Defendants now must take next step in funding K-12

KSTATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – Senate Democratic Leader Katie Hobbs released the following statement on the passage of Prop 123:

"The passage of Prop 123 resolved the inflation funding lawsuit, but that only happened after

Sen. Hobbs

legislative Democrats, educators and parents insisted on holding the defendants accountable. It does not make our schools whole, does not restore other devastating cuts the Legislature has made, and it keeps Arizona at the bottom of the barrel in terms of per-pupil spending.

“Governor Ducey has stated that passage of Prop 123 is just a start toward adequately funding our schools and we will hold him to that. The conversation about next steps must start right now.

“As a show of good faith, the governor should begin efforts to restore the additional cuts made to schools and work with the education community and legislative Democrats to find a sustainable and responsible plan to fund our schools moving forward.

“Next year's budget must provide our students and teachers the resources they need to succeed, like updated textbooks and technology, and it must sustain a workforce of quality teachers.

“As always, we stand ready to work across the aisle for a sustainable way to fund our schools. For too long we have starved our schools. Now is the time to honestly and earnestly take steps to make them whole again.”