State Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, at Tucson forum, May 28, 2015.State Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas wants $400 million for teachers from the state general fund.
“Funding is not everything, but when it has been reduced for so long, it becomes the most prominent obstacle to improvement,” Douglas said in a Friday press release. “Only parents and teachers actually connect with and teach students. Well-proven programs will have no effect unless our teachers and parents have the support they need.”
The money would fund teacher salaries and the hiring of more educators. Douglas said a lack of funds is the No. 1 concern she heard on her statewide tour earlier this year.
Douglas asked the Legislature and governor to set aside the money in a special session.
The press release also said the $400 million request is the first of several proposals she will reveal between now and Oct. 1 as part of her "AZ Kids Can’t Afford to Wait! Plan."
Separately, a Superior Court judge has ordered the state to pay K-12 schools inflation adjustments that total an estimated $1.6 billion. The payments are required by voter-approved Proposition 301. The first payment of $330 million has not been made, and negotiations have broken off between lawyers for schools that are plaintiffs and lawyers for legislative leaders.
“We have an entire generation of children for whom over $1 billion of education was not provided,” Douglas said in the press release. “We can never go back and provide that education to them. How many more children must suffer the same fate before the leaders of our state truly prioritize education?”
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