CUSD schools have their financial doomsday clock ticking as we come to the end of February. 

If the Legislature does not postpone or raise the Aggregate Expenditure Limit, then all Arizona School Districts would have to pay 1.2 billion dollars. The Aggregate Expenditure Limit is a cap that was put on the spending on grades K-12 during the 1980s in Arizona. This would cause the school districts to lose a lot of money and then it would lead to firing staff workers. During a time of short staff, this is a problem because we would not be able to find new teachers. This cap ends on March 1 and if it is not raised by then, then all Arizona schools will have to pay 1.2 billion dollars. 

“A 16% reduction in budgets will means layoffs amid the already crisis-level teacher shortage,’’ State Superintendent of Public Schools Kathy Hoffman tells SanTan Sun News. “For students and their parents and guardians, these cuts will mean losing access to academic programs, extracurriculars, high-quality teachers, and even school closures.’’ This tells us that we could lose very many things in our schools if we don’t get the Aggregate Expenditure Limit extended.