Hoffman calls for lawmakers to work to fill school budget gaps
Arizona Schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman, in her annual state of education speech, called it “absurd” to propose tax cuts when schools may face budget shortfalls, alluding to Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposed tax cut.
“There has never been a more urgent time to tap into our safety net and provide for Arizonans,” she said, addressing a panel of state lawmakers Tuesday by videoconference. “Anyone who thinks it’s not raining in Arizona right now needs to check their privilege.”
The state school superintendent delivers this speech every year in front of the Senate and House Education committees. Hoffman outlined her legislative priorities for the upcoming year, highlighting the need for more funding to cover school budget gaps, invest in training the teacher workforce and invest in dollars to send more counselors and social workers into schools.
The address focused on the unprecedented challenges facing students, educators and parents through the pandemic, including the push and pull over whether it’s safe to reopen schools for in-person learning. For many schools to reopen classrooms for the first time since March, she said, the state would need to get a handle on the spread of COVID-19.
“It breaks my heart that so many students could not return to their classroom because the community spread of COVID-19 was too high,” she said.
To close the speech, Hoffman called for the elected officials to lift students up in the wake of the pandemic.
“We must see public schools as stewards of our future — not as institutions that can be shortchanged for ideological and political purposes,” she said.
Hoffman, a Democrat, can’t change state education law or set the state education budget. That work is left to the state lawmakers she addressed, a slim majority of whom are Republicans.
But, she and her staff can — and do — lobby. Among her priorities for this legislative session:
● Fully funding distance learning, which is currently funded at a lower rate than in-person learning. While Ducey’s budget proposal does not include this, Senate Republican leaders have proposed fully funding distance learning.
● Passing Senate Bill 1227, which would create a committee to study class sizes in Arizona. That committee would include lawmakers, Hoffman or her designee, and educators.
● Allocating dedicated funding for pre-kindergarten programs.
● Expanding broadband access families across the state.
School funding once may again be one of the biggest topics up for debate this session. Districts and charter schools have lost students which, in turn, means a loss of funding because schools are funded per student.
Ducey’s office estimated that schools will lose $389 million this year because of enrollment decline and an
for students and increase in virtual school attendance.
In his budget pitch unveiled in mid-January, the governor proposed the state still use that money on education — but through a grant program targeted at making up learning lost in the pandemic. He also proposed a $200 million income tax cut. Critics suggested the cut was aimed at offsetting the recently passed Proposition 208, an education tax surcharge on the state’s highest earners.
Hoffman disagrees with the approach.
“When the state sits on a billion-dollar rainy day fund and projects a $2 billion surplus, there is no excuse to not fully fund every school,” she said.
Hoffman asked for bipartisan support in adding $43 million to the state’s school safety grant program, which provides for counselors and social workers.
Legislators sent $20 million to the program in 2019, but the applications from schools to get funding for counselors and social workers far outnumbered the money available.
Schools asked for 279 social workers and 337 school counselors in that round of funding. But only about half of the requests were fulfilled: Schools across the state received enough for 148 counselors and 118 social workers.
The $43 million Hoffman is proposing would fund the other first-choice requests, she said.
The pandemic adds urgency to her request, she said.
“From feelings of depression and anxiety to worrisome isolating behavior, everything that our nation has endured in the last year has taken a toll on our youngest community members,” she said. “These feelings may be particularly heightened for students who tragically are not safe in their homes, including many LGBTQ students.”