Local impact of state education boost uncertain

Lawmakers representing Yuma County and local school officials had a positive reaction to the restoration of school funding in the state budget this week, but uncertainly remains about the overall impact on local education programs.

Arizona state aid to public education was restored Wednesday when Gov. Jan Brewer signed four bills allocating additional resources to primary and secondary schools as well as universities, the Department of Economic Security and the Department of Health Services.

The bills resulted from a special session of the Legislature that was called on Monday to address the shortfall of the 2009/10 fiscal year. Brewer said, "Republicans and Democrats united to fullfil my number one priority - preventing education from being decimated by massive cuts."

According to District 24 State Senator Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma, the bills will add $500 million to schools for a total of $3.7 billion in state aid to education. The reason for restoring funds was to stay in compliance with requirements for $1.3 billion in federal aid through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. To access ARRA funds the state had to maintain the levels of education funding it provided two years ago, she said.

"I voted yes for this and it should be our top priority."

District 24 House Rep. Russ Jones, R-Yuma said he was pleased for the education community but he cautioned the state still faces a $2 billion deficit. The good news, he added, was the Joint Legislative Budget Committee determined revenues in the state are no longer falling by a "couple hundred million a month"  but have flattened out.

Jones added, the House on Wednesday tried to find 31 votes out of 60 to support Gov. Brewer's request to raise the state sales tax by 1 cent. This could raise revenues by $1 billion a year, by putting a measure on the ballot for voters to decide, but they were unable to muster support.

If the Legislature itself voted on the tax increase, they would need a two-thirds majority so the question remains where does the state find the means to balance the budget, he noted.

Lynne Pancrazi, D-Yuma, District 24's other representative, said she was thrilled the state put together a revenue package but the bills signed are only good until Oct. 1. The bills restore the 2 percent annual inflationary increase for schools, saves the Career Ladder program (incentive for teachers to earn extra pay) and preserves soft capital and excess utility funds.

Joe Melchionne, Yuma Elementary School District 1 governing board member, said what Gov. Brewer did was a positive thing. But what specifically the bill does for District 1 will not be known until the board has the opportunity to evaluate it at next week's meeting with Superintendent Darwin Stiffler and Chief Financial Officer Kerry Jones, he cautioned.

Dwayne Shepard, District 1 associate superintendent, added they have already begun to hire back some non-renewed teachers but that was owing to others who had resigned, retired or moved out of the district. Mike Wicks, Crane Elementary School District director of management services, said the bill restores $560,000 for next year, but their aggregate budget of $47 million has still been reduced from the previous year.

And because of the still pending state deficit there is no way to determine how that may impact Crane in the future.

Also on Wednesday, Yuma Union High School District adopted a $56.8 million budget which was less than the previous year but more than previously expected based on prior cuts from the Legislature, Superintendent Toni Badone said.

"We got burned mid-year last January when the state cut $1.4 million from our district. We fear until the state truly balances the budget there's a strong potential for additional cuts to our budget."

Because of the uncertainty YUHSD will not add any additional programs or hires this year, she noted. But the good news is, the Legislature worked together on behalf of education this past week so the scheduled July 15 payments to districts around the state will be made as planned.

"I know the Legislature is trying to get a balanced budget by the end of September," she said. "But until they do we'll continue to be very conservative in our practices."

"But I really appreciate the efforts of our local representatives and the governor for putting education at the top of their list."