Gov. Katie Hobbs released her 2027 budget proposal into the wild last week, pledging another $590 million for K-12 education.
And while more than a half-billion dollars may sound like a lot, about half of that is tied to renewing Proposition 123, which would require approval from not only lawmakers, but the public. And the bulk of the remaining funds is for required increases, like adjusting for inflation and caseload.
So today, we’re focusing on some of the smaller dollar increases outlined in the governor’s budget.
Because while a million here or a million there may not seem like huge money in the context of a $17.7 billion budget proposal, tiny programs can have a huge influence on children’s lives.
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Literacy coaching has a trickle-down effect: Literacy coaches – who specialize in instructional strategies and enhancing classroom instruction – help equip teachers to strengthen literacy among their students.
Some school districts used COVID-19 funds to hire extra literacy and other academic coaches. But that COVID-era K-12 funding has dried up, and across the nation, districts have struggled to come up with funds to keep the literary coaches who were hired with COVID relief funds on their roster.
Hobbs is hoping that with a small investment of just $2 million she can boost student literacy performance.
Hobbs the builder
Although Arizona has faced a wave of recent school closures, many of the schoolhouses still left standing desperately need funding for renovations and improvements.
The funds proposed in the governor’s budget – cashing in at a combined $1.5 billion – would be directed towards existing facilities, rather than new builds.
This would not use additional state General Fund spending. Instead, Hobbs’ budget proposal includes a school facilities bond, to be included in the reauthorization of Prop 123. It would be paid back over the course of 10 years.
Should this item in Hobbs’ proposal go through, for the next three years, $500 million worth of funds per fiscal year would become available.
Renewing Prop 123 would mean once again increasing the distribution from the Permanent Land Endowment Trust to 6.9%. The majority would go to school districts, with the remaining swapped back into repaying the facilities bond.
One of the beneficiaries of the funding increase would be the Building Renewal Grant program. Arizona has 720 qualified Building Renewal Grant projects in limbo, with a $216 million gap as of the start of December 2025.
The state’s Building Renewal Grants help public school districts repair, renovate and/or upgrade existing school facilities. The grants are to be used on the essentials that keep current school buildings functional: upgrades like roof replacements, HVAC upgrades, plumbing and system extensions. Building Renewal Grants cannot be used to new facilities.
Hobbs proposed to complete three new-but-underway projects, to the tune of $94 million, total.
Food groups
Hobbs wants lawmakers to approve a one-time, $3.8 million school meals grant. This would eliminate — or reduce — school meal copays for students whose families qualify for free and reduced lunches.
A report by the Arizona Department of Education estimated that during the 2024-2025 school year, more than 667,000 of the state’s K-12 students qualified for free and reduced-price meals. That’s more than half of Arizona’s K-12 students.
And those school meals are even more critical now. According to some reports, nearly 450,000 Arizona families could lose their SNAP benefits, thanks to the feds’ HR 1 (aka, the Big Beautiful Bill). An estimated 1 in 4 Arizona children rely on SNAP, according to the Governor’s Office.
Ugh I still remember “freedom fries” on the lunch menu for high school in Gilbert, AZ.
— Andy Britton (@kalofxeno.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T04:10:39.775Z
Something for the grownups, too
Adult learners and high school students who want to learn alongside adults weren’t overlooked in Hobbs’ budget.
Hobbs wants to put $6 million from the General Fund to help community college students earn credentials and certifications.
Additionally, she wants to spend $2 million from the General Fund for free online courses to help adults obtain their high school diplomas, and another $1 million to provide alternative study options for adults seeking their high school diploma.
Each of these three funding proposals would be one-time expenses.
Arizona high school students could have more opportunities to take college-level courses while still earning their high school diploma, should Hobbs’ proposed $1.5 million, one-time general fund allocation be approved.
This is why we can’t have nice things
It’s no secret that Hobbs is not a fan of how ESAs have been managed and regulated. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Hobbs once again called on lawmakers to enact more oversight and tighter restrictions.
According to Hobbs’ budget presentation, universal ESAs could peak above $600 million in the 2027 fiscal year, with 60% of those receiving Universal ESA funds have no public school history.
Hobbs proposes putting an income cap on ESAs: households with incomes of $250,000 or more. That change could save the state around $90 million per year, or enough to fund several items on her education budget wish list.
Other reforms could include enhanced oversight and safety, and attempts to halt unnecessary luxury purchases, all of which Hobbs says could save the state millions that could be reinvested in students.
The spine is the first thing to go: Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne delivered his annual State of Education Address to the House Education Committee on Tuesday, sticking with familiar themes of school safety, academic improvement and his culture-war agenda. Horne called diversity, equity and inclusion education a “racist philosophy” and said educators who practice it are projecting their racism onto others. He blamed mismanagement of the Arizona school voucher program on his predecessor, who left office three years ago, and declined to say whether he supports income caps on families that use ESAs — a priority for Gov. Katie Hobbs. While Horne has been an unlikely critic of the program during his term, he has recently backed off as he faces a GOP primary against state Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who has teamed up with the Turning Point USA crowd to make Horne’s critiques of the program the central theme of her campaign.
Controversial move: Tucson parents weren’t thrilled with the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind’s move to Copper Creek, a recently closed elementary school in Oro Valley, the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. At a community meeting on Monday, parents said they were worried their kids would end up in regular public schools, where they wouldn’t get the services they need and could be victims of bullying. School officials abruptly ended the meeting after parents kept interrupting the presentation, at times by calling officials “cowards” or saying “you don’t give a [expletive] about us, do you?” One of the parents’ main concerns was that blind students wouldn’t be able to attend classes at the school’s new location, Jacob Owens reports for KVOA. School officials didn’t clarify whether that was the case or not.
Not enough students: The Chandler Unified School District Governing Board signed off on eliminating about 90 positions next year to shore up a budget deficit, per Shira Tanzer at KTAR. The cuts could save the district about $10 million. They’re also planning to cut another 30 positions soon, which would add another $2 million in savings while eliminating positions that provide media and tech services to schools.
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Red light, green light: The use of artificial intelligence by students has grown so widespread that teachers in Patagonia created a traffic light system to tell students when they can, or can’t, use AI to complete their assignments, Graham Krewinghaus reports for the Nogales International. Teachers and district officials say they’re balancing the need for students to understand that AI makes mistakes with the recognition that AI is here to stay.
Hitting the brakes: Officials at Northern Arizona University paused their plans to create a College of Medicine, Adrian Skabelund reports for KNAU. The idea for a medical school came up in 2023 as a way to lessen the shortage of healthcare professionals in Arizona, but now officials are saying there’s too much economic uncertainty to proceed.
If you’re a high school senior, then you could be watching spring training games for free.
The Arizona Board of Regents partnered with the Cactus League to offer free tickets to students who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
If you’re interested, you can get tickets here.
