Arizona Senate may waive spending cap, avert school crisis

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on Monday scheduled a vote to waive a constitutional cap on K-12 school spending that threatens to shut down public schools across the state.

The Republican said that she believes the votes are now there so she will put the measure up for a vote when the Senate convenes for its afternoon session. But she noted that nothing is certain until the bill goes up for the formal vote.

The House voted last week to waive the cap but some Republican senators refused to back the measure.

Waiving the spending cap set in the state constitution requires a 2/3 vote and even with all Democrats in support Fann lacked the votes from enough majority Republicans to reach that threshold.

Schools will exceed the spending limit on March 1 and will need to immediately plan for cutbacks that could include closures or layoffs if the Legislature does not act.

The House voted 45-14 last Tuesday to give schools the ability to spend $1.54 billion appropriated last year that would have put them over the constitutional spending limit. All 28 Democrats present voted for the waiver, but 14 of 31 Republican House members voted no.

Republicans have been leery of approving the waiver of the aggregate spending limit for fears it could breathe life into Proposition 208, the 2020 voter-approved tax on the wealthy that the state Supreme Court ruled in August was unconstitutional if it put spending over the cap.

A trial court judge is considering whether that would be the case, but has delayed issuing what opponents of the tax say is a certain ruling that the new revenue would exceed the cap. House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Fann recently asked the Supreme Court to step in and kill Proposition 208 for good. The court has not yet acted on that request.

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