By Staff Reporter |

A new report from the state indicates that school districts have declined to invest their record funding into their teachers.

Instead, critics analyzing the report say, school districts have opted to pay more for their superintendents, unused buildings, and trips for administrators. 

The Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee issued a report earlier this month estimating that Arizona public schools receive a record high of nearly $15,600 per student annually. Yet, estimates reflect the average Arizona teacher’s salary adjusted for inflation is more than $6,400 lower than it was in 2001. 

Average teacher pay was more than $37,000 for the 2000-2001 school year, which would be more than $72,000 in today’s dollars; however, teachers made around $65,600 in 2025. 

The auditor general’s office has reported on multiple occasions that districts are disproportionately allocating classroom site funding intended for teachers on non-instructional expenses. 

Proposition 320 would require public school districts to spend at least 60% of their operational budget on direct instructional expenses. If passed, the proposition would allow districts below that 60% threshold to increase their instructional spending by 0.5% each year. 

Districts who fail to comply would lose money from the classroom site fund at a rate of 25% in the first year, 50% in the second year, 75% in the third year, and 100% in the fourth and all future years of noncompliance. 

The proposition allows the superintendent of public instruction to waive those penalties twice every 10 years, or up to three times if a district requests a second waiver more than four years after the first waiver. 

School districts impacted by Proposition 320 would include those that serve at least 7,500 students and exist in a county of at least 500,000 people. Only Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties qualify for the latter criteria. 

Approximately 94 out of 207 school districts in the state would be impacted by Proposition 320 if passed, according to an analysis by the Common Sense Institute of Arizona. 

Organizations have polar opposite views on how the proposition would impact public school funding. 

The Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based public policy and litigation organization and a supporter of Proposition 320, claims the proposition will improve teacher salaries by shrinking administrative costs. 

“Simply put, Arizona taxpayers deserve better stewardship of their education dollars,” stated the Goldwater Institute in a press release. 

Goldwater cited instances of what it called administrative “bloat,” such as the Dysart Unified School District spending nearly $500,000 to send nearly 200 employees to a luxury resort casino in Las Vegas for three-day training events three years in a row. The district then undertook what it determined to be a necessary cost-saving measure by eliminating bus routes to save the district around $500,000. 

In another instance, the Arizona auditor general found that Baboquivari Elementary School District was spending wastefully, including its decision to spend $300,000 on a single two-day, out-of-state conference for employees.

The organization also cited the high salary of the Tolleson Union High School District superintendent who attempted to push through an $80 million taxpayer-funded football stadium. 

Save Our Schools Arizona, a Phoenix-based education advocacy organization and opponent of Proposition 320, claims the proposition will cut funding to schools. Opponents of the measure maintain that current administrative spending trends are not problematic, and that a one-size-fits-all approach to district spending would impose pressures on districts and jeopardize student support and school operations. 

“[This is] a deceptive ballot measure aimed to defund critical public school services like transportation, sports, food services, and special education,” posted Save Our Schools Arizona on social media.

The debate over Proposition 320 centers on whether requiring districts to devote a larger share of their budgets to classroom instruction would improve educational spending or limit districts’ ability to fund other services. Arizona voters will have the opportunity to decide whether to adopt the proposed spending requirements in the November election.

AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.