PHOENIX – Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, offered the following statement in response to new budget projections from the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, along with the 2024 Executive Budget from Governor Hobbs:
“In 2021, former Governor Doug Ducey and his supporters in the legislature passed a massive tax cut for the rich. In 2022, they passed an ESA voucher program with zero financial accountability and no spending limitations.
Today, as a direct result of those decisions, our state has an enormous budget shortfall, as much as $1.7 billion.
In face of this shortfall, our message is simple. We cannot allow our legislature to prioritize the out-of-control ESA voucher program over K-12 public schools and other vital public services.
Arizona educators are committed to helping all of our students succeed, no matter who they are or where they live. We work long hours every week to live up to that commitment. But there is only so much we can do when our A/C systems haven’t been repaired in years, our colleagues keep leaving for better-paying jobs in other states, and our kids show up to school late because our district can’t hire enough bus drivers. Our K-12 public schools are underfunded as it is, and funding cuts are simply not acceptable.
We’re grateful to Governor Hobbs for laying out a budget framework that prevents cuts to K-12 public education, avoids major cuts to other critical programs, and reins in the cost of the ESA voucher program. Now it’s up to legislators of both parties to follow her lead and craft a budget that actually meets the needs of Arizonans – not just the very rich.
