Students getting role in schools’ spending
Arizona takes the lead in participatory budgeting
Students are “learning democracy by doing.”
This year, students at Ed and Verma Pastor Elementary School will decide how to spend $2,000 of the school district’s money.
The south Phoenix elementary school is one of dozens of schools across Arizona implementing school participatory budgeting, where students vote on how to spend funds to improve their school.
Pastor Elementary is still in the early stages of this year’s participatory budgeting process. For now, a steering committee of 10 students is leading the effort by surveying their classmates on how they would like to see the money used.
They ultimately will narrow down the ideas, develop proposals and put five options before the entire student body
Kristi Tate
Center for the Future of Arizona
for a vote in the spring. Students will campaign for the projects leading up to the vote, making signs and videos to promote their favorite ideas.
Students on the steering committee already have some ideas: a vending machine with Gatorade and chips; better grass to play soccer on; and math, science and reading games. Even though they have their own hopes for how the money will be spent, they are excited to hear their classmates’ proposals.
Karen Escalante, 10, said she joined the committee because she wanted to help kids find new ways to solve problems. Karen said she thinks that finding something that’s safe, within the budget and appropriate for the school will be hard. Students must consider factors like installation and maintenance costs and are limited to district-approved vendors.
Lee’Naijaha Matthews, 10, joined the committee because she wanted to help kids come up with ideas and “to know how things work,” like budgeting.
Alfredo Lira, 10, said he hopes the school can get something fun for everyone. He wants to help his classmates “like school so they can come every single day,” he said.
How have students decided to spend their schools’ money?
The Center for the Future of Arizona, a nonprofit, is helping schools implement participatory budgeting to improve civic engagement across the state. Through it, students are “learning democracy by doing,” said Kristi Tate, the center’s director of civic health initiatives.
Arizona was a leader in school participatory budgeting. The first school
Maricopa County, whose median household income is higher than the statewide average. There, the ‘middle class’ falls between $51,015 and $153,046, which includes about 52% of households.
Definition doesn’t account for changes in cost of living
That definition doesn’t account for changes in the cost of living and affordability. Bagley noted that the cost burden in the Phoenix area generally has increased in recent years, and is still climbing.
That definition also doesn’t account for differences in wealth. That is, the total value of assets you own, which isn’t always the same as income.
“I would definitely take this ‘middle class’ with a grain of salt, and question it, but not too much,” Bagley said, noting that income is an important factor in wealth-building.
How much do highest-earning Arizona households make?
By Bagley’s calculations, the top 10% of households in Arizona have an income of at least $185,387. In Maricopa County, a household needs to make $202,277 or more to fall into that category.
The highest-earning 1% of households in Arizona make at least $525,263. According to the personal finance website SmartAsset, Arizona is ranked #23 out of 50 U.S. states on this metric.
In Maricopa County, the top 1% make more than $552,041.
of households