Sufficient funding in Arizona’s education is crucial for improving student outcomes, supporting teachers, and ensuring the state remains competitive in the job market. With adequate funding, schools enjoy reduced class sizes, quality learning materials, enhanced teacher salaries, and the maintenance of school facilities.
Arizona’s education budget impacts all schools in the state. Due to historically low per-student spending, Arizona faces challenges such as teacher shortages, large class sizes, and outdated school buildings. Maintaining a sufficient education budget ultimately impacts the quality of scholars’ learning. This affects all schools in the state, including charter schools.
With an array of income streams, from federal and state taxes, as well as corporate, community and individual benefactors, charter schools like Leman Academy are well-suited to provide quality educational services and materials for their scholars.
To see where we stand today in the funding for Arizona’s schools, let’s examine these five points regarding its education budget:
- Understanding Arizona’s Education Funding
- How the Education Budget Affects Charter Schools
- Recent Changes and Trends in Arizona’s Education Funding
- Why Charter Schools Like Leman Academy Continue to Thrive
- How Parents Can Stay Informed and Support Charter School Funding
Understanding Arizona’s Education Funding
Arizona’s schools are mostly funded by three sources:
- State and local resources provide approximately 81% of school funds
- Local funds also come from voter-approved bonds or overrides
- Federal money makes up about 19% of Arizona’s school funds
The state funds come primarily through income taxes, sales taxes, and state land revenues. In addition, the state provides funding for special education, transportation, and extra funds depending on the number of scholars enrolled in a school.
Local funds to schools are mostly from property taxes paid by homeowners and businesses. Sometimes, schools will ask residents to vote on bonds or overrides for additional support. This is usually spent on things like technology improvements, school renovations, and teacher salaries.
The federal government provides funds for specific programs, e.g., Title I, which is support for scholars from low-income families, students with disabilities, and school lunch programs. They also assist students from non-English speaking homes to help them learn English.
Charter schools in Arizona are public schools. They receive the same funding as traditional district schools, except for property taxes and voter-elected bonds. To offset this disparity, the Arizona legislature provides charter schools up to $2,000 more per pupil in “equalization dollars”. Thus, charter schools do not charge tuition – they are free to attend.
How Does Arizona’s Education Budget Affect Charter Schools?
Since Arizona’s charter schools do not receive funding from property taxes, they must rely on state per-pupil funding, which comes from income taxes and sales taxes. There is more government support allocated to students in charter schools than in traditional schools as compensation for the lack of property tax funds. Additionally, charter schools can receive federal and private grants to help offset the gap left by the property tax issue.
Charter schools are more vulnerable to setbacks than traditional schools due to state education budget cuts. Any changes to Arizona’s education budget directly affect charter schools’ financial stability. This in turn, impacts teacher salaries, curriculum development, and school facilities.
Recent Changes and Trends in Arizona’s Education Funding
As of February 2025, Arizona’s education budget is at the center of several legislative discussions and challenges:
In 2024, Governor Katie Hobbs announced a plan to renew Proposition 123, which would increase funding for public education without raising taxes. This plan includes allocating funds for educator compensation with 4.4% from the State Land Trust Permanent Fund. With 1.5% from the same Fund to increase school staff pay and 0.5% invested in school safety, Hobbs proposes to enhance the quality of education in public schools.
Governor Hobbs has also proposed changes to the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA). An Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) is the amount of taxpayers’ dollars and state school budget funds that pay for a public school education. When you remove your child from the district school system, these funds go with your child. The ESA in Arizona is synonymous with a “school voucher”. It can be used to support the costs for:
- Attendance in a charter school
- Private school tuition
- Tutoring
- Educational therapies
- Online schooling
- Future educational expenses
Hobbs proposes that scholars attend a traditional school for 100 days before becoming eligible for school vouchers. However, this proposal is facing considerable opposition from members of Arizona’s legislature, as well as from schools and parents.
In addition, the Governor’s administration has also sought to implement a scaled income cap on the ESA program to ensure fiscal responsibility. Again, this is a plan facing strong opposition.
Legislation that changes the ESA landscape directly affects charter schools and their scholars. Thus, these issues are “hot” topics in Arizona today.
Why Charter Schools Like Leman Academy Continue to Thrive
The Leman Academy of Excellence, with K-8 schools in Arizona and Colorado, thrives in the simmering melee of the state’s new education legislation and its highly active school choice program. It’s particularly successful because it demonstrates an efficient use of its resources.
First, it utilizes a structured communication framework to promote unity, clarity, and quality to the school’s community. It has also secured collaborative partnerships with the community to ensure the safety of its scholars.
Currently, the Bayou Gulch campus in Colorado has constructed a new facility to accommodate pre-kindergarten and special education scholars. This will ensure that resources are allocated to meet the differentiation needs of special scholars.
In addition, Leman Academy offers a competitive benefits package to its teachers to attract and retain talented staff. Its goal is to provide a high-quality and well-trained staff to engage and excite its scholars about learning.
The Leman Academy enjoys a preponderance of parent involvement, and in fact, Leman refers to their scholars’ parents as “partners” in education.
Most importantly, Leman Academy is a magnet for parents because it’s a charter school with a classical education model of teaching. Classical education is attractive due to its in-depth study of humanities, a curriculum that ignites critical thinking, and its focus on character development. Furthermore, this exceptional education is tuition-free, and is available anywhere in Arizona via Leman’s Virtual Academy.
How Parents Can Stay Informed and Support Charter School Funding
You can follow charter school issues by looking into the Arizona Charter School Association for updates on policies, school rankings, and events. Additionally, many charter schools hold board meetings that parents can attend to learn about decisions affecting the school. Also, by following the Arizona Department of Education, you will find information regarding charter school funding and regulations.
To advocate for school policies, contact your state legislator’s office to support those that benefit charter schools.
The Leman Academy of Excellence ensures transparency in its use of funds. It publicly shares essential financial records, including adopted budgets and audited financial statements. Leman complies with state statutes that mandate financial disclosures such as budgets and salary information. Leman also files an IRS Form 990. As a non-profit organization, Leman Academy files this form to document financial activities, governance, and compensation. These forms are available to the public through platforms like GuideStar, which provide insights into the academy’s financial health and operational practices.
Conclusion
Since Arizona’s charter schools do not receive funds from property taxes, funding charter schools takes a different path. They receive state and federal funds like district schools; however, other revenue streams supplement the property tax gap, such as federal and private grants. Community and individual donations also contribute to charter schools’ financial support. In this way, Arizona’s charter schools are tuition-free for families.
If you’re searching for a non-traditional school for your child to attend, explore the many charter school options available in Arizona. You will find a school that is a great match for your child.
Learn more about Leman Academy’s commitment to academic excellence!