A group of Arizona school districts and several school groups announced during a press conference at Landmark Elementary School May 1 they have filed a lawsuit against the State of Arizona and the Arizona School Facilities Board over cuts to funding for public school buildings and maintenance.

“The case filed this morning in superior court alleges the school finance system is unconstitutional because it is not general and uniform as required by the Arizona State Constitution,” said Tim Hogan, attorney for the Arizona Center for Law in Public Interest. “The constitution requires the state to provide funding for all school building facilities and equipment to be a minimum adequate standard and the state is not doing that.”

Hogan spoke on behalf of the capital lawsuit plaintiff group speaking out against the Arizona Legislature for turning its back on public school districts and ignoring the obligation to adequately fund public schools.

“This is something that they are doing that is unconstitutional and needs to stop and they need to fund Arizona schools,” Hogan said. “Basically, we are saying it is time for them to do their jobs.”

The lawsuit states, “the Arizona Constitution requires the Legislature to enact such laws as shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a general and uniform public school system.”

Hogan said the suit has districts from around the state, including Glendale Elementary School District, who argue that the state is not meeting their minimum requirements.

“(Landmark School) was selected because it is a symbol of the issues with capital funding,” said Mike Barragan, associate superintendent for GESD. “We are here to show the public that it is long overdue and the Legislature needs to stop ignoring over one million students who go to public school.”

Landmark and Challenger schools in Glendale were closed for nearly two months at the beginning of the school year because of structural deficiencies in the schools’ buildings.

The group said it wants the court to declare the school finance system unconstitutional and requiring property taxpayers within districts to provide funding through bonds violates the state constitution.

They are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for schools that the Legislature was supposed to fund and has not since the mid-1990s.

“We won a Supreme Court decision in 1994 and ‘students first’ was implemented in 1998 that allowed school districts to get funding to pay for building and facilities measures,” Hogan said.

In his State of the State address March 19, Gov. Doug Ducey said he plans to add $17 million in one-time money for the School Facilities Board for school construction and building maintenance. Ducey and the Legislature last year already approved $15 million for next year. This would add $2 million to that, but Hogan said that is not enough.

“(GESD) alone estimates they have capital needs in excess of $50 million immediately,” Hogan said. “So, for the governor to say he is including $17 million is a drop in the bucket.”

Barragan echoed those statements, saying, “We are in dire need and I would say having to close two schools earlier this year – that was dramatic. This is not a situation we want to be in again and that is why we are here.”

Attorneys have been working on the lawsuit for at least two years, with several school boards voting to sign on as plaintiffs, as have the associations representing teachers, school administrators, business officials and individual taxpayers.

The lawsuit comes nearly a year after voters passed Proposition 123, which adds nearly $3.5 billion over 10 years to settle a previous lawsuit. During the lawsuit, the Legislature approved a plan to settle another multi-billion dollar school funding lawsuit by tapping the state’s land trust.

The plaintiff group includes the Arizona School Boards Association, Arizona Education Association, Arizona School Administrators, Arizona Association of School Business Officials, Elfrida Elementary School District, Chino Valley Unified School District, Crane Elementary School District, Glendale Elementary School District, and private citizens, Kathy Knecht, who resides in the City of Peoria, and Jill Barragan, who resides in the City of Laveen.

Hogan said they filed because, instead of prioritizing public education for funding, the Legislature has cut $4.56 billion to public schools since 2009. Of those cuts, Hogan said none have ever been restored and state leaders have ignored this obligation far too long.

“Hopefully, because of the fact we have had Supreme Court rulings that spell out state responsibilities, it will not take that long to get a ruling on this case,” Hogan said.

Hogan said the new lawsuit will target capital costs and that the state was sued in 1991 for failing to properly fund buildings and “soft capital” costs like books and computers. The state Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that the state must provide the funding to ensure all school districts provide proper facilities.

The state paid up after the ruling, providing $1.3 billion in back money and up to $400 million a year going forward for capital expenses. But the state has repeatedly failed to fund the School Facilities Board, leading to a shortfall of up to $2 billion.