Exceeding the constitutional aggregate spending limit next year

We have a serious problem with the Aggregate Spending Limit for school districts for next year Fiscal Year 2022.

Remember, without action by the legislature to override the limit expenditures can not exceed the limit.

For this year[FY 2021] we are $144 million under the limit.

However, the limit is calculated on prior year student counts so the loss of students for this school year will show up in the limit for next year Fiscal Year 2022.

The Economic Estimates Commission calculates the limit for each year. They have calculated a preliminary estimate for next year using an estimated decline in students for this year for school districts of 51,568 which would result in the limit for school districts for next year to be reduced by $289 million or 4.6% from this year.

For this year FY 2021 we were under the limit by $144 million. So the limit for next year will be less than budgets for this year.

The solution would be for the Legislature to override the limit for FY 2022 and to take action on this issue during this legislative session.

You can see the details on the calculation of the FY 2022 limit at at https://azdor.gov/sites/default/files/media/REPORTS_ESTIMATES_2022_SchoolDist-Feb21.pdf .