Gov. Ducey's been bragging up his $72 million "increase" to K-12, but as more than a few school superintendents have pointed out, it's a "rob Peter to pay Paul" budgetary shenanigan. Last year a judge ordered the state to shell out $317 million that the schools were shortchanged during the recession. Ducey refuses to comply and instead trumpets his big $72 million "increase," a fraction of what the districts are owed. On top of that, this supposed additional money comes from eliminating two other funding sources! The upshot of this shell game is that most districts' budgets are flat, when Arizona's funding is already $3,293 less per student than the $6,520 national average.

So, let's say you're the superintendent of a school district faced with these continuing onslaughts, at the same time student populations increase. If you're like 233 superintendents in Arizona, you send a letter to the legislature warning them of the dire consequences of adopting Gov. Ducey's budget:



As public school leaders throughout Arizona, we are deeply concerned with the Executive Budget Proposal put forth by Governor Ducey. For the past six years, in order to balance the state budget, the majority of Arizona’s classrooms have been shortchanged by the actions of our elected officials. During this time, classroom teachers, principals and district leaders have been burdened with ever increasing requirements that further erode the instructional time and direct services available to our classrooms. To this end, we ask you to adopt a budget that does not cut funding to K-12 district schools.

"You might have read or heard that Governor Ducey wants to 'protect the classroom,'" Cowan said in an email and letter to parents and district staff two weeks ago. "But that's not accurate."

Perhaps, like Mesa school chief Dr. Michael Cowan, you speak out more boldly, given that you run the largest district in the state. Here is what Dr. Cowan wrote in a letter after Ducey released his budget:Uh-oh! Remember that dark money that helped elect Doug Ducey? More than $2 million of it came from Sean Noble, a well-known political operative who is president of American Encore , a Koch-funded group "that funneled more than $182 million in undisclosed donations to right-wing advocacy groups from 2009 to 2012." Last week American Encore started making robocalls to citizens in Mesa, smearing Cowan with the lie that "nearly two-thirds of Mesa's education dollars never reach the classroom." Further, Mesa taxpayers should be outraged, and call Dr. Cowan's office (number provided) to demand he support the governor's budget.

And all of this is being done with the approval of Gov. Ducey, who knew about the robocalls before they were made.



Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday defended robocalls by a "dark money" supporter that attacked Mesa's school superintendent, contending that no laws were violated when the supporter gave him a head's up about the calls.

It appears American Encore will have a lot of robocalls to make, since 233 school superintendents signed the letter that was sent to the legislature, and several are speaking out publicly, urging elected officials and citizens to oppose the governor's budget. And they are.