With a deadline fast approaching, the House Education Committee voted overwhelmingly 8-1-1 this week to raise the aggregate spending limit or AEL.
"I don't believe in playing political football with our kids," Representative Laura Terech (D) Phoenix/Scottsdale District 4 said during the vote.
The resolution now heads to the House floor. The $1.4 billion at issue was actually appropriated last session as part of the education budget. But constitutionally mandated spending limits on education means the legislature must approve a year override. Schools have the money. They just can't spend it until that happens.
"We shouldn't have to be dealing with wondering if our funding for schools is sustainable year to year. We shouldn't be in this emergency situation every year," Representative Jennifer Pawlik (D) Chandler District 13 said.
Representative Pawlik, who is on the House Education Committee, is sponsoring a bill that permanently lifts the AEL while tying teacher bonuses to classroom performance. Voters would end up having the final say.
"We would still have the cap but there would be guardrails that are modernized," she said.
That includes factoring in the cost of today's tools for education. Computers and advanced technical programs were things never considered when voters passed the spending limits in 1980. That funding formula is based on inflation and student enrollment.
But Pawlik's bill is not gaining any traction with Republicans.
"It's very concerning because this is the fourth week of the legislative session and thus far we've heard 10 Republican bills and none sponsored by Democrats."
A spokesperson for the House Republican Caucus said, "The legislature is well aware of the March first deadline for the aggregate expenditure limitation override. Any resolution for a long-term plan to change the calculation of the AEL is going to be subject to intense negotiations and will require voter approval."
The legislature has until March 1 to vote to raise the expenditure limit. If it fails to do it, the state department of education will inform schools on March 5 how much money they will need to cut from their budgets for the remainder of the school year.
