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Tuesday, May 5, 2009

AZ Budget Passed Out of House Appropriations Today. Party Line Vote.

Legislative Democrats have proposed an alternative budget that does not rely on massive cuts to education funding. Click here to read the Democratic budget.

Arizona Education Association Report

This afternoon the House Appropriations Committee passed a budget package (HB 2639) that includes MAJOR cuts to K-12 education. This budget package passed on party-line votes with the Republicans on the committee voting Yes on the cuts and the Democrats opposing.

House Appropriations Committee - Vote detail on HB2639: Passed 8-5
Yes votes: Biggs, Court, Crandall, Jones, Kavanagh, McLain, Murphy & Williams.
No votes: Cajero Bedford, Cloves Campbell, Heinz, Sinema & Schapira.

Behind the scenes some House Republicans say it was necessary to pass this budget in committee in order to get the Governor to begin to negotiate with legislators on the budget. That's a dangerous game of chicken to play with funds that affect education and Arizona's economic future.

The next stop for these budget bills will be the floor of the House of Representatives. Your immediate action is needed. Take Action now and please contact the members of the House and tell them to reject this budget.

Summary of just five major cuts to K-12 education:

  1. Continues all the K-12 cuts from the FY09 budget (passed on Jan. 31, 2009). This means that K-12 funding is automatically reduced the $98.1 million to the base and the $21 million in soft capitol.
  2. Sweeps $255 million in district cash balances by requiring the county treasurers to revert this amount of district cash balances from FY09 in M&O, soft capital and unrestricted capital back to the state.
  3. Cuts soft capital an additional $175 million (on top of the already lost $21 million in capacity from FY09).
  4. Fails to fund $102M to the base level for the 2% inflation. Provides only the 2% inflator to the transportation formula ($8 million).
  5. Permanently repeals the school tax-the state equalization property tax (loss of $250 million annually to the state General Fund).
View entire summary all budget cuts from proposal.

You can also get involved by taking part in a phone bank organized by the Arizona Budget Coalition (ABC). The March4Schools campaign is supporting this coalition of citizen groups offering workable budget options that will prevent cuts to public education and vital services. The phone bank will inform voters about the actions being taken by the legislature and urge citizens to contact their legislators immediately to stop these cuts and work with the governor and leaders from both parties to find solutions that balance the budget without massive cuts.

ABC Phonebank
Wednesday May 6 and Thursday May 7
5 - 7 p.m.
3707 N. 7th Street in Phoenix
RSVP with Doug Kilgore at doug.kilgore@arizonaea.org