opinion

Secret budget deal shafts Arizona college students

The preferred method of deliberating a budget in Arizona — hammering out deals behind closed doors among a handful of like-minded Republicans — is a grating experience, contemptuous of open democracy.

But the problematic budget deal worked out among legislative leaders and Gov. Doug Ducey still must gain the approval of majorities in the state House and Senate.

Based largely on its maltreatment of higher education, this budget deal does not deserve that approval, and should not get it.

Within this deal, an anticipated $75 million cut to Arizona's universities has blown up to $104 million, or 14 percent of the universities' overall allocation from the previous year. The community college districts in Arizona's three most populous counties — Maricopa, Pima and Pinal — would lose all their state allocations, a total of $19 million.

Much has been made of the fact that these are tough times. State revenues are way down. Between fiscal 2015 and next year, Arizona faces an estimated $1.5 billion shortfall.

But this deeper-than-expected raid on higher education is not a consequence of scarce financial resources. It is the result of ideological absolutism — and misplaced ideology, at that.

The deeper higher-ed cuts appear tied to Republican legislative leaders' rejection of a $6 or $7 increase in auto registration fees at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The governor had planned to use the fees to increase state Department of Public Safety funding by $65 million. Some budget analysts believe the additional cuts to the universities are being used to offset the loss of those higher MVD fees.

Regardless, Republican legislative leaders reportedly reject the fee increase because they see it as a tax increase, which violates their pledges against higher taxes.

This is ideological hocus-pocus. The MVD fee increase is no more of a "tax" than the "taxes" these GOP lawmakers are effectively assessing against students, who will have to pay higher tuition rates that will result inevitably from their choices.

Tuition increases, you see, are one step further removed from the delicate, unsoiled hands of our legislators, who are happy to force regents and community college boards to do their dirty taxing work for them. From the view of our leaders on West Washington, you can call higher tuition a "tax" if you must, but it is not one by their hands. Not directly.

Like we said, that's just taxation hocus pocus.

Someone at the Legislature needs to muddy the hands of these people.

Earlier this week, four lawmakers — including three GOP state senators — made an impassioned statement on these pages on behalf of Arizona higher ed.

Republican Sens. Jeff Dial, Steve Pierce and Adam Driggs argued for increases in K-12 funding, which are reflected in the proposed GOP budget deal, as well as greater investment in university research facilities.

The lawmakers did not specifically call for increases in university spending. But, then, no one is arguing for additional dollars for universities. We merely seek to stanch the bleeding.

These lawmakers clearly would like the public to see them as defenders of public education in Arizona. Great. Just the guys we're looking for.

In order to stop this budget plan, just two of these stalwart GOP state senators need to demonstrate there's some cattle behind those white hats they're wearing by opposing this plan.

Then it would be back behind closed doors, and back to the budgetary drawing board, for their legislative leaders. Back to their closed-door version of democracy.

And back to rethinking this counterproductive plan to backdoor a tax on Arizona's students.