1.
FUSD Superintendent Michael Penca listed contributing factors to the excess including pandemic-related decreases in enrollment, previous investments made by the Legislature and Proposition 301 sales tax funds no longer being exempt from the AEL.
Arizona’s public school funding, including those in excess of the AEL, was appropriated in June 2021 as part of the state’s fiscal year 2022 budget. This is “already budgeted and committed for this school year,” according to Penca’s presentation.
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“These are not new monies, and reduced spending will not reduce taxes,” he said.
The budget cut would total $1.1 billion across Arizona public schools. FUSD’s budget would be cut by $12,221,169, should it pass. Other northern Arizona schools that would lose funding include the Williams ($948,979), Ash Fork ($674,783) and Grand Canyon ($634,319) districts.
“A cut of this magnitude will significantly harm student learning, teacher and staff retention, and community trust by causing large furloughs and other cuts prior to the end of the school year,” according to the resolution.
FUSD has not specified what adjustments it would make to its budget, though it has plans to stream its next budget work session, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 24.
The Arizona Legislature is able to override the AEL for a year at time with a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber — which happened in 2007 and 2008.
The resolution was passed unanimously by FUSD’s board. More information can be found on the district’s website.
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