By Arizona Agenda
While Arizona’s GOP lawmakers inch toward sending a budget proposal to Gov. Katie Hobbs in the next two weeks, there’s at least one fairly large elephant in the room — and it’s taking the form of a $300 million hole in Arizona’s annual budget, all of which was earmarked for K-12 education.
That hole opened up last July with the expiration of Proposition 123 — a 2016 voter-approved measure to take $300 million from the State Land Trust every year to meet a post-recession shortfall in funding for public schools.
Republicans plugged it with money from the state’s general fund last year, and it looks like they’re going to propose the same thing this time.
While Hobbs started the session with hopes for renewing the Prop 123 funding — which business leaders like Arizona Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Danny Seiden supported — Republicans haven’t been able to come to an agreement among themselves.
