Title: Arizona school funding: How it works
Headings: Arizona school funding: How it works
Arizona school funding: How it works
Public-school funding
Private-school funding
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Capital funding
Desegregation funding
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Full-day kindergarten
Bonds and overrides
Special-education funding
Teacher pay
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Proposition 301
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Content: Arizona's spending on special education benefits schools with the fewest number of Group A students. About one-third of Arizona students attend schools — most of which are charters — that receive more state money to serve students with special needs than those schools actually spend for that purpose. The rest of the state's students attend a mix of district and charter schools that spend more on students with special needs than they get, forcing the schools to spend less on their traditional students to make up the difference. READ MORE: Arizona special-ed funding benefits schools with fewest special-ed students
Teacher pay
Arizona is in the midst of a teacher crisis. Districts and charter schools struggle to fill open positions, resorting to hiring teachers that don't meet the basic qualifications ot teach. Experts frequently place poor teacher pay and low education funding among the primary causes of the shortage. Median pay for Arizona elementary teachers in 2016 was $42,474 per year, compared with $55,800 nationally. In 2014, Arizona ranked 48th in average per-pupil spending at $7,457, compared with $11,066 nationally. Gov. Doug Ducey calls teachers and public schools "winners" in his most recent budget, which allocated $167 million in new money for education and a one-percent pay hike for teachers this year.