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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Students, Teachers Caught in Battle Over AZ School Funding Cap

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Friday, February 11, 2022   

A battle between Arizona legislators and the state's 230 public school districts over a four-decade-old funding cap has put students and their families squarely in the crossfire.

The issue is a constitutional amendment limiting public school funding to the amount approved back in 1980, with adjustments for inflation. If lawmakers don't approve a normally automatic override by March 1, schools will lose more than $1 billion in funding.

Education advocates from across the state spoke out in a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday.

David Lujan, president and CEO of the Children's Action Alliance, accused lawmakers of playing political games.

"We're going to be in the same situation next year and the year after, and it will continue to keep us in the basement of funding nationwide," Lujan asserted. "We are last in the country in per-pupil funding, but yet we're already at our state spending limit."

Conservative lawmakers may be concerned if they raise the cap before the courts rule on a challenge to Proposition 208, it could permanently raise taxes on the wealthy. Proposition 208, passed in 2020, increases school funding by taxing high-income Arizonans.

Susan Collins, elementary music teacher in the Kingman Unified School District, said a loss of funding could cripple a district like hers.

"We're a rural district," Collins pointed out. "We cover 3,500 square miles. We're huge and we're remote. Our buses run 6,000 miles a day. $8 million out of our budget at the very end of the school year is devastating."

Dan Streeter, superintendent of the Marana Unified School District, said a loss of funds would create a ripple effect beyond school boundaries.

"This also impacts our community," Streeter explained. "Marana is a community of 50,000 people. The school district employs 2,000. We are the largest employer in our community. When you take $15 million out of your local economy, there's going to be an impact."

Democrats in the Arizona House filed a bill last week to override the funding cap, but by Thursday, Republican leaders had not scheduled any hearings or a vote on the measure.


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