‘Unicorns and rainbows’ – Dems question governor’s budget plan

Regional News

Audio By Carbonatix

When Gov. Doug Ducey delivered his 2017 State of the State speech outlining his ambitious budget priorities, especially in the arena of K-12 education, legislative Democrats were more optimistic than they’ve been in years.

Since voters narrowly approved Ducey’s Proposition 123 in the May special election, Democrats have demanded Ducey present “steps 4, 5 and 6” for fixing Arizona’s underfunded education system.

In his January 9 speech to a joint session of the Legislature, Ducey delivered. And then some.

He outlined 14 goals for public education, including raises for all Arizona teachers, sign-on bonuses for new teachers in low-income schools, full-day kindergarten for low-income schools, increased per-pupil funding for high-performing schools, free college education for future teachers, technological investments for tribal and rural schools and more funding for school construction and capital.

House Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios called it “a great Democratic State of the State speech,” noting many of Ducey’s funding priorities have been atop Democrats’ priority list for years.

But after the Governor’s Office presented details of Ducey’s budget proposals in full before the Joint Appropriations Committee meeting on January 17, Democrats’ hopes were largely deflated.

“It was full of great ideas but there was no funding to back it up,” Rios said after the meeting. “I’m really surprised the governor would put that out there and not assume that people would continue to watch when he actually let us know what he was going to fund.”

Cardenas quipped that if Ducey was channeling his inner Bernie Sanders during the State of the State speech, he must have been channeling his inner scrooge when he wrote the budget.