Identical bills are making their way through both chambers of the Arizona Legislature that would put an end to $211 million in annual state funding to 18 school districts.
HB 2401 cleared the Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 15, while SB 1125 cleared the Senate Finance Committee last week.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2016/02/education-bill…

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/economy/2016/02/06/arizon…

Arizona governments and other public entities continued to reduce their indebtedness last year. Borrowing has slowed considerably since the boom years prior to the recession.

Like consumers wary about bloated credit-card balances, government entities throughout Arizona have been reluctant to take on more new debt.

PHOENIX
Legislation enacting a major overhaul of the state's badly underfunded public safety worker pension plan was unanimously approved Wednesday by a Senate committee and will likely come to a vote Thursday by the full Senate.

The overhaul is backed by firefighter and police unions as well as cities, towns and other public agencies that pay into the system. They worked with Sen. Debbie Lesko for the past year to come up with a plan to fix the trouble system.

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/lawmaker…

PHOENIX - Lawmakers are again seeking a big property tax break for a growing private Christian university in Phoenix, reviving an effort to benefit Grand Canyon University that was derailed over constitutional concerns in 2014.

Pima Community College won a narrow victory earlier this year when a bill in the state legislature that would have cost the college an additional $30 million in spending failed.

The vote came less than a year after the state eliminated $7.1 million in funding to the college.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/20/arizona-tax-group-to-he…
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Gov. Doug Ducey said Friday that a law he signed earlier this year indexing income tax rates for inflation was an important first step to his goal of cutting incomes taxes every year he’s in office.

SCOTTSDALE — With the state potentially sitting on $1 billion, Gov. Doug Ducey put down his marker Friday to use some of that to cut income taxes.

In a speech to the Arizona Tax Research Association, Ducey boasted of signing legislation earlier this year that indexed the state’s income tax brackets. The net effect was to ensure that someone whose salary increased no faster than inflation was not bumped into a higher tax bracket.

But he said he’s not done.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/education/2015/11/…

Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Doug Ducey are touting the education funding plan as a way to put more money into classrooms without raising taxes.

The $3.5 billion plan would tap the State Land Trust, the endowment given to Arizona at statehood to help pay for education, which proponents have cited as a key tax-free resource.

Arizona's finances appear to be in solid shape headed into the new year. But Republican state lawmakers say that's no reason to start spending more money.

At the annual Arizona Tax Research Association conference last week, Joint Legislative Budget Committee Director Richard Stavneak said Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature can expect to kick off the legislative session and budget process in January about $555 million in the black. He estimated $218 million of that could be used for ongoing new expenditures without putting the state into a financial hole.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/10/30/arizona-educati…

Q&A: Why Arizona education funding will always lag

The Arizona Tax Research Association set out to answer why Arizona consistently ranks worst among states on spending on K-12 education. In a nutshell, what’s the answer?