Education funding has soared in fiscal year 2013

Education funding has soared in fiscal year 2013 (Alberta Times) After years of cuts, Arizona's education funding has finally been revised in the new fiscal year budget...

Education funding has surged in fiscal year 2013 (Alberta Times) After years of cuts, Arizona's education funding has finally changed in the new fiscal year's budget. In the budget deal the governor is about to sign, two state universities, ASU and NAU, will receive an additional $15.7 million, but basic education (K-12) will receive much less. Education spending items in the new budget include: $40 million to improve reading skills in K-3. Expenditure on soft capital (such as textbooks) is 15 million. 3 million for schools to host K-2 competitions. Increase funding for two state universities, ASU and NAU, by $15 million. The university's medical school has a funding of 6 million. In the 2012 fiscal year, the state government cut public education funding by $35 million in order to balance expenditures in exchange for federal Edujobs funding. The House and Senate debated this issue last year. This year's budget not only ends that cut but adds $15 million, bringing district funding for public education to $50 million. The state Department of Education received $364 million for public and charter schools. Although basic education funding is 900 million less than in 2008, it is 28 million more than in fiscal year 2012. Some school districts still have to close schools to cope with lack of funds. In addition, state universities received $703.7 million in funding, including College Board funding, and $65.9 million in community college funding. In order to provide funding for every student at the three public universities, ASU and NSU received $15 million in funding. Last year, ASU students received $900 less per student than UA students. NAU students did slightly better, nearly $760 less than UA students. In response to the funding discrepancy, the College Board specifically increased funding for the two universities. Starting July 1, there will be consecutive increases for the next four years, ensuring that ASU will receive an annual allocation of 60 million and NAU will receive an annual allocation of 16.5 million.