Arizona has had and continues to have the resources to adequately fund public schools at levels comparable to districts throughout our state and nation.
When I state that Chino Valley Unified School District and other schools in Yavapai County are the “poorest of the poor,” I reference two sources, one a state report from the Arizona’s Auditor General Office (School Districts | Arizona Auditor General (azauditor.gov), the other a national report from the Education Law Center (ELC) located in New Jersey (“Making the Grade 2021”| Education Law Center (edlawcenter.org). Both report on the most important budgetary measurement of a school district’s ability to provide educational services: per-pupil funding.
While extracting per-pupil funding data from the state’s auditor general, I discovered that Chino Valley School district is in the state’s lowest 5% and the other Yavapai districts previously mentioned are in the state’s lowest 12%. The Education Law Center’s national report ranks Arizona 51st in per-pupil funding. As a Chino Valley School Board member, I represent the poorest (lowest 5% of Arizona’s districts) of the poor (Arizona’s 51st national ranking in per-pupil funding). And, as a school board member, I am obligated to report this to my Chino Valley constituents and the wider Yavapai community.
Digging further into the national and state data, there is no solid economic reason that we are among the poorest of the poor, nor that we must remain so. The ELC reports that Arizona’s “effort” to adequately fund education is last in the country. Arizona devotes 2.29% of its GDP to education, which is the lowest of all states in the union. The national average is 3.27% of GDP. If Arizona was to achieve just the average national level of effort, it would equate into an additional $4,725 per pupil. Arizona has the capacity to fund education better without having to raise taxes. Instead, our state has been disinvesting in traditional public education for the past three-plus decades. This is unnecessary.
The 2022 legislature did something very different in this year’s education budget by adding more than $800 million to public schools across the state, as reported in the Arizona School Boards Association Summary of FY23 Budget, July 5, 2022. This needs to be applauded, as it is a significant increase. But do not think this is reversing a trend. History shows that it will be a long time before public schools witness this kind of gain again soon.
Arizona has had and continues to have the resources to adequately fund public schools at levels comparable to districts throughout our state and nation. We need to approach national averages to provide adequate educational opportunities for all our children. The investment in public education is critical to provide the very best opportunities for our families’ children to succeed at the highest levels and continue to grow our economy.
Inadequate funding means our administrators have trouble recruiting and retaining the best teachers and classified employees. Our school personnel are asked to live with uncompetitive salaries, hourly wages and benefits. Too many gifted teachers and classified personnel leave for this reason. Highly qualified prospective teachers, furthermore, either do not bother to apply or refuse our offers of employment because they are not competitive. Inadequately funded schools also mean our classroom sizes have exceeded reasonable limits to the point where too many of our students are underserved, especially in the primary grades. These two disadvantages alone, and there are many more, make it impossible to deliver the quality of learning needed for all our children to reach their highest potential.
The “poorest of the poor” means that too many students in Yavapai County have been unnecessarily doing without appropriate learning environments and educational services for far too long. Disinvesting in public education has been a political choice. The families of students attending Chino Valley, Prescott, Prescott Valley and other Yavapai County schools expect and deserve much better. QCBN
By Mike Fogel
Mike Fogel is a Chino Valley Unified District Governing Board member.
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