Bill advances that could jeopardize more than $200 million in desegregation funds

Regional News

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At a time when Gov. Doug Ducey boasts of more than $100 million in new investments for education in his budget plan, a Senate panel advanced a bill that could put roughly double that amount of school funding in jeopardy.

Over the objection of dozens of parents and local school officials, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 6-3 for SB1174, which eliminates the automatic levy of property taxes in more than a dozen Arizona school districts for funding allotted for desegregation and student achievement efforts.

Instead, the funding mechanism would have to be prompted by voters, in what would essentially be an override vote.

SB1174, sponsored by Sen. Debbie Lesko and pushed by the Arizona Tax Research Association, would allow a special vote for up to seven years of funding at the level at which desegregation dollars were set in 2009.

Nineteen Arizona school districts levy those extra taxes for desegregation funding. The Phoenix Union High School District alone raised roughly $55.8 million in fiscal year 2015 in additional property taxes thanks to the state- and court-authorized taxing method. In fiscal year 2015, the tax levy in that and the other districts provided more than $211 million in funding.

School officials have argued that they are under strict scrutiny from courts and the U.S. Office of Civil Rights, and would be thrown into legal trouble if they don’t continue to utilize the taxes.