By Associated Press - Friday, January 12, 2018

PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on Gov. Doug Ducey’s state budget proposal (all times local):

2 p.m.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s spending proposal for the coming fiscal year skips his previous practice of sprinkling new K-12 education spending among a series of small initiatives.

Instead, the budget plan released by the Republican governor Friday focused nearly all the new school spending into three big pots of money designed to restore cuts he himself helped to enact.

The plan includes $100 million for a funding stream paying for school capital costs as part of five-year plan to fully restore $371 million in cuts made since the Great Recession. More than $117 million of those capital cuts occurred under Ducey’s first spending plan in 2015.

He also wants $35 million in new cash for building overhauls and another $88 million for new school construction.

In all, the $10.1 billion plan for the budget year that begins July 1 boosts spending by more than $300 million over the current budget.

___

12:30 a.m.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey plans to roll out his proposed state spending plan for the coming budget year after promising $100 million in new money for school capital spending.

Friday’s scheduled release of Ducey’s fourth draft budget will highlight details on priorities he laid out in his state of the state address on Monday. The Republican promised to begin restoring recession-era school funding cuts and followed up with some details the next day.

The budget is expected to top $10 billion for the first time since the Great Recession.

The legislature’s budget analysts predicted in October that a revenue shortfall could top $100 million in the current and coming year as corporate tax cuts continue to overwhelm increases in other tax collections.

The governor’s plan often uses different revenue estimates.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide