For the first time in years, Arizona is set to exceed the Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL), which was passed in 1980 and limits the total money that Arizona can spend on public schools (except for charter schools). Unless the legislature acts by March 1, schools across Arizona will be unable to spend almost $1.2 billion that has already been allocated to them by the legislature. In CUSD alone, this would result in a cut of $54.4 million, or about 16% of our annual budget. The legislature has routinely voted to exceed the AEL in previous years, but this year they are playing political games with the AEL, and our students and educators will be the losers.
We need everyone in our CEA/CUSD community to contact their legislators and urge them to stop playing games with our public schools and authorize exceeding the AEL! View our presentation on the AEL, watch our town hall with LD17 Representative (and former CEA member!) Jennifer Pawlik, and visit AEA’s AEL resource page to learn more about the AEL and how you can take action!