AZ SCHOOLS SEEK SPENDING CAP EXTENSIONS

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona public schools have faced hundreds of millions in budgets cuts in the last three years, including $170 million for the school year that's been under way for two months.

To bolster their spending, many districts have for years exceeded their state-imposed spending caps by getting voter approval. These budget overrides, along with the higher property taxes to support the spending, have become common in some districts.

Now many of those overrides are expiring, and more than two dozen districts in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas are asking voters to extend them.

Without extensions, school officials say, they will have to make more cuts to a wide range of programs and increase class sizes.

In the Tucson area, Sunnyside, Marana, Vail, Continental, Flowing Wells and Tanque Verde districts are seeking overrides to be effective starting in the 2012-13 school year.

In the Phoenix area, 20 school districts, including Glendale Union, Kyrene, Agua Fria, Tolleson, Paradise Valley and Phoenix Union districts are seeking the overrides.

On Friday's Arizona Week, we plan a look at the issues associated with these overrides and at prospects for passage.