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Legislature fails vision test with education funding Legislature fails vision test with education funding

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Arizona is anticipating ending the budget year in June about $1.2 billion short — and chances are there will be an even larger hole in the budget next year. Lawmakers must find a way to patch these holes without causing long-term harm to the state.

It's unrealistic to hope that all vital services the state provides will remain untouched by the budget problems. We are dismayed, however, that legislators appear to be eyeing K-12 education as a large pot of money to draw from.

The Associated Press has reported that incoming state Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, has said that K-12 education funding is on the table as a place to cut. "Obviously K-12. That is the biggest component of the budget," Burns said Tuesday during a panel discussion.

It's true, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee staff, that as $4.1 billion of the $9.9 billion state budget, funding for public elementary, middle and high schools comprises a huge expense. And it is an expense without an immediately visible benefit, because education isn't the same as manufacturing widgets — it's an investment that pays out more indirectly over time through better jobs, a stronger economy and a thriving community.

Because education plays a necessary but supportive role in a healthy state, it's tempting to view education funding like an aging car that runs O.K. most days but needs some work: You put off fixing the big problem so long that other, related problems crop up that need immediate attention and money. Before long, you've spent more on the short-term fixes than you would have on fixing the underlying problem to begin with — and your car is in worse shape, too.

Arizona has the dubious distinction of being one of the country's chintziest states for funding education. Our public schools don't have spare change lying around, which means that cuts to the K-12 system will come out of school budgets. One way or another, the cuts would inevitably affect the quality of education students receive — and Arizona doesn't rank that high on those national measures, either.

Much of the school funding is protected by a school-funding law voters approved in 2000. And while public school budgets are exponentially more complicated than a household budget, there are inescapable truths: Less money coming in means expenses must be cut or prioritized — think of it as cancelling the cable television so you can pay the electric bill.

We asked a high school student job-shadowing at the Star what she would worry about if state education funding is cut, and her list of possibilities is insightful and telling: Students could have to pay for middle school and high school textbooks; lunch prices could increase; technology wouldn't be up-to-date and that means some classes couldn't be offered; sports could be cut, which could affect talented athletes being noticed for college scholarships.

Also, students who rely on school libraries to do research could be affected if the school doesn't have enough money to buy the necessary books, and kids could miss out on field trips, she said.

At this point, these concerns are just that, concerns. And it's possible that some of those expenditures are tied to designated funding sources and wouldn't be directly hit by a budget crunch. We mention these ideas to illustrate that school funding pays for much more than desks and teachers.

The state's budget crisis is real and it can't be wished away. We also understand that, while we see education cuts as being counter-productive, it's not realistic to declare any particular category immune from the pain.

However, given that the benefits of education emerge over time, we believe that the Legislature must hold education — K-12 and colleges — as harmless as possible and resist the urge to treat education spending as a great big pot of money that can be raided without negative consequences.

We call on parents, educators and business leaders to make sure lawmakers know how valuable public education is to our community. This investment must be protected. Starving our educational system will only make it that much harder for Arizona to pull out of this damaging economic downturn.